Sheeps are hardy farm animals with high productivity. Cost-effective farms for the breeding of this type of small cattle are also due to the fact that at low cost for feed the sheep can quickly gain significant weight. In addition, these animals are also considered very undemanding to the conditions of detention.
Of course, many novice farmers would like to know how to feed the sheep during their breeding. When developing a diet for sheep, factors such as the age of the animals, their breed and productivity group should be considered.
Types of feed used
The diet for sheep on the farm should be made in such a way that the animals receive the entire set of nutrients, vitamins, trace elements, etc. necessary for their body. The feed used for keeping sheep is classified into three large groups:
Also, such MPCs on farms often receive compound feeds. Mixtures of this variety, in addition to concentrated ones, may contain roughage, as well as various kinds of mineral and vitamin supplements. In most cases, this type of sheep food contains a lot of protein and nutrients.
Succulent feed
This type of food is also an excellent answer to the question of how to feed the sheep. The advantage of succulent food for sheep is, first of all, that when it is eaten, the digestion processes in animals improve. In addition, when using food of this variety for sheep, the farmer gets the opportunity to save on expensive concentrates.
The advantage of feeds of this variety is primarily a slight degree of digestibility. Such food for sheep contains many vitamins, carbohydrates, nutrients. The following types of succulent feed are introduced into the diet of sheep on farms and in homestead farms:
silage;
root crops and tubers;
green grass.
The last variety in the summer is the main food of sheep. These animals are kept in most cases, of course, by the grazing method. Of root crops and tubers, sheep in private households are usually offered:
fodder beets;
potatoes;
turnip;
carrot.
It is also very useful to give these animals food waste - pruning and cleaning root crops and vegetables.
Silo, which is a very good answer to the question of how to feed the sheep, is a fermented green mass of plants. The main advantage of this type of juicy feed is its cheapness. Silage can be cultivated, for example, by such crops as corn, lupine, sunflower. Another absolute advantage of the silo is its long shelf life of 2-3 years.
Roughage
In summer, sheep eat mainly green grass. In winter, it is replaced with hay and straw. These types of feed are called coarse. The benefit of such food for sheep is primarily in the fact that it contains a large amount of fiber, protein and vitamins. For feeding sheep at home, such food is also useful because it is only slightly inferior to concentrates in nutritional value. At the same time, such food is much cheaper.
The most useful form of roughage for sheep is, of course, hay. Its farms are often harvested independently. The productivity of sheep in the winter season depends primarily on how high-quality animals will be offered hay. Harvesting grass for sheep should be correct. The hay offered to animals in winter should primarily be green. It is also impossible to give animals soaked or rotten food of this variety.
The most nutritious and biologically valuable type of hay is considered to be harvested from cereals. All kinds of sedges, thorns, etc. can significantly degrade the quality of this type of feed. Of course, poisonous or harmful herbs should not be present in sheep hay.
Quite often, grass flour is made from this type of roughage . Such a product is usually added to feed to improve their vitamin composition.
The answer to the question of how to feed the sheep, if there is not enough hay, is straw. It is used on farms in most cases only when there is a shortage of other types of rough food. The lack of straw is primarily considered a low protein content. Vitamins in this form of feed are completely absent. Sheep is only allowed to feed spring straw crops.
How to feed sheep on a farm: concentrates
The advantage of this type of food for animals is primarily high energy value. Concentrates are superior in nutrition to any other feed used for sheep. The disadvantage of food of this variety is primarily considered high cost.
A good answer to the question of how to feed the rams can be almost all types of cereals. The most energetically valuable type of concentrate is, of course, wheat. Of course, they give sheep and bran, which are waste from flour milling. The grain is fed to rams most often in the form of a crusher.
Sometimes sheep, in addition to wheat, are offered cheaper types of grain - oats or buckwheat. Also, in some cases, for these animals on the farms purchased and barley. However, such food is inferior in nutritional value to wheat. Barley, for example, is still considered the best answer to the question of what is the best way to feed French sheep or any other rabbit. Oats on farms are more often given to horses. In sheep, this type of grain is fed in most cases only in mixtures with wheat or animal feed. Oats are also often included in the diet of small lambs.
