With the majority of mid-season flocks set to commence lambing in four-to-six weeks, the importance of adequately feeding ewes now is crucial.
The largest proportion of foetal growth takes place in the last six weeks of gestation – which is about 70%.
Therefore, adequately feeding ewes to maintain their condition and to help with the development of their growing lambs is of huge importance.
In general, the majority of hill flocks will carry one lamb to the ewe, whereas, with a lowland flock, twin and triplet-bearing ewes are far more common. This, in turn, means concentrate feed levels and costs are going to be higher for this system.
With this in mind, it is important to introduce concentrates eight weeks out from lambing and to gradually incorporate it into the diet of the ewes.
Feeding high levels of concentrates straightaway will cause digestive upsets and lead to animal health problems.
Furthermore, as the daily concentrate levels increase, it is best practice to incorporate split-feeding. For example, if ewes are consuming 1kg of concentrates a day, it is best to feed them twice daily, with 0.5kg fed morning and evening.
The reason for this is that the space available inside the ewe becomes smaller – due to the rapid growth of the growing foetus.
Therefore, it is important to offer ewes a good-quality ration that contains adequate amounts of digestible undegradable protein (DUP).
DUP is vital for the production of colostrum production. Ideally, a ration containing 18-20% of protein is recommended to be fed to in-lamb ewes.
How much concentrates should I feed?
It is important that ewes are scanned, because this will enable farmers to split their ewes up according to how many lambs they are carrying.
A single-bearing ewe and a triplet-bearing ewe require completely different amounts of feed in the last few weeks of gestation.
Obviously, a ewe carrying three lambs will have a higher energy requirement than a single-bearing ewe. However, it is important both are fed adequately in order to reduce the risk of ewes losing condition – which will have a knock-on effect on lamb growth rates and milk production.
Listed (below) is the recommended concentrate feed levels in late-pregnancy, according to Teagasc.
Data source: Teagasc
Even if a farmer intends on going down the route of feeding his ewes concentrates, it is important that they have access to roughage – such as hay.
Furthermore, ewes should have access to fresh clean water, as a ewe in late-pregnancy can drink up to 6L of water per day.