[Womble]

Hi all, can anybody tell me how long a piece of string is?

No?

OK, well how about "How much extra coarse mix should a ewe have during snowy conditions compared with normal winter weather?"

What I mean is, say you're on a feeding regime of X grams per day of feed, what would you change that to during extreme weather conditions?  On one hand I don't want to starve them, but equally I don't want to overdo it and end up with lambing difficulties. They're currently a month away from lambing and have ad lib hay and adequate if not amazing shelter.

Thanks folks! 

[SallyintNorth]

I've doubled the cake (grass pellets) ours are getting while the ground is frozen solid, plus doubled the quantity of haylage I give them.  Ad lib hay as always (but we're using 2016 hay.)  And salt and mineral / molasses licks.  And we're carting warm water out to all the stock three times a day; they can't eat and digest much hay if they're not drinking water

If I had any amount of haylage, I'd have probably just upped the cake by 50% and given them ad lib haylage, but I know the supplier hasn't been able to get through to the agri store with more haylage so am eeking it out a little bit.

However, although the current conditions here are highly reminiscent of those I thought I'd left behind in Cumbria , this is Cornwall and we are only expecting it sub-zero for a few days.  I might be a bit more cautious with the cake if I thought it would be weeks.

It's certainly worth making sure the pregnant ladies have plenty to sustain them in the awful conditions; physiological stress can tip them into metabolic disturbances, so we need to help them weather these extremes.

[Womble]

OK, thanks Sally. That's pretty much what we've done so far anyway, so it's nice to know that we weren't too wide of the mark.

Luckily I've got plenty of coarse mix in. The bad news is that with no grass in sight, I've just worked out that we'll be out of hay in another two weeks and I'm not sure anybody has any left to sell (it was hard enough to get hold of in September!)  . Now I really don't know what the hell to do if that happens!!

[Dogwalker]

Hi all, can anybody tell me how long a piece of string is?

Twice as long as half of it!

keep warm

[Womble]

OK, maybe I asked the wrong question since you're all smallholders  . Does anybody know the length of a piece of bailer twine? Oh, and is it ok to feed sheep bailer twine once I run out of hay?

[landroverroy]

In the prelambing period my sheep have constant access to a Rumenco high energy and protein block. The theory is that when they need nutrition more they will eat more of the block. It is also meant to make their digestion of fibre more efficient, (Encourages rumen bugs) and it is the digestion of fibre that keeps them warm. I find it works well as they can eat little and often and they're certainly eating more of the blocks this weather.

[crobertson]

We've started feeding ours last weekend (4 weeks pre lambing) with approx 1/2 lb a head per day which tied in with the start of the bad weather. Don't want to feed too much, Gritstones are a hill breed and have a lower lambing percentage so trying to avoid difficulties.

I've set up a run and given them the option of coming into the shed as the field had some serious drifts so haven't upped feed really as they seem to just be putting their feet up in there ! They also have a Crystalyx EHE in with them

[Marches Farmer]

All our sheep are getting ad lib hay and the ewes are in the shed on the ration they'd normally get.  Since they're native breeds and in full fleece they're on their normal ration for this stage in pregnancy.  One old ewe with twins and a Badger Face first-timer with triplets have been in the shed for a month and began the 6-week twin-bearing feed run up a month early.  Lambing here due to start tomorrow but the first lamb was suckling in the shed this morning, to a Southdown first-timer.

[shep53]

Womble as the lambs get bigger and you increase the amount of coarse mix , then the amount of hay  consumed  will decrease  and hopefully the grass will start growing .

[Foobar]

I doubled my sheep feeding during the snow but doubled it with sugar beet nuts rather than ewe nuts, for energy rather than protein.

[Dans]

We had previously been offering coarse mix or ewe nuts when the weather dipped to cold, but the sheep are normally on just hay and grass (not in lamb). We didn't add any hard feed this cold snap as I read that it takes a while for the sheep's metabolism to adjust to the hard feed and that they get a lot of warmth from the rumen working on the hay/grass. We just made sure they never ran out of hay.

I have to admit I'm still a bit bamboozled by all the different sheep feeds (ewe nuts, coarse mix, sugar beet, grass pellets and also supplementing with home grown fodder). Does anyone know of a good guide I can look at to tell me the benefits/disadvantages of the different types of feed)? The breeder we got the sheep from kept them on pretty much grass and some hay, and the feed merchant just suggested coarse mix when we went in.

Dans

[Foobar]

[member=25651]Dans[/member] this is a good place to start:
http://beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/returns/nutrition-and-forage/
Some excellent reading in there - you might be there a while though

[SallyintNorth]

With your Castlemilks you’re almost certainly right to feed forage only and not a hard feed.  They’re not a highly productive animal.

With in-lamb sheep close to lambing I’d want to give something extra in the extreme weather we had last week, because physiological stress can be a killer in the later stages of pregnancy.  But you’re absolutely right that it needs to be something they’re already used to digesting, which is why in Cumbria I did feed a little hard feed throughout the winter, so I could keep them fit if we did get an extreme event.  Now I’m in Cornwall the pregnant ewes get a molasses-and-mineral lick and some grass pellets.  The former because all pregnant sheep need plenty of sugar and minerals in the last 6-8 weeks, and the latter because it’s as similar to their natural forage as I can give them, but does mean I can up their rations when there’s a weather event.  I put my experienced ewes to a Romney tup this time, so they’re working harder than they would if they had a tup if their own type.  And I’d feed a little to first timers anyway, just to be sure they don’t struggle and have plenty of milk.  But when that weather came in, I was so glad I’d got them on grass pellets and could double that by giving it twice a day. 

[Dans]

Thank you I'll check it out. It's alright, I'm used to having to do lots of reading.   

Dans

[Penninehillbilly]

I've been feeding mine twice a day, but hay only, and energy feed, not due to lamb till beginning of May.
Glad to drop to once a day now grass is showing again. They aren't waiting at gate mow.