[melholly]

Dear all,

I've asked this question twice today - in a country store and with a farmer and got conflicting answers! I have 7 sheep - 5 are this years lambs, 2 will have a visit from the ram next month. We are in the SE and have plenty of high quality pasture. My winter plan was to leave them as much to nature as possible on the grass (though I know it's nutitional content decreases) and supplement with a mix of some sheep nuts, a mineral lick and some hay/haylage. It was when going to order some hay that I was asked if I had any straw (which I do - an abundance of it) and was told straw was just as fine in place of hay/haylage as I was supplementing with nuts and a lick anyway...

Any experiences and opinions welcome!

Mx

[Fleecewife]

I would say that it depends on how severe a winter you get.  Sheep certainly love to eat straw so if there is plenty of grazing available and with your sheep nuts and lick then it could be enough, but if there is deep snow lying for any length of time then I think some good hay would be better, for your bred ewes at least.  You wouldn't need many bales - up here our ewes go through on average 5 small bales a winter each, starting in..well now usually but it's mild here and we have lots of grass so they are not getting any yet.  They usually have ad lib hay until April. So your two probably only need a handful of bales to see them through, and you will probably not have much snow I would think.  So get in a couple of small bales for emergencies but otherwise let them top up on straw, as you have it.

[shep53]

YOU can winter sheep only on straw but it must be top quality, very bright yellow ,no mould,with lots of green material, unlike hay/haylage the sheep will only eat 50%--70% of a bale so never need bedded. They also need a high protein supplement, minerals . Tried it a couple of times pouring pot ale syrup or mollases on top of the straw to help as a laxative and encourage consumption, needed large amounts of straw and the waste in the pen was difficult to handle.

[VSS]

Sheep will eat straw quite happily - barely or oat straw is better than wheat. You do have to remember though that there is very little nutritional value in straw so you will need to compensate to some extent by giving more concentrate /  licks than if you were feeding hay.

[SteveHants]

You don't say how much ground you have - you'll get sheep through winter with no additional feeding on just over 1 animal per acre. It also depends on the breed you have - I tend to only feed hay to my Wiltshires, but they are pretty thrifty. All my sheep have access to a mineral lick too.

[SallyintNorth]

It was when going to order some hay that I was asked if I had any straw (which I do - an abundance of it) and was told straw was just as fine in place of hay/haylage as I was supplementing with nuts and a lick anyway...

In those circumstances I would think good barley or oat straw would be adequate, yes.  As Fleecewife says, have some hay in store in case of bad weather.  If at any time you think they are not doing well enough, offer some hay.  They'll soon show you if they need it!

[Sylvia]

My Shetlands put two fingers up at hay last winter but belted into their ewe nuts. I didn't get them a mineral lick or one of those new-fangled buckets of all in one but as the oldest is now thirteen do you think I should?

[feldar]

We send our ewe lambs away on tack for the winter and they go to meadow pasture by a river. We don't feed hay or any supplement and they do just fine. Usually come back in spring well grown and happy, but it is good ground and is not grazed in the summer just hay made from it.
Our ewes get better treatment because they are heavy in lamb , they are supplemented and when it snows we feed hay, nto that they eat it all end up laying on it mostly!!

[Fleecewife]

My Shetlands put two fingers up at hay last winter but belted into their ewe nuts. I didn't get them a mineral lick or one of those new-fangled buckets of all in one but as the oldest is now thirteen do you think I should?

We bred a 15 yo last year and have a 16 yo and a few other ancients, as well as younger animals.  I would say that the Crystalix type buckets are good for general health, and for the old ladies we add in a 'sugar corn' bucket (from WCF - not sure if they are still making them) which provides as much sugary stuff as they can want.  Straight molasses I find very messy.  Our old ladies do very well on this, with coarse mix (easier on the teeth than ewe nuts), ad lib hay, straw bedding, grass, hedges etc.  We find they don't seem to overdo it, especially with the Crystalix.

[melholly]

That's fabulous all, thank you!

Got plenty of storage space so will get in some bales, as you say, 'just in case.' I gave them a touch of haylage from a bale I had left over from when I had the pony earlier in the year. They ate it - sort of, with plenty of waste and mess!! Tried a bit of straw and they've eaten more of it!

We have just over 5 acres - left 2 of these acres untouched all year (bar a mown path or two!) and plan to move the sheep in there next month as it's the field with the open barn and a shelter for them.

The one thing seemingly in no debate is the fact that a mineral type of lick is a must.

Thanks all.

Mx

[robert waddell]

how did you store the haylage that was left over when you had the pony
did secondery fermentation not take place

[ellisr]

how did you store the haylage that was left over when you had the pony
did secondery fermentation not take place

Think you are on the money with that one I have found once opened you have to use haylage pretty swiftly not that my lot would allow any to be left

[melholly]

Ahem!

'Secondary fermentation' Robert? Wayyy beyond my small hobby smallholding knowledge!  I just had 1 bag left over, opened slightly, wrapped it up and stored indoors etc. It looked fine when I took it out and sheep so far picked everything they wanted out of it...should I not have done this?? Eek!


Mx

[robert waddell]

wrapping stops the air from getting to the moist or wet hay/grass  it is the lack of air that preserves the feed once the air gets into the bale the fermentation starts again causing mould and sever problems for anything that eats it

[melholly]

oooo learning all the time on here! Thanks Robert!

Mx