The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Sarahjane610 on February 23, 2017, 08:42:21 pm
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Hi all -
I have 10 South Downs (6 ewes and 4 lambs about 10 weeks old) and they live in a 5 acre field of good pasture. Since I turned all the mums and babies out I've supplemented with a vit block and ad lib hay (which they seem to turn their nose up at) and a bit of hard feed. Thing is, every time I do my rounds they scream their heads off as if I'm starving them. They all look in good condition so are they just trying it on or should I be giving them more hard feed? Obviously want to take care of them responsibly but not be suckered into greediness (as I learnt with my kids!)
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Diifficult to say without seeing the sheep but probably just trying it on since you say the ewes look good and the lambs are thriving
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Southdowns will generally look good at this time of year, due to good fleece growth. Have you condition scored them? If they were used to being given hard feed regularly they'll yell if they don't get it, until they realise that your appearance doesn't always mean food. My ewes are getting hard feed in the run up to lambing but if I go into the field for another reason I hold my hands out to the side so they can see I'm not carrying a bucket, and then they carry on with what they were doing before I walked through the gate.
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I would carry on feeding the ewes as you are and just organise a way of giving the lambs extra. For 4 lambs you can make a creep feeder by making a pen with gates or hurdles with a gap that is just big enough for a lamb to get through, but not a ewe.
I've assumed the lambs are 10 days old and not 10 weeks? As if the latter, then the ewes don't need any extra feed - just the lambs as they should be getting near fat.
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Plenty of people (me including) don't feed ewes or lambs anything other than grass & hay. Ever. At any time of year.
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Mine would eat concentrate all day if I let them and still yell at me when they saw me. I agree with Marches body scoring is the way to be sure.
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Mine call out and pester you if their used to getting nuts. My fields are bare and ewes haven't started lambing yet. I'm not a fan of feeding hay as I'm never sure how good it is and the sheep don't seem interested so I feed hayalge and they really enjoy that