The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Trix on July 12, 2020, 12:23:06 am
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Hi everyone - my first daft question as a newbie.... I have 2 Rams, with 2 acres of pasture. Am I right that I need to be giving them some form of mineral tub, or mineral lick? Which kind is best for Rams? Do I leave it out permanently, or is it rationed? There's so many types, it's mind boggling. They mostly seem to specify being for Ewes too.
They have a salt lick, but I've noticed one has cracked hooves.... wondering if this could be a deficiency? Thanks everyone.
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Mineral buckets for rams can be problematic due to the calcium : phosphorus ratio. There’s a couple specifically designed for rams so I’d try to find one of them- Tubby do a purely mineral bucket, and Rumenco do one called Ramcare but that has a bit of energy and protein added for running up to tupping.
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Not at this time of year I would think.
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Thank you Twizzel and Anke.
Actually, I was wrong calling them rams - they’ve had their back wheels removed, so I should have said Wethers.... does that change any advice?
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Thank you Twizzel and Anke.
Actually, I was wrong calling them rams - they’ve had their back wheels removed, so I should have said Wethers.... does that change any advice?
Yes - don't need any concentrate, ever... except for keeping them tame enough to get them into a pen (never more than a handful) - grass nuts are good for that. Will get fat if fed more than hay. Also problems may occur in the form of urinary calculii (bladder stones) if fed on concentrates.
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Wow, thank you Anke.
Really helpful advice, really is appreciated. It's a learning curve lol.
At the moment they feed exclusively on pasture. They used to also have access to hay all year round in the past, as they had limited and low quality pasture. Now though, they have 2 good acres between 2 of them. So my plan was to just put hay in their shelter over the winter potentially So, no concentrates, pasture and maybe hay too over the winter. Sound like a plan? (They do have salt lick...)
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2 acres for 2 wethers is way to much I'm afraid. Rams and ewes have a natural cycle, the ewes lamb and loose a lot of weight and then spend the rest of the year putting it back on. The rams are usually so focussed on their job that when in with the ewes they sometimes forget to eat and can drop a large amount of weight - and then spend the rest of the year outing it back on. Wethers (and non breeding ewes) don't have this cycle so they can out an awful lot of weight on which is very unhealthy for them.
I have 4 fat 2yr old ewes on one acre of previously grazed (not much grass) field at the moment and they don't seem to be loosing any weight.
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Wow, thank you Anke.
Really helpful advice, really is appreciated. It's a learning curve lol.
At the moment they feed exclusively on pasture. They used to also have access to hay all year round in the past, as they had limited and low quality pasture. Now though, they have 2 good acres between 2 of them. So my plan was to just put hay in their shelter over the winter potentially So, no concentrates, pasture and maybe hay too over the winter. Sound like a plan? (They do have salt lick...)
Hay only if thick snow (they will be able to scrape through a good couple of inches of snow to get to the grass beneath) or if ground frozen for more than a day. If you start feeding hay when not needed (or even if it is) you will find that they may get a bit vocal whenever they see you and want more....
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As above, if they’ve plenty of grass they shouldn’t need hay. I wintered 10 ewe lambs out on grass alone last winter, old permanent pasture, they had a feed block as they were still growing but not a shred of hay. And they came out of winter looking fab.
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I just wrote about minerals on another thread. Linky (https://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=110697.msg746314#msg746314)