A farmer who wondered what to feed a ram for fattening, should also consider acquiring a sufficient amount of bean concentrates. Protein in peas, lupins, etc. contains almost as much as in wheat.
Compound feed
Any novice farmer should know how to properly feed sheep. It is very important, among other things, when breeding these animals to be able to choose high-quality feed for them. They are usually replaced on farms with pure concentrates.
This type of food for sheep, although it is very expensive, has a high energy value and balance. Compound feeds for sheep are made, as well as for any other farm animals, taking into account the requirements of GOST. In the preparation of such mixtures can be used, for example:
It is best for feeding sheep, rams and lambs to standard formulations prepared industrially. But in home gardens, such mixtures are often made independently. A homemade feed recipe, for example, can be like this (in terms of weight):
wheat - 15 parts;
feed barley - 10;
oats - 12;
grain mixture - 10;
bran - 20;
shredded stalks and baskets of sunflower - 5;
cake and sunflower meal - 7 each;
corn gluten and yeast - 5 each;
chalk - 1.3;
salt - 0.7;
tricalcium phosphate - 1.6.
Compound feed prepared in this way is perfect for sheep fed for meat. At the same time, it can be offered to animals of almost any age.
How to feed sheep for meat: consumption rates
The sheep diet should therefore be as balanced as possible. The norms of feed consumption for these animals depend primarily on what breed is grown on the farm. Sheep gain weight faster when using a large number of concentrates and hay. At the same time, the quality of the coat is most influenced by juicy feed.
The nutritional value of the food offered by the ram is determined in Russia at the moment mainly in oat feed units. Each type of food for animals contains a certain amount of valuable energy substances necessary for the body. Consumption rates for sheep should be calculated taking into account the amount of k.
Males and uterus usually receive the most food on farms. The answer to the question of how to feed rams at home from this group should also be the most high-quality food.
The percentage of feed for ram producers in the stall period, for example, usually happens as follows:
coarse - 35-40%;
juicy - 20-25%;
concentrated - 40-45%.
In kilograms, the daily diet of animals of this group is most often expressed as follows:
Diet in the first days of life
So, the better to feed the sheep, we found out. But what should be the diet of these animals, depending on age?
In the early days of life, the main food of lambs is colostrum. This product not only contains the necessary amount of substances necessary for the body of the newborn, but also helps to strengthen the immunity of babies.
Sometimes it happens that the uterus does not allow the lamb to come in or does not have milk. In this case, the baby is planted with another recently bred sheep. At first, the newly born lambs suck milk every 2 hours. If the kids do not leave their mother and beg for an udder all the time, they should be fed. The sheep may have had problems with lactation.
Used to feed small lambs, usually warm cow's milk. To increase nutrition and optimize the composition, a small amount of eggs and fish oil are added to it.
Juicy feed for lambs is given for the first time in the second week of life. Most often, kids are offered chopped beets and carrots. Also, dried apples and some other fruits can be used as vitamin supplements.
At the same age, concentrates are gradually introduced into the diet of lambs. In most cases, for the first time, lamb is offered flattened oats mixed with bran. For one lamb under the age of a month, 50 g of concentrates per day is usually consumed.
The diet of young animals in the summer
By two months, the stomach of the lambs is completing its formation. But they take away calves from the uterus usually only at 2.5 months. In any case, young animals should live in the same pen with a sheep until the age of not more than 4 months.
What can be fed sheep after weaning from the uterus? At 2.5 months, young sheep are usually already transferred to an adult diet. During this period, the lambs should receive both juicy and concentrated, and roughage. In the summer, such young animals, like adult sheep, are driven out to pasture. Such lamb should receive up to 3-4 kg of fresh grass per day. They are also supposed to give 0.2-0.4 kg of a mixture of concentrates. With age, the norms of grass eaten by lambs gradually increase to 6-7 kg. However, fresh greens in the diet of such sheep should include no more than 85%.
