Wintering animals?

[Royd Wood]

oh trust me to spill the applecart and disagree
Have to just say my sheep get no grain before, during or after, they just get hay and its not the best this year here so I'm paying a little more attention to their condition and the lambs.
Dont like fat breeding stock and mine can get fat pretty quick on 2nd cut if I turn my back

 

[SheepGirl]

I feed Southern State's 16% textured sheep feed. It is a complete sheep feed and is milled at the branch I buy it from.

 

[BrownSheep]

I am with Royd. No grains here. We do feed high quality alfalfa hay.

As for price per ton I think we paid about 200/ton

 

[SheepGirl]

Mine get relatively low quality grass hay. It's green, but very weedy. Don't know what cutting it is. It's probably 1st cutting. Mainly stems, too. But the sheep love it. They stand at the gate waiting for me to arrive with their hay every night So I have to feed grain to make up for my low quality hay. If I were feeding alfalfa or high quality 2nd cutting or even 3rd cutting grass hay I probably wouldn't feel the need to feed grain...or at least not as much.

 

[BrownSheep]

Mine are such butts! They'll eat the stems if there's nothing else. Ours is green and mostly leaves. Last years had a little bit of thistle in every couple of bales but other than that you can't get much better. Our "neighbors" down the road sell it and deliver it for us and with their harrow bed they pretty much stack it as well.

 

[Royd Wood]

Mine get relatively low quality grass hay. It's green, but very weedy. Don't know what cutting it is. It's probably 1st cutting. Mainly stems, too. But the sheep love it. They stand at the gate waiting for me to arrive with their hay every night So I have to feed grain to make up for my low quality hay. If I were feeding alfalfa or high quality 2nd cutting or even 3rd cutting grass hay I probably wouldn't feel the need to feed grain...or at least not as much.

Yes we tend to be lucky here and have great second cut leafy hay full of goodness but this year it was a joke - just some stalky first cut then nothing. Like I said I will keep a tab on them for sure as Spring is a while off

 

[Back to Nature]

I am with Royd. No grains here. We do feed high quality alfalfa hay.

As for price per ton I think we paid about 200/ton

So instead of grains you could just stock up on really good alfalfa and feed that? (Assuming you can find it, of course.) I just want to do the best I can for my future animals and make their lives as comfortable and natural as possible, and I have learned that they aren't designed to eat grain..

 

[SheepGirl]

I am with Royd. No grains here. We do feed high quality alfalfa hay.

As for price per ton I think we paid about 200/ton

So instead of grains you could just stock up on really good alfalfa and feed that? (Assuming you can find it, of course.) I just want to do the best I can for my future animals and make their lives as comfortable and natural as possible, and I have learned that they aren't designed to eat grain..

I hate to open up a can of worms here, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Ruminants are herbivorous animals, they are designed to eat plants, with a four compartment stomach and a long intestinal tract. Grain is synonymous with seed. They're the same thing. Corn is the seed of the corn plant, which is a type of grass. Same with barley, oats, soybeans, etc...they are all seeds of grass or legume plants. My sheep routinely eat the seed heads off the grass in their field. They also eat the seed heads in their hay--orchardgrass, timothy, and whatever the species of grass is that's in their hay now lol.

Also--livestock are domesticated so there really isn't anything 'natural' about them. They have been designed to meet the needs of humans--being able to digest grains better, growing faster, producing more milk, building more muscle, etc--and are a far cry from their wild cousins. IMO if you want to raise something as naturally as possible you should raise wild animals, Mouflon sheep, Bison, feral hogs, wild rabbits. They are not very productive critters (giving birth to one, or rarely, two babies (not including hogs), babies reach sexual maturity slower, are generally very light muscled, etc) but thrive in an all forage diet (which may or may not include seeds/grains depending on the environment/climate), because that is what is available to them. Humans 'bred up' these animals through selective breeding starting hundreds of years ago to be more productive, which in turn requires more nutrients. Something low quality to average forages can't provide. Seeds (grains) are very nutrient dense (we learned in horticulture that seeds need these nutrients as a 'jump-start' to grow) and they can provide the animal with the nutrients the roughage part of the plant is missing/lacking a lot of.

Don't get me wrong--I don't feed my sheep a bunch of grain. But I do feed grain. My sheep are expected to get on average 90+% of their diet from roughages (grass, hay, etc) and only about 10% of their diet consists of grains/seeds, which they only get in late gestation, lactation, growth, and breeding season. All the other times (when they are on a maintenance diet--ie not productive) they are expected to sustain themselves on roughages only.

Okay, I will shut up now.

 

[BrownSheep]

I am with Royd. No grains here. We do feed high quality alfalfa hay.

As for price per ton I think we paid about 200/ton

So instead of grains you could just stock up on really good alfalfa and feed that? (Assuming you can find it, of course.) I just want to do the best I can for my future animals and make their lives as comfortable and natural as possible, and I have learned that they aren't designed to eat grain..

Actually, ruminates do quite well on grain as long as they are properly transitioned on to it. We do not find the need to feed grain because of our high quality hay that we are able to purchase. If I was feeding grass hay like SheepGirl I would probably feed a bit of grain as well. Or if we have a momma who needs a bit of a jump start developing milk for triplets. Otherwise it is cheaper for us not to feed it and the animals are doing great with out it.

As long as your animals keep weight you can really feed whatever.

Where is everyone else? Why is it just us sheep folk over here?

GAS -sers! Cow people! Pig Posse ! Jump in!

 

[bonbean01]

Well...I am another sheep person...but had to comment on Sheepgirl's post...I agree 100 percent. I spend alot of time with them and gauge their condition to see if feeds are too much or not. They have 2nd cut good hay, and are fed sheep pellets made locally for our area to cover vitamin and minerals...plus we are not high enough here in seleium and that's in their feed too. In the last month of pregnancy they are up to two feedings of pellets, mornings and evening and that will continue their first month while nursing, and then gradually be decreased in pellets.

When there is lush grass, they still get some everyday, but not as much. Plus, for treats and moving them.