Feeding sheep isn’t terribly complicated or difficult, but there are a few important principles to understand to help keep your animals happy, healthy and productive.

Key Takeaways

• Sheep are grazing animals and should receive most of their diet from quality pasture or forage.
• Grain and other concentrates should be introduced gradually and fed only as needed for the animal’s age, condition and stage of production.
• Provide sheep-specific mineral supplements, and take special care to avoid excessive copper.
• Sheep need constant access to clean, fresh water.
• Clean, properly designed feeders can reduce wasted feed and help limit exposure to parasites and disease.

1. Start With Quality Forage

Sheep are designed to eat forage. They are grazers like cattle rather than browsers like goats. Sheep graze an average of 7 hours a day, primarily around dawn and in the late afternoon, and they prefer pasture grasses and broad-leaf plants, though some hardy breeds nibble leaves and tender brush.

Sheep aren’t designed to eat high-concentrate diets based on grain, though some sheep, including lambs, late gestation and lactating ewes, and elderly sheep, need a measured amount of concentrates, especially when kept on marginal pasture. Unless you’re good at formulating nourishing rations, stick to bagged commercial sheep grain products. Or, before mixing your own, discuss your needs with a nutritionist at your state agricultural college or your county extension agent, who can advise you based on the forage you feed, the class of sheep you’re feeding and foodstuffs available in your locale.

When adding grain, go slowly. This is true of all dietary changes. The microbes in sheep’s rumens (the first, large chamber in their digestive tracts) need time to adjust to new feeds. Abrupt changes can cause microbe die-off, leading to toxicity, illness and death. And don’t overfeed grain. Susan Schoenian, a sheep and goat specialist for the University of Maryland, suggests anything over 1 pound per feeding is too much.

Lacking pasture, sheep need access to quality fine-stemmed, dust-free, mold-free hay. Lambs and late gestation or lactating ewes do better on legume hay, but grass is better for maintenance diets. A common recommendation is to feed sheep at least 11⁄2 percent of their body weight in forage per day.

2. Provide Sheep-Specific Minerals

Supplementing your sheep’s diet with sheep-specific mineral products makes good sense. Sheep require minerals, including salt, on a daily basis. Mineral deficiencies lead to birthing problems, weak lambs at birth, reduced milk production, poor quality fleeces, depressed immunity and a host of metabolic disorders.

The seven macro minerals required in relatively large amounts by sheep are sodium, chlorine, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and sulfur. Micro or trace minerals needed in smaller quantities include manganese, copper, zinc, selenium, iron, cobalt, iodine and fluorine.

Trace mineral salt blocks are not enough. Loose, granulated minerals mixed with your sheep’s grain rations or presented in self-feeders work best. Some sheep, however, won’t self-feed loose minerals. Adding a little extra salt might tempt them or feeding a tub lick product mixed with molasses and served as a solid works, too. Check your mix. If it contains salt, don’t provide a separate salt block. Place mineral feeders and tubs where they’re under cover, easily cleaned and accessible to your sheep.

 3. Be Careful With Copper

Don’t feed too much copper. This is crucial.

Sheep do need copper in their diets. Copper is used to maintain an effective immune response and also plays a part in stress resistance, maintenance of hoof tissue and wool production. However, sheep accumulate copper in their livers more readily than other farm animals. They require about 5 ppm (1 ppm is equivalent to 1 milligram of something per liter of water or 1 milligram of something per kilogram of soil) of copper in their overall diets, but toxicity can occur at just 25 ppm, depending on other elements in the diet and the breed of sheep involved. Because copper occurs naturally in plants, soil and water, sheep normally meet their needs without supplementation.

Signs of copper toxicity include lethargy, teeth grinding and thirst. Membranes are initially pale, turning yellow as jaundice sets in. Death occurs 1 or 2 days after symptoms occur. Treatment is rarely successful.

Protecting sheep from copper toxicity is a complex subject to discuss with your sheep-savvy veterinarian or county extension agent. Keeping these points in mind can help.

• Sheep and lambs should not consume minerals or feeds, including milk replacers, compounded for other livestock species, as their copper needs are considerably higher than those of sheep. If feeding sheep and goats together, feed sheep-specific products and dose the goats with copper oxide boluses twice a year or pen them separately at night and provide goat-specific minerals in the goat enclosure.
• Many growing pigs are fed diets containing 100 to 250 ppm of copper, and factory-farmed chickens, 250 to 800 ppm, some of which is excreted in their feces. It’s important not to fertilize sheep pastures with these manures or feed them hay harvested from pig- or chicken-waste-fertilized fields.

Products formulated for sheep do list copper content on their labels. This is the content found in feed supplements; it’s not added copper.

4. Provide Clean, Fresh Water

Water is an important feed element, too. Sheep drink 1⁄2 to 4 gallons of water per day, depending on the water content of their feed, the class they fall into (a lactating ewe nursing three lambs needs more water than a pet sheep) and environmental conditions.

Water should be clean. Sheep won’t drink water soiled with even a few droppings. It should be free of ice in the winter and placed in shade in the summer. It can be served in buckets, troughs, tubs or automatic waterers. Several smaller receptacles stay cleaner and are easier to dump, scrub and refill than one large one.

5. Use Clean, Safe Feeders

Use feeders, and keep them clean. Don’t feed off the ground, a practice that wastes good feed and leads to increased internal parasite loads and disease.

Grain can be fed from troughs as long as there’s enough space for all members of a group to eat at once. Allow about 16 inches of linear space for an adult sheep and 12 inches for a lamb. Tubs and on-fence, removable feeders are viable options for smaller flocks.

Baled hay is usually fed from hayracks. Don’t use hay feeders with bars for horned sheep that can catch a horn and seriously injure themselves. Big round bales generally require hay rings designed specifically for sheep. Not using one will result in a good deal of wasted hay, and lambs can injure themselves climbing on big bales, especially by jumping off.

Read More

For more complete coverage on feeding sheep, consult these great resources.

• Copper Toxicity in Sheep
• Feeding the Flock
• General Guidelines for Feeding Sheep and Goats

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best thing to feed sheep?

Quality pasture and forage should make up the foundation of most sheep diets. Depending on the sheep’s age, condition and stage of production, hay, grain or other concentrates may also be needed.

Can sheep eat grain?

Yes, but grain should be fed carefully and introduced gradually. Some sheep, including growing lambs and pregnant or lactating ewes, may benefit from concentrates, but excessive grain can cause serious digestive problems.

Do sheep need mineral supplements?

Yes. Sheep require a balance of macro and trace minerals, but mineral products should be specifically formulated for sheep because some products made for other livestock can contain unsafe levels of copper.

Why is copper dangerous for sheep?

Sheep are particularly susceptible to copper toxicity because they can accumulate excess copper in their livers. Symptoms may not appear until dangerous levels have already built up, and acute copper toxicity can be fatal.

How much water does a sheep need?

Water needs vary depending on the weather, the moisture content of the diet and the sheep’s age and stage of production. Lactating ewes, for example, generally require more water than maintenance animals.

Final Thoughts About Feeding Sheep

Feeding sheep starts with a foundation of quality forage, clean water and minerals formulated specifically for sheep. Grain and other concentrates can play an important role for growing lambs and animals with higher nutritional demands, but changes to the diet should be made carefully. By understanding these basic principles of sheep nutrition, you can build a feeding program that supports a healthy and productive flock.

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