[Cjnewton82]

I have 12 small sheep i was wondering if someone could give me a vague idea how many bails i will need a week to feed them thought the worse of the winter

[MarvinH]

No idea but get double what you think you will need.

[Hevxxx99]

Agreed!

Commercial hill flocks allow one bale per sheep in this part of the world, which seems a tiny amount to me but I suppose it all depends if they are on (almost unlimited) good rough grazing, as in their case, or housed.

[Foobar]

2-4 small bales per ewe over winter.  It will depend on the weather and where you live obviously!

[firther]

I think i used a lot more to be honest, 27 sheep were going through 4 to 5 bales a day at 1 point

[lachlanandmarcus]

I tend to use one small bale a day for about 20 smallish sheep on exposed Scottish hillside. So maybe for a week for 12 you might use about 4 small bales, or 5 to be on the safe side.

[Cjnewton82]

OK that's. fine around the number I was thinking. How many months do people feed there sheep over?? I was thinking  dec, jan, feb. also what is best Most economic  way to feed them they are lawn mowers So don't want to spend millions!!! Lol

[lachlanandmarcus]

Up here in NE Scotland we are feeding some hay in Nov and then through til end of March but still offer it in April but they eat a lot less. If feeding small bales I put it out daily into a wheeled hay rack, that has a roof to stop it getting spoiled by rain and a grid so they can't pull out loads in one go.

Big bales are cheaper despite more wastage but need something to move then around and a big bale ring holder.

[Castle Farm]

Depends on the weather conditions. Grass covered in snow or frozen wont feed any sheep. Waste should be kept to a minimum by racking and keeping the hay dry.

Hay taken late in the stalk, as opposed to in the leaf will be disgarded by the sheep unless they are hungry and pulled out and trampled.
Feeding towards lambing must be top priority, better to use another bale than lose a lamb or ewe for lack of condition.

Use red tub suppliments if your hay isn't a good sample.

[smallflockshearing]

Depends on quality of hay, depends how it is fed to them, depends what other feed is available (and weather, copying CF)...

Like Castle Farm says, they ideally need good grass leaf, preferably early season.  Feed the minimum at a time once you gauge what they need, if feeding small bales, since they waste loads (ungrateful so-and-so's), and for best economy use a feeder off the ground preferably under shelter (moving it regularly if you are really keen to preserve your pasture).  If you are feeding round bales direct, I would bank on 3-4 over winter for 12 smallish sheep if covered from the weather and some other grazing is available, and keep mineral buckets out there.  If you have a Mole Valley branch nearby, try them on 'Super Energy 16 plus fish oil' buckets out of amusement (£££!) - it is the ultimate sheep lollipop, they demolish tubs of the stuff and fight over it.  Add in a daily dose of cake/nuts and they will be happy. 

Technically, a ewe needs around a kg of dry matter per day, rising to 1.5kg in late gestation.  Good hay is 80-90% dry matter, so an average non-gestating ewe would need 170-190kg of hay over a 5-month period...  but as JS says, double it to account for wastage...  I know, you do the maths and get 4 tonnes of hay for 12 ewes over 5 months.  But, you'd be surprised at the weight of grass left on the ground and the contribution of supplements.. (and, the fact that us humans are odd in expecting to maintain our dietary intake over winter)...

Start feeding them when the grass has run down - maybe late Nov early Dec, and keep feeding until the daytime temperature reliably stays over 6degC again.  Even if they are 'only' lawnmowers, if you skimp toooo much on feed then the pasture will be so depleted that the grass won't get going again in the spring before the weeds take over.

[devonlad]

like most we've found it to be an extremely inexact science totally depending on weather and stocking rate. last winter it was pretty mild down here and we used absolutely no hay- to be precise the sheep ate none. every so often i would empty out the hay rack and put in fresh stuff. the year before was much more wintry and we were getting through a couple of bales a week for our small flock of 12. we usually feed cake for a month in the run up to the tup going in- Oct -Nov and then dont feed until 6 weeks before lambing- mid feb onwards. we're not intensive so can probably get away with it

[SallyintNorth]

We feed hay at a rate of one bale per 30-40 commercial-type sheep per day when they have access to grazing; double that plus cake if the ground is frozen / under snow.  Generally we don't need to offer hay until December or New Year unless we get an early freeze.

(Note that when I say 'small bales' I mean good solid well-packed ones, like the ones we make - about 40 to the tonne.)

So if I had 12 sheep and wanted to be sure I had enough for a tough winter, I'd get 70 small bales in stock.  (Or 1.75T if buying by weight.)  I wouldn't expect to use all of that but would have enough to handle a good month-long freeze plus a normal winter and probably lambing too, with a bit left over towards next year.

If your feeding regime is wasteful then maybe it would be best to increase that to 2T or more.  After you've got through one winter you'll have a better idea of what you really use, for another year.  And hay will last from one winter to the next as long as it's stored properly.  In fact, horsey people generally prefer 'year-old' hay.

[SteveHants]

If you can get crap hay for next to nothing, get that - I have some 3 seasons old that the sheep will eat, chuck out a lick bucket to balance it. As long as the grass isn't too short, sheep will eat it through the snow and utterly ignore hay. But then, I do only put 1.5 sheep/ac in winter.

[SallyintNorth]

Our sheep will eat our hay whenever it's offered.  But then, we make good hay. 

Up here, farmers reckon there's precious little feed value in the grass after Christmas, so any livestock, particularly pregnant or lactating livestock, need additional fodder then.

The licky buckets are great for making sure they are getting minerals and, in the last 6 weeks of pregnancy, enough sugar.  But our vet refers to them as 'boiled sweets', ie., not a nutritionally balanced diet.  If I was feeding crap hay I'd also feed cake in the last 6 weeks of pregnancy; if I had good hay and the sheep are in good shape, then I may feel I can do without the cake, particularly for single-bearers.

[SteveHants]

Our sheep will eat our hay whenever it's offered.  But then, we make good hay. 

I don't make any - people give me stuff that isn't good enough for their horses or bales that are slightly spoiled, knowing I'll pull them part when I feed them anyway. I tend to use a mineral-y type bucket (as opposed to a high energy one) in the hope it'll balance the nutrition out. Seems to work OK for me, and my sheep always look ok (having said that, I do like them to lamb at CS2-2.5).


Lambing an April, I would usually (last year being the exception) expect them to have enough grass to feed them before lambing, given that the earliest my tups go in is bonfire night.