The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Derbyshire Hillbilly on November 14, 2016, 01:09:12 pm
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Hi guys,
I've got some April born ewe lambs I'm keeping to breed from next year. I've got some hay and a lick bucket in with them but the grass is slowly dwindling and I don't think theres much goodness in it at the moment.
What would be best to supplement them with over the winter? I give me adults and tup some sugarbeet every few days but wondered whether the lambs need something with a little more protein to grow big?
Thanks a lot!
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What breed/type are they?
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Were they weaned from their dams when you got them, or cade lambs? Do you have enough grazing to provide most of their roughage through Winter, bearing in mind grass in the North of England is unlikely to start growing again for around five months? What kind of grazing is it - good quality new ley, ancient meadow, rough ....?
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Sorry for the delay, they're Ryelands born around April 2016. They do have grass (old meadow grass) but there's not a huge amount of it left at the moment. As I say, I have a lick bucket and hay in with them - just wondering if sugar beet is enough or whether they need something else.
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A handful of lamb creep or similar each day may help but they should be ok with just good quality hay and grass.
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Being a Down sheep they should do fine on hay. If you're on ground with high iron, manganese and/or molybdenum don't let them graze the grass so low they might be ingesting soil, as these minerals inhibit the uptake of available copper. You may want to consider your grazing plan for the coming year and try to go into Winter with more grazing, although this always involves speculation as to how long the grass will keep growing in the Autumn.
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get some lick buckets. sweet maybe but with protein, fish oils.
..edit.. (whoops you already have licks) edit..
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Hi,
for the last few years I've bought in as well as kept my own ewe lambs to run over winter and sell in the spring and have found that they do just fine on some hay and a little hard feed (when it snows) and a lick bucket or two.
This is ok if you have at least some grass for them to chew on, if no other grazing is available you may have to supplement them with hay or silage just to get them through the winter.