Cattle and Sheep 100 Questions Ⅱ

What is the Appropriate Amount of Concentrate Feed Intake for Ewes to Control on a Daily Basis? (Reduce the Occurrence of Mastitis)?

Ewes with multiple lambs should be fed with 500g of refined food before delivery, and ewes with single lambs should be fed with 350g of refined food before delivery. Postpartum is determined based on the number of lambs produced. For postpartum ewes, 500g of concentrate per day for single lambs, 800g of concentrate for twin lambs, and 1.25kgs of concentrate for three lambs and above. Ewes should be weaned from feed and water or drink less water two days before weaning, and only hay should be provided three days after weaning to facilitate the absorption of milk.

Key points of feeding management for captive ewes：

What is particularly important is group feeding and feeding in stages. Ewes are divided into breeding period, pregnancy period, lactation period and empty pregnancy period. The main purpose of the breeding stage is to increase the breeding rate and embryo survival rate. Therefore, if we want the ewe to give birth to more lambs, then we need to provide the ewe with 400g to 500g of refined feed 20 days before and after breeding.

The pregnancy period is divided into early pregnancy and late pregnancy.

In order to prevent the occurrence of mastitis, we need to reduce the nutrient concentration of the feed or cut off the feed before weaning, and drink less water. We only provide hay for three days after weaning to facilitate the absorption of milk. Ewes during the pregnancy period can eat roughage freely, and depending on the grade of roughage, 100g-250g of concentrated feed can be supplemented every day.

When raising ewes well, the two most easily overlooked stages are the mating period and 1-2 months before giving birth. We must make these two stages the top priority. If goats are raised in captivity, it will be about 70% of the above feeding amount.