The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Hillview Farm on August 06, 2014, 07:38:55 pm
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Hello,
what do people here feed their rams if they need it? Are normal ewe nuts at 18% protein ok?
Thanks :hugsheep:
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If you think he needs it I would feed special tup/ram mix. Mine also get soaked sugar beet shreds and some oats.
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Feeding a ram at this time of the year :o :o I thought you wanted to breed sheep that didnt melt!!
mine dont get fed in winter!!!!!!
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GRASS!! :innocent:
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If I feed then it's ram mix
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Definitely never feed a ram with ewe pencils - they can cause stones in the urinary system which in the worst case scenario can be fatal.
If you do ever need to feed your ram anything more than hay in the winter you can get a feed called Champion Tup, from Carr's, which is formulated to be safe for all male sheep - wethers as well as entire rams.
At this time of year, if he's inside unable to get out to graze for some reason, then give him hay. When we have snow lying for ages in the winter, too deep for the sheep to scrape through, we give our tups a small handful of the Champion Tup, and in fact that's what we give our primitive ewes and lambs, as it doesn't have the high protein of ewe pencils, which they don't need.
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I'm not on about feeding him now! I haven't even got him yet! I was just Curios After a convocation with a friend who said they feed there rams 2 months leading up to tupping... I nearly fainted but she went on about mixing a bit of this with a bit if that and just wondered after reading about calcium in the pee department!
Just to clarify my animals don't melt and if the ram did I'd cull him! I expect him to loose a little as I'm asking 16 days worth of work from him in two days but if he melts... Gone! But then again we have carefully selected him and the breeder for animals that perform and do well!
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We also use Carr's Champion Tup Mix when needed.
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Ours are on grass, just had discussion with vet and we going to give rams and ewes vitamin bolus, containing selinium, cobalt and Iodene. The boys will get theirs 4 weeks beforehand and the ewes 2 weeks beforehand. They sit in thr rumen and give vits for 6 months.
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You will need a feed that contains ammonium chloride.
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He'd have a job on to "melt" in 2 days!
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I really don't understand why there is criticism towards me?? I simply asked a question and people jump to conclusions!
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Don't worry Hillview :)
I think there are a lot of ppl in the farming world who overfeed their rams in order to sell or show them, and maybe it's been assumed that you are one of those :). Maybe folks missed the "if they need it" bit!
If they need it, I use sugar beet nuts (unsoaked), or ram coarse mix, or something specifically for "all stock" or "rams". never any feed that is designed for ewes. Some people do flush (i.e. feed) their rams in the 8-10 week run up to tupping, I don't see anything wrong with that if you have a large flock to serve and you don't have good grazing available - maybe the good pasture is in use for flushing ewes or finishing lambs etc. You just need to remember that they need to be "fit not fat".
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Thank you foobar, And also thank you to everyone who has given helpful and positive feedback.
:)
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Can somebody explain the reference to 'melting' please? I tried googling "Ram melting", but just got pictures of overheating computers! ???
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Woomble - You go buy a ram at a sale / show / farm and he looks the bees knees. You get him home, turn him out on good pasture and a while later he looks like s**t, lost condition, size, shape etc. Why? Because he was pumped with feed from birth and is unable to maintain his condition off grass a lone. Which is something that is then passed on to his offspring potentially!
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I really don't understand why there is criticism towards me?? I simply asked a question and people jump to conclusions!
I don't think anyone is criticising you Hillview Farm, we simply didn't know the full story - your OP is very brief.
I have posted a little comment on this subject in the coffee room. It's not directed at you, although the misunderstandings here did spark it off, but it's something which happens all too frequently. Posters make their question short and to the point, which is great, but we don't know the background to the question, nor do we know the poster's own knowledge. Sometimes we may write out a long reply which we think will be helpful but isn't really what the poster wants to know.
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It wasn't criticism I am pointing out that on 48 hrs work melting is unlikely to be a big issue!
Feeding is a difficult subject, as a breeder of a small number of small rams who feeds nothing I can tell you that the buyer will always pick the big one on farm and in a sale even if that means buying cross bred sheep masquerading as pure bred pumped full of barley (and some grass - or none!) - these will achieve the highest prices by quite a margin.
Most buyers are too worried about what dad, mates down the pub etc will say if he comes back with a little one which the breeder says has been brought up hard - also understandable because lets face it theres nothing to say it isn't small and mollycoddled! EBVs may help but going on the Pedigree Lleyn situation (where high maternal EBVs = Massive cake guzzling ewes that have triplets or more most of which are then reared on the milk machine) are open to abuse too.
Mine will probably solidify in their new homes!
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Thanks for the explanation Porterlauren :thumbsup: . I'm new to all this stuff. We went to buy our first tup this week, and I was most surprised when he didn't mind having his b0ll0cks felt, but then wouldn't let me touch his feet! ;D
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I didn't misunderstand the question - what to feed a tup IF/WHEN he needs it.
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I wasn't aiming my comment at you anke, sorry if you feel that way.
Good point well made Me, and it wasn't aimed at you either!
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Sorry if my post was taken as criticism :( I really didnt mean it that way
Generally if I said, "do I use jeyes fluid to dye my sheep with" everyone would assume thats what I was doing and probly post up "why are you dying your sheep???"
So when you asked, what feed to feed your ram if he needs it, in the middle of summer, its easy to assume thats what you were doing, I know you said when he needs it but that could mean anything to anyone such as if he needs to look fatter in the summer etc
So sorry that it came out the wrong way and I miss understood your post, I will try and ask questions before I answer questions next time :thinking: if that makes sense, if anyone else said they wanted to feed a ram concentrates I would question them aswel, I was not targeting you in any way
If it snows my rams get hay, apart from that nothing
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Never ever feed ewe nuts to them, it's alright for the ewes to eat they're mix, but never the other way round. Ours are out on grass, hay n a little gesture of mix occasionally keep em sweet ha x