Scientific Feeding Methods and Technical Key Points for Growing Sheep
Whether the feeding of growing sheep is reasonable plays a decisive role in body conformation and growth rate. Improper feeding can cause sheep to be too fat, too thin, or experience stunted growth at a certain stage, resulting in undesirable conformations such as long legs, short body, and pendulous belly.
Formula for growing sheep concentrate supplement
Roughage type
Feed High-quality hay type Corn silage type Dry corn stalk type
（%）（%）（%）
Corn 60.00 58.50 58.50
Wheat bran 15.50 13.00 8.00
Soybean meal 10.00 10.00 14.00
Cottonseed meal 6.00 6.00 7.00
Rapeseed meal 5.00 5.00 5.00
Peanut meal 0 3.00 4.00
Calcium hydrogen phosphate 0.50 0.50 0.50
Limestone powder 1.00 1.00 1.00
Salt 1.00 1.00 1.00
Baking soda 0 1.00 0
Additive premix 1.00 1.00 1.00
Total 100 100 100
1. Appropriate nutritional level
Feed type has a great influence on the body conformation and growth of growing sheep. High-quality hay and sufficient exercise are the key to raising growing sheep. Feeding growing sheep large amounts of high-quality hay not only helps promote full development of the digestive organs, but also produces sheep with a tall and large frame, obvious udder development, and high milk production.
When roughage quality is poor, attention should be paid to supplementing with concentrate during feeding. About 0.4 kg of concentrate supplement can be fed daily, and attention should also be paid to the supplementation of minerals and trace elements. When feeding high-quality roughage, less or no concentrate may be given. Too much concentrate and insufficient exercise can easily make sheep obese, early-maturing and early-aging, and shorten their useful life. Because growing rams grow faster than growing ewes, their concentrate supplement requirement is greater than that of growing ewes. According to different roughage types, the formula for concentrate supplement can refer to the table below on the left.
2. Timely mating
Generally, growing ewes are mated when they reach 8 to 10 months of age, and their body weight reaches 40 kg or more than 65% of adult body weight. Rams before 8 months of age generally should not be used for semen collection or mating. They should participate in mating only after 12 months of age and when their body weight reaches more than 60 kg.