Day 29: Sheep And Goat Farming Part II: Feeding, Breeding, And Slaughter

Dear Student,

Today I’ll dive a little deeper into ovine care…

Feeding Sheep And Goats

Grazing is the easiest and cheapest way to feed your animals… but, as I mentioned yesterday, grass doesn’t usually grow well year-round in most parts of the world.

In cold climates, you can expect that for at least 160 days a year, you’ll need to supplement their forage with either grain or dried fodder (hay, silage, etc.). In warmer or tropical climates, you may never have to.

Dry Fodder

An adult sheep or goat consumes around 3.5% of its own weight per day in dry matter, which amounts to about 5 pounds of dry fodder at 10% moisture content—the number will vary based on moisture content and also on the overall quality of the fodder. If being milked, this increases to 7 or 8 pounds.

You can factor in slightly less for non-dairy goats.

By using these figures as a rule of thumb, you should be able to determine how much hay or silage you will need to keep for winter or the dry season. Based on the numbers I’ve given, you’d need 40 to 50 pounds of fresh grass to have enough hay; 70 to 80 pounds if milking your animals.

Again, be careful when feeding sheep straight alfalfa hay or silage, too much can lead to bloating and dead animals. (It’s not normally a problem with goats.)

Grain Supplements

These you can’t make yourself, so for economic reasons they should only be fed at strategic times of year: When you want to have your ewe on what is called a “rising plane of nutrition.”

Prior to breeding, you want your intended ewe to be gaining weight and strength leading up to the big day, significantly increasing her chances of conception. It also ensures she’s in the best condition possible for pregnancy, allowing her to produce more viable eggs and to birth stronger, healthier lambs for you.

Another time when supplemental feeding should be introduced (or stepped up if you have been supplementing all winter) is four to six weeks before lambing (birth). During this time, the lamb is growing tremendously fast inside of the ewe, so mother and baby both need extra nutrients. This also gives her a head start on milk production, ensuring she has plenty for the newborn.

While your lambs or kids are getting the best milk they can get (which is their only food source for the first few weeks), you could continue feeding with supplements for four to six weeks after birth. It will also keep the ewe healthy and keep her from being too far depleted.

During drought conditions or during particularly harsh periods of winter, it may be good to feed some molasses blocks to your animals. While not supplying any protein (unless laced with urea), they are a welcome source of energy and minerals that will contribute further to the herd’s health. These extras are especially beneficial for ewes, in particular in advance of being put to the ram or when coming up to lambing/kidding time.

The timings of these supplemental feeding practices hold true for cattle and pigs too.

It’s good practice to introduce any change in diet to the animal slowly, giving the rumen (one of their stomachs) time to adjust and facilitating a smooth, healthy transition.

It’s also a good idea to “creep feed” lambs and kids so they might be weaned a little earlier. This takes some of the feeding burden away from the mother, helping to keep her in good shape for the next breeding cycle. This is easy to do, just mark out a small enclosure and give it a gate that’s designed to let only small animals through. Put some concentrate feed in there that only the lambs can get to.

As lambs are gaining weight and getting close to slaughter, it’s common to feed a grain supplement to help fatten them. This will get them to size quicker and off to market sooner.

If you are producing only for yourself and have plenty of grass, additional feeding is entirely optional.

Pasture Management

It is always best to start feeding a couple of weeks earlier than is really necessary in the winter and to carry on a couple of weeks after the grass starts to grow. During these periods, the grass is at its weakest, either running out or just beginning to grow. It’s also when grazing is at its most voracious. If you let your livestock run rampant at these times of year, you’re sure to overgraze your pasture and you’ll do severe damage to the grass beds.

Protein banks are another effective method of supplementing your forage crops. So is planting turnips, kale, and other feed plants that can be efficiently self-fed to sheep and goats using a movable electric fencing system. Be careful when planting turnips for dairy animals, as prolonged feeding can taint the milk.

Another idea is to make hedges with protein bank plants. These plants and forage banks should be situated on the outside of any sheep netting around the perimeters of your farm. You’ll allow access to the sheep with your electric fencing as you are inclined. (This stops goats from destroying them and allows for constant regeneration.)

Kids And Lambs

The first milk a kid or lamb takes is known as colostrum. It has a higher protein and antibody content than any other milk the ewe will lactate, and it’s only available for the first few hours after birth. Plus, a lamb or kid’s ability to absorb these antibodies disappears due to physiological changes after this vitally important window closes.

This first drink is essential, ensuring the animal’s good health throughout its life. It is always wise to keep a couple of pints of colostrum in the freezer for emergencies. If a ewe has no milk at the time of birth, you’ll need to feed a newborn this yourself if you want it to thrive. Colostrum is vital to all ruminant mammals (cattle, sheep, antelopes, deer, giraffes, and their relatives) and must be fed to all newborns either naturally or by way of a tube or bottle.

Castration of males should be carried out within a day or two of birth, and must be done within a week of birth at the latest (a legal requirement in many countries). Using rubber castration rings is the easiest and cleanest way of achieving this.

Slaughter

Slaughter of a sheep or goat is much less daunting than that of a fully-grown steer…

Again, though, for the first slaughter, I recommend you have someone experienced carry out the killing and butchering with you assisting. The second time, do it yourself, with your instructor assisting. The third time you can do it yourself.

There are plenty of instructional videos available on YouTube, but no video can prepare you for your first try. Make it easy on yourself and the animal and don’t try this without some personal experience first.

The same tools are required:

• Sharp knives
• Sharpening stones
• Buckets and a chiller
• Gun (optional)

Because of the smaller size of a sheep or goat, tanning their skins becomes much more of a realistic accomplishment than tanning cow hide… assuming you make a reasonable job of skinning the animal and getting it cured quickly.

Instead of trying to tan a cow hide as your first attempt, practice your technique on a goat or sheepskin first.