The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Clydeview1 on January 02, 2021, 07:50:48 pm
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Hello :wave:
I have 3 Ryeland Ewes due to lamb in March, this will be my first year lambing so I am looking for a bit of advice on how much and what to feed them in the last month or two of their pregnancy to avoid too many problems when lambing as they are currently a bit on the chubby side (typical ryelands) ::) At the moment they are just getting hay and they have a high energy bucket but no hard feeding, thanks for any replies :)
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Welcome!
I have Derbyshire Gritstones, a hill breed, who are quite well covered at the minute and also due to lamb the end of March.
They have just started hay and have a crystalyx energy bucket which will continue until after lambing.
This year I haven't scanned (normally do so I know what to feed) so I plan on condition scoring them regularly but will probably feed a 'cover all bases' of about 250-300g in the last 3 weeks of pregnancy. If any seem lean based on the condition scores they may get extra, earlier and be split up from the others.
I'd like to say they do well on minimal feeding as gritstones typically only have one, sometimes two lambs but last yea we have 30% triplets which required a lot of tlc hence the regular condition scoring this time.
Hope that helps :)
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Feeding is a real art! But I tend to feed my lleyns 1/4 kilo per lamb scanned plus energy buckets. But if your ryelands aren’t scanned, are in good nick and not to prone to having triplets, maybe just give them 150-200g for the last 2 weeks before they are due just to help their milk. But as I said everyone feeds differently, it’s a bit of trial and error really. I underfed my ewes one year due to inaccurate scanning and colostrum quality and lamb vigour really suffered.