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Safest way to feed sheep while I'm on vacation?


fpbear
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This is my first year with a small flock of Dorset sheep, and going on vacation for a week in October. They normally roam the field eating a wide variety of grass, leaves, and weeds. While I'm gone I plan to put them in the electrostop fenced area, but I'm not sure what is safest to feed them unattended. I'm afraid of all the stories I hear about bloating. In storage I have fresh bermuda hay, alfalfa hay, and grain.

 

I could change the diet gradually but the week prior to the trip will be very busy for me, so the simpler the better.

 

1) A pile of Bermuda hay. Enough nutrition to survive a week?

 

2) Include a pile of Alfalfa hay? Any chance of bloating?

 

3) Feed them grain? Bloating?

 

I wouldn't want to find a bloated sheep when I return but at the same time don't want to starve them either..

 

Thanks

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How many sheep? How big a pile?

 

Why can't they graze while you're gone?

 

Free choice grain is definitely out.

 

Do have arrangements for water and someone to check on them while you're away?

 

I have three Dorsets. The pile I have available fresh in the shed is 1 full-size bale of each - bermuda and first-cut alfalfa (easy to get more from the feed store if needed). Why I wouldn't let them graze while I'm gone - I am worried about coyotes (saw one chasing around the sheep one time) so I keep them inside electrostop electric net area every night, until we get a Maremma guard dog (puppy arriving in October). We have arrangements with our next door neighbor to check on them every day. I have an auto-top off for the water pail that has been quite reliable keeping the water replenished.

 

I am leaning toward putting the bermuda bale in the fenced area to be safe on bloating, or should I use alfalfa? I read conflicting articles; some say that sheep will never bloat on any kind of hay, and other articles say that sheep can bloat on alfalfa hay.

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How big is the electrostop area? Can you move the e-stop to an area with enough grass to sustain them.

 

On slightly-better-than-marginal native pasture, this time of year when everything is basically standing hay, a square one e-stop lenght (164') on each side would keep 3 of my sheep who were in decent weight fed for a week. These would be non-pregnant, non-aged, non-gaining (ie butcher lambs) sheep. Which means either my non-breeding rams & one old fat ewe who I keep around for her fleece.

 

My biggest worry when I go away is my sheep busting fences... but then again, I live on an island where we don't have coyotes.

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How big is the electrostop area? Can you move the e-stop to an area with enough grass to sustain them.

 

On slightly-better-than-marginal native pasture, this time of year when everything is basically standing hay, a square one e-stop lenght (164') on each side would keep 3 of my sheep who were in decent weight fed for a week. These would be non-pregnant, non-aged, non-gaining (ie butcher lambs) sheep. Which means either my non-breeding rams & one old fat ewe who I keep around for her fleece.

 

My biggest worry when I go away is my sheep busting fences... but then again, I live on an island where we don't have coyotes.

 

That is a good idea. My electrostop fence is also 164' and 48" height, but the larger Dorset jumped over it several times! It jumped over very easily, always on the first attempts. So I had to double- and triple-up the fence to prevent jumping, creating a small area to graze and restricting the type of terrain where I could put it so the slope won't let them have any height advantage.

 

I guess the key is how to prevent the sheep from jumping over. If I can solve that, I can use the whole fence area in any location and them just let them graze. Maybe it jumped because it was their first time with electrostop. Now, they have learned. I wonder if I should try again or if they are still at risk for jumping over (once a jumper always a jumper?).

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The fence-jumping Dorset needs to go.

 

What's a full-sized bale? Around here that could mean anything from a 35-pound small square bale to a 750 pound round bale.

 

Adult sheep need about 3.5 percent of their body weight in dry matter every day for maintenance. So if these are 150 lb ewes (and some of the show Dorsets could be much bigger than that) they would need 5.25 lbs of edible dry matter per day. That translates to about 6 pounds of hay per head per day, or about 18 lbs per day for three sheep. If you were going to be gone for 10 days, that's 180 lbs of feed.

 

However, if you simply dump 10 days worth of feed in their enclosure every day they will waste a great deal of it. You're much better off asking your neighbor to throw them a day's worth when he or she checks on them.

 

Sheep can eat alfalfa just fine, but it's often more than they need. Coastal bermuda grass is often low in protein. So a little of both would be ideal, but adult sheep in good condition can get by for a week with less protein than they really need as long as they have a chance to make it up later.

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