What are the ways to increase the feed intake of housed sheep?
Sheep farming can be divided into housed feeding and grazing, and sheep kept in housing for a long time often have lower feed intake, poorer body condition, and weaker constitution than grazing sheep, so you need to find ways to increase the feed intake of housed sheep, which helps their growth and development. Let's take a look.
1. Rational combination of concentrate and forage
Housed sheep generally have a poorer appetite, so when raising them you should choose feed that is highly palatable, varied, and easy to digest, so as to ensure comprehensive and balanced nutrition and meet the sheep's growth and development needs. Because sheep are ruminants, the roughage in the daily ration should account for two-thirds of the total daily ration, while concentrate can account for one-third. To increase the nutrient density of the daily ration, you can crush, soften, or ferment the roughage and then mix it with the concentrate; if conditions allow, it can be made into pelleted feed, which can significantly improve the sheep's appetite.
2. Roughage first, then concentrate
If you do not have the conditions to crush or pellet the roughage, you should promptly chop the green grass, straw, and hay and other roughage produced to 1-2 cm long before feeding it to the sheep, and feed the concentrate after the sheep have finished eating, which can encourage the sheep to eat more. The feeding principle is to add less but feed frequently; when feeding, the sheep's appetite is generally stronger, and adding less but feeding frequently can give the sheep a sense of not having enough, so they will not be picky. When feeding, adjust appropriately according to seasonal changes. In addition, try not to feed on the ground. Hang light hay racks made of welded wire or wood in the sheep shed, which saves grass, time, and labor, is hygienic, and is also close to the habit of natural grazing.
3. Feed more green forage
Natural pasture grass, green forage crops, tender twigs and leaves, root tubers, melons, and other green, succulent feeds have high moisture content, low dry matter content, high crude protein content in the dry matter, many kinds of vitamins, rich inorganic salts in appropriate proportions, and abundant carbohydrates. They are highly palatable to sheep and are very good health feed. Frequently feeding green, succulent forage can both expand the volume of the sheep's stomach and increase the sheep's appetite.
4. Appropriate exercise
The main reason housed sheep have a poorer appetite than grazing sheep is insufficient exercise, which can not only reduce the sheep's feed intake, but also cause the sheep to become weak and highly susceptible to respiratory and limb and hoof diseases. If under housed conditions, in order to promote the sheep's movement and increase appetite, you should build a sufficiently large exercise yard, set it up in a ring shape, and in addition to letting the sheep move freely, you should also drive the flock at fixed times and in fixed amounts every day to force them to exercise.
The above is an introduction to how to increase the feed intake of housed sheep. I hope it can help you. To learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.