A Detailed Guide to Sheep Fattening Methods and Precautions

Sheep fattening can greatly improve the profitability of sheep farming, but without mastering the correct methods, sheep fattening can instead have a negative effect. So how should sheep fattening be done? What precautions are there?

Sheep fattening methods:

Early fattening technology for lambs

(1) Weaning and full barn feeding fattening of 1.5-month-old lambs: Select 1.5-month-old lambs weighing more than 10 kg, and after weaning, fatten them with concentrate under full barn feeding for 1.5 months, so that at 3 months of age they reach a body weight of more than 25 kg for slaughter. Technical points: ① Carry out pen-separated supplemental feeding 15 days before weaning; after weaning, use intensive fattening; the diet formula for the supplemental feeding period is the same as that for the fattening period. Reference formula: milk powder 10%, whey powder 35.4%, cornmeal 27%, barley meal 25%, yeast 2%, salt 0.4%, sugar 0.2%. ② Feed concentrate 0.1-0.4 kg per animal per day and high-quality dry hay 0.25-0.5 kg per animal per day; feed concentrate first and then hay; mix the feed thoroughly and allow free intake; do not feed moldy or spoiled forage. ③ Always keep clean drinking water in the drinker or trough; do not let them drink dirty water or ice water. ④ Keep the pen clean and dry; hang mineral lick blocks in the sheep shed or exercise yard and allow free intake. ⑤ Use movable feeding troughs, and raise the trough height as the lambs grow older. ⑥ Inject one dose of enterotoxemia vaccine before the ewe gives birth or before the lamb is weaned; alternatively, inject one dose of sheep triple vaccine before fattening begins.

(2) Fattening of suckling lambs: Adopt a mixed fattening method of “grazing + supplemental feeding”. The diet formula is the same as that for 1.5-month-old weaned lambs. Feed lambs 0.1-0.25 kg of concentrate per animal per day, and use the method of “breastfeeding + pen-separated supplemental feeding” throughout the rearing period. At 3 months of age, the fattening period ends; select only lambs weighing more than 25 kg for slaughter, and transfer the other lambs to weaned-lamb fattening or general flock rearing. For ewes with lambs, supplement 0.1-0.25 kg of corn per animal per day and 0.5-1 kg of dry hay per animal per day.

Fattening technology for weaned lambs

Adopt a mixed fattening method of “supplemental feeding + grazing”. After lambs are weaned at 3-4 months of age, select lambs weighing more than 15 kg for intensive fattening for 50-60 days, and slaughter them when they reach more than 30 kg. For lambs under 15 kg, first group them and rear them conventionally for 40-50 days, then transfer them to the fattening group and rear them for 1.5-2 months, for slaughter at 7-8 months of age. Technical points: ① There is a 15-20 day feed transition period before fattening. In the early transition stage, dry hay is the main feed, and each feed change should have a 3-5 day transition. ② After the transition period ends, enter the intensive fattening period. In the early fattening stage (before 30 days), the ratio of concentrate to roughage is 40:60; in the late fattening stage (31-60 days), the ratio of concentrate to roughage is 60-65:40-35. Reference formula: corn 57%, soybean meal 15%, wheat bran 9%, rapeseed meal 8.5%, united bran 2%, distillers grains 6%, calcium carbonate 1.5%, calcium hydrogen phosphate 0.6%, salt 0.4%. ③ Feed twice a day, feeding concentrate first and then roughage. Feed 0.25-0.5 kg of mixed concentrate per animal per day and 0.1-0.25 kg of dry hay per animal per day, and graze for 3-5 hours. ④ One week after weaning, shear wool, give a medicated bath, and deworm.

Fattening technology for adult sheep: In summer and autumn, select culled rams and ewes, ewes that have been open for more than 2 years, and thin or disabled sheep for mixed fattening for 75-90 days before slaughter. Grazing is the main method, grazing 7-8 hours per day, with a concentrate-to-roughage ratio of 35-40:65-60. Reference formula: grass meal 40%, straw 24%, corn 35%, calcium hydrogen phosphate 0.5%, salt 0.5%.

Precautions for sheep fattening:

Hygiene and epidemic prevention

1. Establish a hygiene and disinfection system: The environment, sheep shed, tools, personnel, and so on must be disinfected. Commonly used drugs include: 2% sodium hydroxide solution, quicklime, bleaching powder, Lysol, 0.1% benzalkonium bromide solution, and so on. Set up disinfection pools at the gate and the entrance of the sheep shed; vehicles and personnel must be disinfected when entering and leaving.

2. Establish an epidemic prevention and deworming system: Newly purchased fattening sheep should be isolated for 15 days and can only be reared together with healthy sheep after being confirmed disease-free; purchasing sheep from epidemic areas is prohibited; before purchasing sheep, they must be quarantined by the local veterinary department and relevant procedures must be handled; regularly inject sheep triple vaccine, pentavalent vaccine, Brucella vaccine, and so on; deworm once each in spring and autumn every year. Commonly used deworming drugs include levamisole, eprinomectin, Chongjingling, and so on.

3. Establish an epidemic reporting system: When an epidemic is found, report it promptly; epidemic areas or epidemic points should be blocked and isolated promptly.

4. The use of veterinary drugs, additives, and animal-derived feed that have not been approved by the state is prohibited, and the relevant regulations on withdrawal periods must be strictly implemented.

Requirements for sheep sheds

Fattening sheep sheds require ventilation, dryness, cleanliness, warmth in winter and coolness in summer, sufficient lighting, and good drainage and waste discharge conditions; they should have an exercise yard, hay racks, feeding (water) troughs, and manure and urine ditches; the shed area should be 0.6-0.8 sq m per lamb and 0.8-1.0 sq m per adult sheep; there should be an exercise yard twice the size of the sheep shed, hardened, without water accumulation, and easy to clean, with a slope of 2-3 degrees; feeding troughs can be made of wood, non-toxic plastic, cement, sand and stone, and other materials. The trough length should be 30-40 cm per adult sheep and 20-30 cm per lamb; the trough height should be 20-35 cm, the inner width 20-25 cm, and the inner depth 10-20 cm, in a “U” shape, with a bottom slope of 2-3 degrees and drainage holes; there should be walls and isolation belts around the sheep shed; before fattening, the sheep shed should be thoroughly disinfected; the sheep farm should have a biogas digester or manure storage tank and a dry manure stacking yard. Newly built sheep sheds require convenient transportation, communications, water supply, and power supply, and should be more than 1000 m away from pollution sources such as main roads, processing plants, and slaughterhouses.