The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: amandac on August 30, 2016, 11:53:40 am
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I have an 8 year old ewe who has lost condition in the last few months (score 1). Only 2 teeth left. She is eating grass, occasionally will take some feed but not much. Any suggestions on what I could try and tempt her to eat to put on some weight.
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I'm sure Fleecewife will have some good ideas when she comes along.
Meanwhile, I find that of all the feeds, the one that seems to tempt the most is Champion Tup Mix.
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Tada - and here I am ;D
Your ewe will need some fairly concentrated care, giving her little but often.
For us, 8 is a young thing, with several years of good breeding ahead of her. However, if she loses her teeth so young then we don't breed further from her line. But of course it depends very much on breed and what she has been eating. As she has got into such poor condition in the summer, then I wouldn't breed from her again as a winter can be very harsh.
Once a sheep has no front teeth at all she can eat much more easily, as the pad plus gum is still quite sharp. If the remaining teeth are wobbly then it would hurt her to try to pull grass. Some people would pull out any wobblies - it depends on just how wobbly they are.
So what to feed her to get her past this? My fall-back is digestive biscuits, which give some crunch, some fibre and some sugar. If they're not used to them, then you have to push small pieces into the side of the mouth, until they cotton on to the fact they are nice. Ultimately you could feed up to 4 biscuits, broken into 4 or 6 bits, handed to her. As long as they have all their molars they can chew perfectly well.
Our gummies love easier to pull plants such as cow parsley which is very nutritious, and they can take it from your hand. Smaller pieces are best - when a sheep eats it doesn't usually take very long grass, but pulls off short lengths, so when feeding her do the same. You can give her grass the same way, and other palateable herby stuff.
Our sheep adore willow, both the leaves and the bark, although the gummies only eat the leaves and twig tips. Sometimes you can feed a few young ivy tips, but I wouldn't overdo that - small amounts are beneficial, but larger amounts could be toxic. Leaves such as fruit trees, old nettles (weird I know, but once they've gone to seed sheep love them).
You will need to get a lot of this down her - think how much a sheep grazes each day and give her more. Leave her with a bowl of fresh leaves - they'll wilt quickly, so replenish as she won't eat wilted leaves so keenly.
To bring a skinny sheep back from death's door, make a porridge of oats, or coarse mix, strengthened with glucose, thin enough to go through a needleless syringe. I use a 50ml syringe with a catheter tip (as for lamb feeding tubes) but you could use a 20 ml syringe. Slowly give a little at a time and wait for her to swallow. If you can get 100ml down at a time, repeated several times during the day, that should get her rumen going again, and keep her hydrated.
Once she's eating again and has a healthier appetite, as Sally says, a coarse mix is best. Rolls are too big and pencils boring, but coarse mix looks good enough to eat :)
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I use coarse mix and a mix of bits and pieces from the field margins. You could also give her extra shelter as the weather gets colder, either in a shed overnight or when it's icy or very wet, or giving her a coat if her fleece is short or thin. I've used a giant size dog coat on an old pet ewe in the past.
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If she has in the past had either a heavy worm burden or fluke issues her digestion/nutrient absorption/liver function may also be very poor. I would therefore also get an FEC - including fluke, done, and if necessary treat. A general mineral/vitamin drench may also be of benefit, including copper if appropriate for the breed.
If she responds to special treatment - get her actually weighed and repeat in a couple of months time, otherwise you may be seeing an improvement because you want to see it rather it actually being there...
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:thumbsup:
Reading this thread has made me smile..... all the love that's gone into our woolly pals in the past reflected in the wisdom shared above....