A Winter Experiment - Rotational Feeding of Hay to Sheep in the Snow Covered Pasture
It has been a few months since I began working on this homestead. The snow has only really been sticking around for 2 1/2 - 3 weeks now. Initially with the snow on the ground and colder weather to keep it there we began feeding out more hay to the sheep, most of them are pregnant ewes.
If I just fed them in the morning they would hang around expecting food, eat it all morning and early afternoon and never leave their "yard". This bothered me because I wanted the sheep out in the field if it wasn't problematic for them, I wanted their poop out in the field instead of in the yard getting all mucked up.
I experimented with holding off on feeding them until early afternoon. They would hang around most of the morning and then finally meander out into the field where they would stay until at least mid-afternoon.
It was interesting to observe the sheep going out and actually kicking the snow aside to eat the green grass below!
Fast forward and we got some rain on some warmer days and then we got some colder days and warmer days again. With a few freeze/thaws the snow got harder and it seemed like it might be asking the sheep too much to kick the snow aside.
The sheep stopped going down in the pasture and we started our old habits of feeding them in the morning again.
I still wasn't satisfied because the sheep just stood around their feed bins all day even when they had eaten it all. I decided to try an experiment and feed them a small snack out in the snow below their "yard". I threw a few flakes 30-40 feet down but they were hesitant to walk down in the snow.
So I brought the flakes up and made some breadcrumbs for them to follow. Success! With the reward only a few feet from them there was finally nothing holding them back.
I led the breadcrumbs down to about 50 feet from the gate which they would not have previously crossed.
They eagerly went and ate it all up. This morning on inspection they had eaten just about all of the stalks all that was left was a few stray stalks and some dust. So they cleaned it up out of the snow pretty well.
That inspired me to follow up this morning by bringing the sheep all the way into the field. I led them down with a few breadcrumbs and then put the rest of the flakes spread out in the field.
As you can see they eagerly ran down and went for it!!
I plan to follow up by moving the hay a little farther each day. I'll probably start using a sled or wheelbarrow once it gets much farther.
This will have multiple benefits:
- More sheep manure spread around the field for fertility
- More organic matter on the soil surface once the snow melts (from any small bits the sheep did not eat
- Less manure in the yard to be mucked later
- Less muckiness in the yard come spring when the ground thaws
- More exercise for the sheep in the winter
- More exercise for me in the winter
I will also keep watching the sheep now that they are down there in the field and see if they do have any motivation to get at the grass under the snow.
Glad you found a solution that seems to be working. Do you have a dog to help move the sheep around?
No dog, just alfalfa and sometimes grain for motivation :) I have friends that are interested in looking into a boundary dog for their sheep to hold them in a virtual paddock until it's time for them to rotate. I think that would be a worthwhile experiment but it would require an investment in money & education. But in the long run if it worked, it would cost way less than a lot of fencing and less effor than moving the fencing every day. But I like this quasi-rotational winter feeding.
Good job using the sheeps' natural tendencies and your observations to get the result your looking for.
Thank you @aunt-deb! I really enjoy pushing the limits of our comfort zones to see if we can get better results and living conditions for the animals :)
Feeding out in the field is a great way to spread more manure and other organic matter over the field. I bet there are some seeds in the hay too that might help improve the pasture.
Funny that you had to use the bread crumb method on those lazy sheep. 😁
Yeah they are soo lazy and stuck in their routine/comfort zone haha! It would be interesting to see if the areas that they are fed show any improvement next year. It should.
Great ideas @sagescrub We use mobile chicken feeders and waterers to get the same effect in our rotated chicken yards. I also love your process of trying something, and then accepting the feedback, modifying and trying again. Great design work here. And happy sheep!!! Following now, and looking forward to more!
Awesome @squdsi1! Thanks for recognizing the effort and for your kind words. On my future homestead I would love to have some mobile chicken cooks, with or without fencing I am not sure yet :) I have seen both options working.
Hahah good solution, friend. I hear ya, you want that poop out in the fields. Maybe more work for you in the beginning, but less as you won’t have to disperse the muck or treat for varying stagnancy related foot problems in the sheep. Well done :)
Exactly!! And it also motivates me to go do morning chores because I feel like it's contributing to a better system overall :) Thanks @mountainjewel for the positive energy :)