In order for the lamb to gain weight faster, pastures for them should be selected with the highest quality and nutritious grass. In summer, animals are supposed to give a small amount of concentrates, as well as succulent feed.
Stall ration
Of course, many farmers are interested in including how to feed the sheep in winter. By the time a young age reaches 8 months, a stall period usually sets in. At this time, the sheep begin to gradually transfer from grass to hay.
In the stall period, it is actually very important to decide what to feed the sheep. A detailed diet of these animals in winter is approximately as follows:
Schedule feeding of sheep during the stall period, farmers choose in most cases this:
Without fail, in the winter, pieces of salt are put in animal stalls. Its norm is 10-15 g per day.
The best types of feed
All types of food offered to sheep should be selected as carefully as possible. The best type of hay for sheep, as already mentioned, is considered cereal. However, good varieties of this food are also:
alfalfa hay;
clover;
sainfoin.
Legumes are considered the best straw for these animals. Sheep is also often given spring oat, barley and millet.
Of the concentrates, in addition to complex compound feeds, a mixture of legumes and grains in a proportion of 40x60 is often used for lamb. Silage is best suited for these animals. Of root crops, sheep in most cases are fed carrots, beets and pumpkins.
What can not be given
Thus, we figured out in detail what the rams eat. Feeding these animals involves the use of only quality products. In terms of nutrition, sheep are relatively unpretentious animals. However, it is still not recommended to give some types of feed to such MPC. You can’t offer sheep, for example:
hay of sour cereals - sedge, fine chinton;
dense and forest hay - horsetail, reeds;
sugar beets (to prevent the development of diabetes).
Small lambs are also not recommended to give bread. Vegetables to sheep in the feeders lay only in cut form.
Of course, in no case should you feed the sheep with rotten hay or root crops. It is not allowed to give these animals mixed feed that has changed color or smell.
Using premixes
Various kinds of additives for sheep are not used only when they are grown on industrial compound feeds. The composition of such mixtures usually already initially includes all the substances necessary for the animal organism. Otherwise, premixes must be included in the diet of sheep. The use of such additives allows you to:
reduce feed consumption on the farm by 15%;
strengthen the immunity of animals;
reduce the feeding period by 3-4 weeks.
Natural pasture selection
The green grass eaten by sheep, of course, should also be of the highest quality. Very good pastures are suitable for these unpretentious animals:
steppe;
mountain;
dry land.
Sheep is practically not thrown out into forest and swampy pastures. The grass most suitable for these animals grows on steppe lands of this type. It is in such places that the most useful for sheep cereal and bean herbs grow. The steppe pastures can be in satisfactory condition from spring to late autumn. Their advantages also include a variety of herbs.
Sheep is also often driven out to mountain pastures. Cereal and bean herbs in such places grows a lot. In addition, the pastures of this species in most cases are located next to rivers and streams. Consequently, the sheep are also provided with water directly next to the feeding place.
Dry pastures are located next to the rivers. Their main advantage is a large number of species of grasses that are excellent for sheep.
Sometimes such cattle are also driven out to meadow pastures. However, this is usually done only in the early spring. The disadvantage of this type of pasture is the presence of a large number of coarse grasses. Also in the meadows, sheep, unfortunately, are often infected with worms.
Artificial pasture for sheep
Sometimes it happens that the natural grazing located near the farm, to ensure proper nutrition of the sheep is not enough. To reduce the number of sheep in this case is not necessary. In such cases, artificial pastures are usually set up near the farm.
Such sites can be sown with both annual and perennial herbs. In Russia, clover mixed with cereals is most often planted on artificial pastures. In the northern regions alfalfa can also be used for sowing.
It is allowed to drive sheep to artificial pastures only in good weather. Immediately after rain or in the presence of dew on the grass, this cannot be done. Otherwise, sheep can become infected with tympanitis.