Can anyone inform me about the number of bales of hay required per sheep per day for winter feeding. We live in S.W. Va. and have Tunis sheep. As you can tell we are new to the game... Thanks!!!. Fishdawg at Look - Away Farm

-- Fishdawg (gold@rcs.k12.va.us), October 02, 2001

Answers

well that will vary-upon how tightly baled the hay is and the kind etc.

what I can tell you is that we put a large tight bale of hay in the paddock two weeks ago-and our fourteen sheep and one goat have it about half gone-well, less than that. We wanted to get an idea wbout how much to get for winter.

Now last winter we wre using small square bales-and we used lespedeza- which they loved. we would go through a bale in about five days-but we had four goats and only ten sheep.

For what ist is worth-stick to mixed grass hays-they seem to like that best.

Hope that helps a little bit-feel free to email if you have q's.

Sarah

-- Sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), October 02, 2001.

Well, for a cow the general rule is 3% of body weight and that reduces if they are getting grain as well. I would think sheep would eat hay in similar percentages.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), October 02, 2001.

We also have tunis sheep and last winter we used approx. 1 bale of mixed hay per week to feed six tunis ewes and one tunis ram and one pygmy goat,hope this helps,we supplamented with shelled corn and oats mixed at approx 1/2lb. per day per animal and they did well on this.Julie

-- Julie (nelson3@bright.net), October 04, 2001.

Thanks to all!!! I think we have a good base upon which to build. Julie, you didn't give any indication of location, which affects hay consumption ( climate). In the Bonds of the Old South, Fishdawg

-- Fishdawg (gold@rcs.k12.va.us), October 05, 2001.