Combined Ewe Flock

After removing the rams from the separate ewe flocks in November, 2010, we combined all the ewes into a single flock. This includes our Katahdin ewes and the Barbado ewes that were bred to several St. Croix rams this year. The following pictures, taken on 16 January 2011, show this combined ewe flock being led to their morning feeding.

We are supplement feeding twice a day with whole corn (1 50-lb bag) and soybean meal (5 lbs). Hay is available from the covered hay feeder you see in the background behind the sheep; also available is forage from the woods and fields. Since this time our supplement feeding program has evolved to eliminate starch based whole grains and focus more on a forage based diet. Our understanding at this time (December, 2013) is that these grain starches result in a more acid environment in the sheep's rumen that is counter to the environment needed by the cellulosic bacteria that digest the forage in a sheep's diet. We still occasionally supplement with hand fed feeds, but try to use non starch based feeds like alfalfa pellets/cubes or corn gluten feed mixes (a protein rich feed that has had the starch removed).

The two pictures below show our feeding station. These are a series of 8-inch diameter water pipes that have been cut length-wise to give troughs that are set up off the ground with some wood legs as shown in the last picture. Two short, treated 1x6 boards have a cut-out for the pipe-half and sandwich together the treated 2x4 legs. The pipe is screwed into the each of the 1x6s in several spots. Two of these leg assemblies hold up each pipe section.

We used to feed the sheep in trays made from cutting plastic 55-gallon drums in quarters, length-wise. However, since they were right on the ground, we found that sheep would stand in the trays and trash, sheep droppings and rain water would collect in them so that before each feeding we would have to dump them out. The raised up half-pipes are working out much better; with the open ends and on a little bit of a slope, rain water will flush right out. While the sheep will still jump over the feed troughs, the sheep don't stand in the raised troughs, keeping the troughs much cleaner.

This last picture shows Gray One, the ewe looking at the camera. She is a bottle fed ewe, quite independent, and has turned into one of our best leader sheep. As of December 2013, she is the only remaining ewe at the ranch from the original Barbado flock.