Feeding Fat to Pregnant Ewes
| Total profit | Total profit | Net profit (Total – cost of diet) | Net profit (Total – cost of diet) | Net profit (Total – cost of diet) |
| Number of lambs/ewe | Lamb price ($/lb.) | Lamb price ($/lb.) | Lamb price ($/lb.) | Lamb price ($/lb.) |
| Number of lambs/ewe | 1.10 | 1.50 | Number of lambs/ewe | 1.80 |
| 1.00 | 4.95 | 6.75 | 8.10 | 6.14 |
| 1.20 | 5.94 | 8.10 | 9.72 | 7.76 |
What should I Feed my sheep before weaning?
For the last several days before weaning, ewes should be fed a low quality grass hay or straw. After the lambs have been weaned, the ewes should be maintained in dry lot and fed low quality grass hay or straw until their udders start to dry up and recede.
How much grain should I Feed my ewes?
Ideally, ewes should be separated into production groups and fed according to the number of lambs they are nursing. A general rule of thumb for concentrate feeding of lactating ewes is 1 pound of grain for each lamb nursing the ewe. Protein and energy are both critical nutrients for milk production.
Why can’t I feed hay to my pregnant ewes?
Many ewes in late pregnancy cannot consume that much forage because their digestive system is squeezed by the lambs in the uterus. Therefore, you may find that you have to use a combination of hay and grain during this period.
What are the nutritional requirements of a ewe during pregnancy?
A ewe's nutritional requirements during the last 6 weeks of pregnancy and the last 8 weeks of nursing a single lamb are about the same and are treated as one feeding period for ration formulation. The ewe's energy and protein requirements are higher during this period and the ration must be adjusted accordingly.
What should I feed pregnant ewes?
Nutrition During Late Gestation To meet the increased energy needs during this period, it is often necessary to feed concentrates (grain), especially if the ewe is pregnant with multiple fetuses. In addition, if forage quality is low, it may be necessary to provide a supplemental source of protein and calcium.
What is the best food for ewes at lambing?
For a 130%–180% lamb crop, she would need a diet with 65% total digestible nutrients and 11.3% crude protein. This could be met using 2 pounds of low-quality hay, 1 pound of corn and 1 pound of peas. Expect delivery of lambs to begin approximately 142 days from when the ram bred the ewe.
What do sheep need when pregnant?
At this stage of pregnancy good grazing would be ideal but if grass is in short supply, moderate quality hay or silage fed to appetite should be supplemented with a high-quality concentrate feed fed at a daily rate of 0.2kg and 0.3kg, respectively, for ewe lambs and shearlings carrying singles and twins.
What is the most important nutrient required by ewes during late pregnancy?
Ideally feed 17-18% crude protein. Use high quality protein sources to enhance milk output on both grass and preserved forages. Soya bean meal is an excellent quality protein source. Feed a Ewe Nut with optimum levels of Cereals (barley, wheat, maize) in order to maximise energy intakes.
When can I start feeding my pregnant ewes?
Nutrition during late pregnancy (day 90-145) influences lamb birth weight and viability, colostrum supply, lambing difficulty, mothering ability, ewe mortality and subsequent lamb growth rates. Therefore appropriate feeding during the final 6-8 weeks pre lambing is vital.
What to feed ewes before breeding?
A specialty crop can be grown for grazing for ewes as a cover crop after winter wheat harvest. Others use corn silage, or added corn in a total mixed ration to achieve the higher-energy diet.
How much should I feed my sheep before lambing?
Pre-lambing nutrition for lowland ewesWeeks before lambingPrecision chopBig bale4-600.252-40.350.550-20.500.70Total concentrates fed (Kg)12211 more row•Feb 3, 2021
How much should I feed pregnant sheep?
Late Gestation (last 4 weeks) Ewes should be fed at least 0.75 lbs of mixed grain per ewe daily if lambing percentage is expected to be average and up to 1.5 or 1.75 lbs of mixed grain per ewe daily to ewes whose lambing percentage is expected to be above 200 percent.
How much protein does a pregnant ewe need?
The crude protein requirement for a 70 kg ewe in the last 4 weeks of gestation is 214g/day. Crude protein is necessary for udder development which would impact on colostrum supply and milk supply for newborn lambs. A ration with 16 – 18% crude protein is adequate once fed with good quality hay or silage.
Is Lucerne good for pregnant sheep?
High intake of lucerne pastures or feeding of other high quality diets during early pregnancy may increase embryo mortality, negating any benefit of improved nutrition on ovulation rate in ewes.
When should you vaccinate pregnant ewes?
The vaccine can be administered in lambs from 2 days of age but is usually administered at marking (it takes 2 weeks before protection is established). NOTE: pregnant ewes should not be vaccinated within 6 weeks of lambing. sheep destined for the live sheep export market must be vaccinated against scabby mouth.
Why do ewes need concentrate feeding?
Where ewes are housed and fed silage, hay or straw they will need some level of concentrate feeding because the forage will not be balanced in terms of energy, protein, minerals and vitamins and also because in the latter stages of pregnancy foetal growth will inhibit their ability to consume sufficient levels of bulky forage.
Why is it important to have adequate trough space for sheep?
It is important to have adequate trough space to avoid competition and aggression when sheep are given concentrate feed and all animals are fed together to ensure that all ewes receive an adequate amount. Recommended feed space requirements for manually-fed ewes are stated in Table 2.
What is a good grass based system?
A good grass-based system has the potential to meet all the demands of the pregnant and lactating ewe without offering supplementary feeding. Like housed systems it will depend on ewe condition, litter size and grass quality while taking into account lambing date, weather and ground conditions.
