[charls]

We are brand new to keeping sheep, having got our first Welsh Mountain ewes last week and introducing a borrowed ram yesterday. We have 2 acres of decent, well drained grazing land, at 1000ft in Wales. Originally we planned to get 4 ewes, however, the grass was really lush, so our local farming friends advised we may want to hard graze it over the winter so it grows back nicely next year. So in the end we have brought 10 ewes, and plan to sell half of them with lambs at foot (fingers crossed) next Spring. Anyway, my question is - how do you know when the grass has been sufficiently grazed and you have to either move them to another paddock / supplement their feed? Can you tell if sheep are hungry? 

[devonlad]

probably lots of ways to tell- if there not eating enough then obviously condition will deteriorate, hungry underfed sheep also tend to escape more often, or try to. we don't supplement with cake except in run up to lambing but through the winter I keep a hay rack available- they will usually eat grass in preference, so it can be a good way of telling you state of grass if they're scoffing lots of hay. Our sheep only tend to eat hay when  the ground is snow covered. not much knowledge of welsh mountain but I would imagine that  a breed used to scrubbing around on high slopes will cope better than lowland sheep on poorer pastures- I'm sure someone will correct this if I'm wrong. would always ensure that mineral licks or buckets are available as strong chance your grass alone won't have all the essential nutrients and minerals they need.

[lachlanandmarcus]

I find once they really have eaten everything, thistles and all, the sheep start calling to me when they see me (even those who haven't ever had any hand feeding), I know it's time to move them then. Or, try them with a bit of hay, sheep will always eat grass in preference so if they fall on the hay and wolf it down with no waste, they are hungry :-) hth

[moony]

Grazing hard works better in March/April time with hoggs rather than inlamb ewes- so that they are almost licking mud. Wouldn't graze ewes on lush pasture now and then nothing over winter as you will probably end up with a lot of lambing issues, They will however cope with it better than most breeds as they are designed for poorer pasture - its the lush input now if they haven't already been tupped that may be the issue. If they all have singles you will get away with it. You will probably know depending on your boundaries when a mountain sheep gets hungry as it will move to its own pastures.

[smallflockshearing]

Hungry Welsh mountains? - they'll let you know.  Either via the disgruntled owner of the nearest available pasture or by some direct harassment of you.
Try strip grazing, moving the wire on when they get restless.  You'll gauge it soon enough.

[VSS]

10 ewes on 2 acres at 1000ft from now until spring might be pushing it abit. Still if you run low on grass, you could always sell some of them in lamb. At least you have sensibly chosen a local breed so they should sell ok in your local market without too much trouble.

Where abouts in Wales are you?

[charls]

Ah thanks everyone! Yes I agree, 10 ewes on this amount of land is a lot, we know we'll have to supplement their feed with hay/cake anyway. I was happy to get just 4 to begin but we were convinced to get more by some local farmer friends. Strip grazing sounds like a plan - just got to find some reasonably priced electric fencing now! We're in north wales, not far from Denbigh