Feels like a picture sharing Wednesday...

[secuono]

I got two new ewe lambs!!

 

[ninnymary]

Those are so cute! Do you have to supplement their grass with other feed?

Mary

 

[secuono]

None of them get anything but grass under their feet from roughly April through October. Then they all get hay. Ewes that are bred get grain 1mo before and one month after lambing, but that's more of a precaution mixed with a little spoiling them rotten. Horses also get grain around that time, late winter, only hay makes me feel like they are saying "ugh, hay again???" lol

 

[ninnymary]

Secuono, I thought once you paid for them that they didn't cost you anything more to feed them. I guess they do. How much does it cost you a year to feed them? I'm just curious. I think it costs me a lot to feed my chickens organic feed. I'm wondering if your sheep are cheaper to feed.

Mary

 

[catjac1975]

I got two new ewe lambs!!

These really look like toys!

 

[secuono]

Yea, I stopped by a McD and the workers thought they were stuffed animals.

I don't know, I don't really count the dollars...Selling one ewe lamb pays for their yearly needs, though. At least I'm pretty sure on that.
This past winter was nuts, but I can't complain, no fleas this year at all and hardly any ticks! If it were always like that, then I wouldn't mind having to feed them extra and watch over freezing pipes. Other years, I could get away with a few bales of hay and a bag or two of grain, but I don't like how unprepared I was for this past winter.
Just got in 60 square bales of hay, $300. Then sold two wethers at $300, so they paid for the hay. I buy grain as needed about 2wks before I run out, mice go a little stupid if I have it outside, so it sits in the house or in 35gal trash bins outside once actually in use.
I have an extra mini horse and will have 4 extra sheep this winter, so not too sure just how much I'll need. But I did quit chickens, no more goats, no more pigs, sold the rabbitry and rehoming all the guinea pigs. So it should be easier to handle than before. I'll do the math and post back, I should know this either way, lol.

Organic is so crazy expensive! I fed organic to my last two litters of rabbits, $34 per 50# bag, while I normally pay just $18 for another feed that they all did well on. Rabbits are too delicate, guinea pigs are as hardy as rocks compared to rabbits. GPs only get pasture and a sprinkle of pellets once a week, zero breeding issues, zero weight issues, nothing at all like rabbits. I used layer pellet and scratch mixed 50/50 on my pastured chickens, never locked them up. They ate more in winter, but not much needed during the growing season.
Rather focus on my sheep than all the other little livestock. We don't eat much eggs, DH hated eating rabbit, we did eat the pig, but the rest don't sell well enough to bother.

 

[secuono]

If the only thing fed is hay, then my flock would eat 22 bales of 60# hay in a month. Horses would eat 15 bales of hay in a month.
Never weighed grain, I use the biggest soda cups 7-11 has, three filled for the sheep a day, two filled for the horses a day. But the gelding shouldn't be eating any grain, he's fat, so just one filled this winter for the mare and the mini, if the mini even needs any. I'll have to mix up some of the feeds I use and then scoop and weigh it all out before I can figure out how much I use. I think horses are 1-3 pounds a day of grains, but that depends on if they are working or underweight. Mine are just pets, so grain is more of a treat and to break the boring that is constant hay.
I can't find how much grain a day per sheep, since they really shouldn't be on grain, it's a supplement and varies a lot depending on several factors. Main feed should be hay and pasture.
I'll guess it's about 5 pounds a day for sheep and horses, 50# bag lasts 10 days. So I'd need three bags per month, about $13 a bag, $39 a month.
I'd probably need to buy another 60 bales this year.
So grand total would be about...$600 hay & $80 grain. But together, it would probably stretch out to another month, since grain is an extra for the horses. Idk, I'd guess that's pretty close.

 

[ninnymary]

Secuono, you sure had a lot of animals. Life must be a lot easier now for you. You know, you could have just maybe 3-4 chickens for the few eggs that you eat. With all that pasture I bet they wouldn't eat much layer feed. How many baby sheep are born each year?

Mary

 

[ninnymary]

Another question, the horses and sheep couldn't live on just the pasture? You can tell my city colors are showing. I find this all fascinating.

Mary

 

[secuono]

Foxes still pick them off during the day, since they start leaving the safety of the hot wire fence, they are as good as gone. The LGD can only protect about half the area at a time, chickens squabble and the noise is the same as a fox attacking them, so the dog doesn't know.
Told DH I'd just buy some pricey eggs from a friend's birds if we really needed any. I had bought 6 eggs from the store soon after getting chicks in March. I still have one egg left! Chickens don't start laying until 20-25wks. But I started noticing signs of the fox coming back around recently and decided to quit birds, nice to have, but I don't want to risk loosing any to that danged fox again.

First timers have one lamb, then they usually have twins every spring after that. Sometimes triplets. This spring I had 4 adult ewes, two singles and two twins born. Next spring, they should all have twins, so 8 lambs. Got three ewe lambs now, if the ram doesn't escape and they don't end up highly fertile, then they shouldn't have any until 2016. But by then, my two oldest girls will be retired, fall of 2015.

They could live on just pasture if we didn't have winter. Grass stops growing mid to late fall, once it's all eaten up, I have to free feed hay.

I just hope the bigger predators don't decide to come by my place. If a bear, big cat or coyote come by, I don't think I could do anything other than loose sleep for two years while a second LGD puppy grows up to help out my current girl. Hot wire doesn't stop a bear and one dog cannot fight off a big cat or coyotes.