Sheep ration changes necessary for different stages of production

URBANA, Ill. — Tags on bags of livestock feed must meet specific standards.

“The Association of American Feed Control Officials has published feed tag guidelines so every feed tag has to meet standards for crude protein, fat, fiber, calcium and phosphorus,” said Darren Seidel, technical sales manager and nutritionist for ADM.

“Energy is the driving force for feeding ewes,” said Seidel during a presentation at Illinois Sheep Day, hosted by Illinois Lamb and Wool Producers at the University of Illinois. “Their goal is to raise lambs.”

A dry ewe versus an ewe in peak lactation are two ends of the energy spectrum.

“Maintenance versus an ewe 21 days after the lamb is born is almost a two times difference for energy demand,” Seidel said. “Your sheep have different requirements on a daily basis, so feed them accordingly.”

The “magic” of what makes sheep able to graze, the nutritionist said, is the all the microbes inside the rumen.

“They have enzymes that can break down what we can’t use as humans out of the grass,” Seidel said.

“A 150-pound ewe will consume 2% of her body weight on a dry matter basis or about 3 pounds of dry matter,” he said. “Most of the pasture grass in Illinois for total digestible nutrient value is going to be over 50% on a dry matter basis.”

Ewes can only consume a certain amount of dry matter a day.

“If an ewe has twins and she’s a heavy milker, then the pasture alone can’t do the job,” Seidel said. “The three pounds of dry matter doesn’t change because she has lambs so the energy of what you feed her needs to change to compensate for her new demand.”

“I’m not telling you to dump a bunch of corn in from of your ewes,” he said. “If you shift the rumen quickly, all the bugs that are able to use the nutrients change rapidly, so it’s all about keeping it in balance.”

Water is vital for all livestock.

“If you look at a water trough and it makes you want to vomit, you probably don’t want your sheep drinking from that, either,” Seidel said. “If it’s their only source, they’re going to get thirsty enough to drink out of it.”

Shepherds should visually inspect water troughs on a routine basis.

“If they’re not drinking out of the trough, there’s something wrong with it,” he said.

Protein is typically the most expensive part of the ration for a sheep flock.

“But I’ve never seen a market like this for protein,” Seidel said. “Protein is relatively cheap compared to what it was three years ago, but it is still the most expensive component.”

The most difficult aspect of free-choice mineral is the sheep must eat it.

“Palatability is a key factor for minerals and vitamins,” Seidel said. “So, please track the intake on your farm.”

Providing a free-choice mineral to sheep is important.

“There’s not one soil type in the United States that can provide all the essential minerals and vitamins so they have to get it from their feedstuffs,” Seidel said.

“Sheep are the most sensitive animal when it comes to copper, but they do have a small requirement for copper,” he said. “For metabolic purposes, copper cannot be completely out of the sheep diet, but they will get some copper from the environment.”

Seidel encourages shepherds to test their hay.

“Nobody knows how good the hay is by looking at it, so for $10 to $15 that’s a huge ROI for making decisions,” he said. “If you know what you’re missing, you can supplement the ewes for energy or protein.”

Although corn and soybeans have been the “backbone” for a lot of livestock rations, Seidel said, there are many other ingredients that can be put into rations such as wheat midds, cottonseed, distillers grains, corn gluten, corn germ meal, corn oil and steepwater.

“Wheat midds are a really nice ingredient and are probably in a lot of your sheep feeds,” he said. “They are very digestible and a really good fiber source.”

For dried distillers grains, Seigel told producers to ask for the true crude fat value.

“The industry is changing, so the distillers grains today are not the same as 10 years ago,” he said. “Some of the corn oil is getting spun out, so the energy value has changed.”