Those of you with Sheep ?

[willow bottom]

What kind of hay do hair sheep need high or low quality? I feed filler hay to my cows and supplement with WCS throughout the winter, but what about getting the sheep through winter? Trying to figure out if I can feed the same hay I feed to cows to my sheep.

 

[HDRider]

I feed the same Bermuda hay to my sheep that I feed my cows.

 

[Ebenezer]

Needs to be on the top end of cow hay or better. They will make the winter on sorry hay but the lamb crop will be lesser in many ways in the spring.

 

[Logan52]

Ebeneezer,
I agree with you on the hay needs of sheep. My problem is that my hay this year, alfalfa/grass, was cut overmature due to all the rain. My ewe lambs, bred to lamb at 13 months, will not eat it and scrounge the pastures all day looking for a bite of grass.
I am keeping up their condition by supplementing with a grain/byproduct feed formulated for sheep.
Will this work or do I need to go out and find some better hay at a price that is really too high to hope for a profit?

 

[callmefence]

Ebeneezer,
I agree with you on the hay needs of sheep. My problem is that my hay this year, alfalfa/grass, was cut overmature due to all the rain. My ewe lambs, bred to lamb at 13 months, will not eat it and scrounge the pastures all day looking for a bite of grass.
I am keeping up their condition by supplementing with a grain/byproduct feed formulated for sheep.
Will this work or do I need to go out and find some better hay at a price that is really too high to hope for a profit?

That's what hair sheep do. They would rather browse around in the brush than stand around a roll of hay. We rarely fed hay. Just browse and corn mixed with 3/8 range cubes as needed.
I will say if I was going to feed hay it would be hybrid Sudan or haygrazer. Its veri sweet Sheep will eat it better than grass hay.

 

[Logan52]

Thanks callmefence, but these are blackface wool ewes that tend to have twins and triplets in January. They are treated more like dairy cows hoping to have lambs ready to sell by May so as to hit the high market.
Always before I have had good soft alfalfa mix hay that they ate with a relish. I am afraid they will not scrounge enough browse and frosted on small bites of grass to do good with their lambs.

 

[greybeard]

I don't have sheeps and never have, but my b-i-l feeds his alfalfa pellets for the same reason callmefence mentioned haygrazer..his sheeps wouldn't eat coastal or bahia. . (they are hair sheep too)
I suspect he's losing his ax on those critters.those pellets aren't cheap.

 

[Ebenezer]

Hair sheep here, too, and they eat hay just fine. Ewes and resultant lambs will benefit from a bit more energy (whole corn, for example) in late gestation and if some increase of protein is needed then gets you into looking at corn gluten pellets or some other form of cheapest protein. The protein would be more critical to me in ewe lambs as compared to older ewes if hay is really sorry. But there is not a way to starve a profit out of a sheep.

 

[Logan52]

Thanks for the replies. They were helpful.

 

[Logar]

We never had hair sheep, however..........

We just sold our last 100 sheep not long ago. They were fed almost exclusively orchard grass - they loved it and lived outside - with well bedded shelter from wind and snow - down to minus 30 - 40 weather. Heated water troughs kept them drinking but I do admit to seeing them eat snow at times.

They stayed clean because of that and got about one pound of grain a day each plus second cut orchard grass when it dropped to about minus 10 and below as energy feed.

Lambing in the spring with triplets and quads being the norm - even had one give us 5 and they all lived - we would up the grain for the moms to about one and a half pounds per day - maybe a bit more. We never had health problems and they grew great wool.

We always fed round bales in specialized sheep feeders that were under cover to keep the hay clean from snow and ice.

Worked for us for years.

Best to you.

 

[willow bottom]

Hair sheep here, too, and they eat hay just fine. Ewes and resultant lambs will benefit from a bit more energy (whole corn, for example) in late gestation and if some increase of protein is needed then gets you into looking at corn gluten pellets or some other form of cheapest protein. The protein would be more critical to me in ewe lambs as compared to older ewes if hay is really sorry. But there is not a way to starve a profit out of a sheep.

Speaking of a protein source. Ever heard of anyone feeding WCS to sheep?

 

[Ebenezer]

Hair sheep here, too, and they eat hay just fine. Ewes and resultant lambs will benefit from a bit more energy (whole corn, for example) in late gestation and if some increase of protein is needed then gets you into looking at corn gluten pellets or some other form of cheapest protein. The protein would be more critical to me in ewe lambs as compared to older ewes if hay is really sorry. But there is not a way to starve a profit out of a sheep.

Speaking of a protein source. Ever heard of anyone feeding WCS to sheep?

Not that I know of.

 

[DallyCash]

Hair sheep here, too, and they eat hay just fine. Ewes and resultant lambs will benefit from a bit more energy (whole corn, for example) in late gestation and if some increase of protein is needed then gets you into looking at corn gluten pellets or some other form of cheapest protein. The protein would be more critical to me in ewe lambs as compared to older ewes if hay is really sorry. But there is not a way to starve a profit out of a sheep.

Speaking of a protein source. Ever heard of anyone feeding WCS to sheep?

Not that I know of.

Our show feed has some cotton seed in it. I don't know what percent, but there is some. In fact one person when to facebook wondering why there was wool in his feed. :roll: :roll: I never seen that much in there but there is some.

 

[Ebenezer]

Might be cotton seed hulls and not the whole seed. Apparently both can be fed and years ago we had feed with hulls and I think we bought straight hulls, too. Cotton seed cake was a big deal in the 60's and it came in pressed sheets about 2X3 +/-. All are good feed. If the feed has whole seeds, I would shy away from feeding it to rams near breeding season due to possible gossypol issues.

 

[HDRider]

Ebeneezer,
I agree with you on the hay needs of sheep. My problem is that my hay this year, alfalfa/grass, was cut overmature due to all the rain. My ewe lambs, bred to lamb at 13 months, will not eat it and scrounge the pastures all day looking for a bite of grass.
I am keeping up their condition by supplementing with a grain/byproduct feed formulated for sheep.
Will this work or do I need to go out and find some better hay at a price that is really too high to hope for a profit?

That is what I do. Mine is not special for sheep. It is half cracked corn and half 12% pellets. I talked to the mill to ensure no copper. I feed very, very little.

Mine browse all day too. My condition seems very good.

 

[skyhightree1]

What kind of hay do hair sheep need high or low quality? I feed filler hay to my cows and supplement with WCS throughout the winter, but what about getting the sheep through winter? Trying to figure out if I can feed the same hay I feed to cows to my sheep.

Mine eat same as cows before they are killed or sold I don't keep them all year not because of any particular reason just don't keep goats sheep or pigs through winter. If my animals cant all survive on the same feeds I won't have them this isn't burger king and they can't have it their way they can only have it my way. :2cents:

 

[Backbone Ranch]

When we first bought our sheep, we had them in a dry lot for 6 to 8 weeks, and fed them the same hay that we feed to our cattle. It consists mostly of bluestem, bermuda grass, with some legumes. They would eat that when it was the only thing around. Once we turned them out on pasture, they would not touch it. Even when there was an inch of sleet on the ground, they would walk by the hay without a second glance.