What Do Sheep Eat? Keeping Your Sheep Healthy Will Require a Certain Diet

So you've made up your mind to learn how to raise
sheep for their produce such as for meat or their
wool. Part of having a good livestock produce is
by maintaning your sheep healthy and well fed.
So what do sheep eat?

Generally sheep are grazers and prefer to eat
grass, clover and weeds. But they also eat a
variety of plants that other livestock may
refuse and would even eat plants you don't want
to eat like leaves from your vegetable plot.
Sheep should least eat around two percent of its
body weight per day. However, pregnant ewes
should be given a litter more than this. Protein
requirement is only about 8 to 10% of its diet.

What do sheep eat during winter or dry season?
Sheep that are kept in farm land are usually fed
from pastures. A pasture is vegetation-covered
plot of land that is used for grazing by farm
and ranch animals such as horses, cattle and
sheep. During the seasons when grass is
unavailable for pasture grazing or is
insufficient in supply, feeding grass hay is
enough to maintain the food requirements of
mature sheep. Hay is cut and dried forage and
has many variations in species but is usually
differentiated by their maturity when they are
harvested.

When should grain be fed to sheep?
Feeding grain to a mature sheep should be done
gradually and in controlled amounts. Too much
grain intake in its diet can cause your sheep to
develop heath problems such as over eating and
urinary calculi. Feeding grain to sheep is like
feeding kids candy; they are addicting and cause
obesity in sheep. Grain should only be fed to
sheep occasionally and as special treats or when
they still lambs.

What should you know when choosing feeds for
sheep?
When choosing feeds, make sure that they are
made for sheep and do not mix them with other
feed products that aren't made for sheep. Some
feeds that are made for other animals such as
those made for goats may contain ingredients
that bad for sheep to eat.

What do sheep eat when they are young lambs?
More nutritional variation of feeds and grains
are added to the regular diet of sheep during
its first 12 months. It is also okay to add
grain to a lamb's diet. This will help improve
their potential for growth.

What do sheep eat when they are pregnant?
Avoid feeding ewes you plan to breed clovers,
alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil because it may
delay estrus, which is equivalent to the
menstrual cycle of humans. The amount of food
given to a pregnant ewe should also vary to
maximize egg production and size of its
offspring. For example it is best for ewes to
gain weight during the first two weeks and last
week of its pregnancy to achieve this goal.

Lastly, always keep clean drinking water
available because sheep, unlike cattle, do not
drink dirty water. Having sufficient water also
helps prevent the development of kidney stones
in male sheep.

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eat and raising sheep? Separate yourself from
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