The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: agri293 on April 09, 2012, 07:19:55 pm

Title: how much to feed pregnant ewes before and after lambing
Post by: agri293 on April 09, 2012, 07:19:55 pm

was looking for a bit of advice on feeding before and after lambing i know everything depends on how many lambs they are haveing and how much to feed ewes when you turn them out with there lambs cheers

Title: Re: how much to feed pregnant ewes before and after lambing
Post by: Hopewell on April 09, 2012, 08:00:17 pm

The answer depends on so many variables.
Are the ewes in or out?
What are they getting already - grass (good or poor grazing) hay or haylage?
What sort of sheep are they or if crossbreds then how big are they?
What condition score are they in?
When are they due to lamb?

Title: Re: how much to feed pregnant ewes before and after lambing
Post by: agri293 on April 09, 2012, 08:10:22 pm

hi there they are all x ewes there is not much grass because it has been so dry they are on haylage and mineral licks ad lib,i will lamb them inside i was just worried about how much to feed them when thet are feeding there lambs

Title: Re: how much to feed pregnant ewes before and after lambing
Post by: Foobar on April 10, 2012, 10:26:27 am

I have done lots of calculations on this, as most of the literature talks about 70 or 75kg ewes, but mine are 45kg.

What I did was take the table on page 7 of this, and percentage it down for my 45kg sheep:
http://www.eblex.org.uk/documents/content/returns/brp_l_sheepsbrp_manual_12_-_improving_ewe_nutrition_for_better_returns031210.pdf (http://www.eblex.org.uk/documents/content/returns/brp_l_sheepsbrp_manual_12_-_improving_ewe_nutrition_for_better_returns031210.pdf)

And I feed everything as if it has twins (I don't scan), as mine are usually 160-175% lambing.

I also set the week 0 date to be in the middle of my lambing period, so the later lamb'ers don't end up being over fed.  I'd rather have smaller lambs that birth easily than larger lambs which I have to help with.  I probably keep feeding after lambing until two weeks after the last ewe has lambed, or longer, depending on the weather/grass.

I also found this:
http://www.hccmpw.org.uk/medialibrary/publications/Feeding%20the%20Ewe%20e.pdf (http://www.hccmpw.org.uk/medialibrary/publications/Feeding%20the%20Ewe%20e.pdf)
which has more detail, esp on page 17.  If you are into your maths (as I am :)) you can do the ME sums, but it will turn out pretty much the same as the first method I mentioned.

I also used a Lifeline Ewe & Lamb tub for the first time this year, put in about 8 weeks before lambing.