Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
6
Feeds and Feeding
THE OLD SAYING GOES, “You are what you eat,” and that's true for your
sheep, too. Good nutrition results in these advantages:
Higher levels of fertility and multiple births
Greater milk production and nursing ability
More wool production and better wool quality
Fewer troubled pregnancies and fewer health problems in general
Quicker lamb growth
Flocks that are malnourished, however, suffer from every imaginable
problem, including higher predation, disease, abortion, and premature lamb-
ing. Undersized lambs — those that haven't reached full size before birth —
have less chance of survival and lose more body heat after birth than do big,
healthy lambs.
Raising sheep is an effi cient way to convert grass into food and clothing
for humans, but pasture alone is seldom adequate to feed sheep 12 months
of the year. Thus, some supplements (grain, hay, minerals) are necessary.
Feeding time is also a good time to check on your sheep, feel the udders of
ewes close to lambing, and note eating habits, which greatly refl ect their
state of health. Count the sheep, particularly if you have any wooded pasture
where one could get snarled up or be down on its back and need help.
Digestion
Although a few “foods,” like sugar water, can be absorbed directly from the
stomach into the bloodstream, most foods are unusable until they are broken
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