What percentage of protein should be in a pre-lambing ration?
Most feeds will be sold with a declaration of crude protein percentage which should be at least 16-18% in a pre-lambing ration. Protein quality is extremely important so ensure that the ration contains good quality ingredients, ideally soyabean meal, as the main protein source followed by rapeseed meal.
Can ewes carry twins?
In late pregnancy energy and protein requirements will increase rapidly potentially doubling for ewes carrying twins. However, as the lambs grow, rumen space is reduced and appetite can be reduced by 30% making it difficult for the ewe to meet all the nutrient demands from forage alone.
How long before ewes can you feed grain?
Weaning often takes place at a time when ewes are still producing a lot of milk. In this is the case, grain should be reduced 1 to 2 weeks prior to weaning. For the last week or so prior to weaning, no grain should be fed to the ewes.
How early can ewes receive grain?
More energy is required two weeks before lambing versus six weeks before lambing. Ewes carrying singles do not need to receive grain as early as those carrying multiple births. Pregnancy toxemia. Pregnancy toxemia or ketosis is the most common nutritional disorder that occurs during late gestation.
How to increase lambing percentage in ewes?
Flushing. Feeding the ewe so she is gaining weight about 2 weeks before breeding is called flushing. Flushing may increase lambing percentage by increasing the number of eggs that the ewes ovulate. Flushing works best on thin ewes. Ewes that are already in good body condition usually do not respond well to flushing .
Why is spring grass good for ewes?
Spring grass is high in protein, water, and other nutrients which promote milk production. The overriding concern at weaning time for ewes is to prevent mastitis. Ewes need to be watched closely during the weaning period for mastitis. Ewes with spoiled udders have decreased or no future production value.
What are the nutrients that are needed for lambs to survive?
Big lambs increase lambing problems and have a higher mortality rate. The nutrients that are important during late gestation are energy, protein, calcium, selenium, and vitamin E. The amount of energy required depends upon the number of fetuses and cold stress.
What happens when you underfeed a lamb?
Underfeeding will result in the birth of small lambs. Small lambs are less resistant to cold stress and will have slower pre-weaning growth. Most of the ewe’s mammary development occurs during late gestation. Underfeeding will reduce the yield and quality of milk.
What is the maintenance period for sheep?
Maintenance means the ewe only needs to maintain her body weight or have slow growth to recover the weight (condition) she lost during lactation. A wide variety of low-cost feedstuffs can meet the maintenance requirements of ewes. Pasture or grass hay is all most sheep need to maintain themselves. Pet sheep should always be fed at a maintenance level.
How long does it take for a nursing ewe to feed?
First 8 Weeks Nursing Singles and Last 8 Weeks Nursing Twins. During these two periods a ewe's daily requirements are very high and she requires a considerable amount of feed per day. As you can see from the rations below, these periods are the time to use good legume hay.
Why can't ewes eat forage?
Many ewes in late pregnancy cannot consume that much forage because their digestive system is squeezed by the lambs in the uterus.
How big should an ewe be?
Past research has shown that the ideal size ewe for commercial production is about 135 pounds. Ewes much larger than this do not wean off any more pounds of lamb and cost more to feed.
What does it mean to flush ewes?
Flushing. Flushing simply means providing a little extra feed for your brood ewes prior to the breeding season. Research has shown that ewes on an increasing plane of nutrition during the breeding season are more likely to have twins.
Can ewes eat hay?
However, many ewes cannot eat large amounts of hay in this stage of pregnancy, because the lambs take up most of the space in her abdomen. Therefore, most shepherds cut back on the amount of hay and increase grain. This also helps avoid Pregnancy Toxemia. Several rations with reduced hay and some grain are listed.
Is lime good for sheep pasture?
A good pasture has lime applied as needed and is fertilized every year. Over 90% of all sheep pastures in this area do not qualify as good pasture, so be honest with yourself. The amount of hay in each ration is the amount the ewe must eat, not necessarily the amount you put in the feeder.
Is pasture a lambing system?
As in the previous examples pasture is included in the event you are on a lambing system where the lambs are born during warm weather. Pure grass pastures will be a little short on protein, but not critically short. A grass pasture with a small amount of clover will meet all energy and protein requirements.
Why Breed Sheep?
Breeding sheep can be a fun, personally rewarding, and profitable endeavor. But like with anything else, there are lots of factors to consider and some risks involved.
Breed Selection: Meat Sheep
Lamb prices in the US remain steadily good, so breeding sheep for the purpose of selling lambs can be profitable; selling lambs should at least offset the costs of your hobby farm sheep flock. (Selling lambs is a good choice if you can manage to actually haul them off somewhere – let’s face it, they’re adorable!)
Breed Selection: Fiber (Wool) Sheep
If you're interested in raising and breeding sheep for the purpose of wool production, you'll want to select a breed of sheep that is particularly good at producing an excellent fleece.
Breeding Sheep
Before we get started on any specific information, let me just make a couple of points.
How Many Rams Do I Need?
Generally, one healthy, mature ram should be enough for 30 ewes. If more than 30 ewes are to be bred, it's best to separate the ewes into groups of 30 or less and run one ram in each group.
Getting Started Breeding Sheep
First thing's first: If you want lambs, you'll need to expose your ewes to a ram. The obvious point of this "exposure" is to allow the ram to mount the ewes and breed them. Unless the ram is a dud or the ewes are too old or are unhealthy, these couplings should result in pregnant ewes.
Must I Vaccinate?
No, vaccination is a form of risk management, and it's up to you. Consult with your vet or an experienced herds-person about your flock if you're not sure.
