Feeding Ewes leading up to Lambing

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We’re still in the thick of a very wet and muddy winter, but spring is creeping up fast. With scanning ticked off on most places, it’s time to start thinking about prioritising feeding your ewes as they approach late pregnancy – early lambing, multiple-bearing ewes will need the most feed, along with lambing hoggets/2ths and lighter twinning ewes.

During the last few weeks of pregnancy, the unborn lamb is growing fast, and the ewe needs a lot of extra energy. If she’s not feed well, and her body condition is less than ideal, lambs will be less vigorous when they’re born and survival will be reduced. The ewe will spend less time with her lamb and more time looking for feed, and she won’t produce as much precious colostrum in the first 24 hours, and as much milk in the first few weeks for her lambs to drink.

About 6 - 8 weeks out from lambing:

  • Ewes should be offered 1.7-2.4 kg DM/day (about 1.4 – 1.8kg DM down the throat).

  • Avoid grazing below 900-1000 kg DM/ha (~3cm) for multiples.

From set-stocking:

  • Offer 3-4 kg DM/day, with the aim of them getting 2.5-3 kg down the throat – this 2.5 x their normal maintenance requirements.

  • If you have enough feed, their intake should not be restricted – multiple-bearing ewes struggle to eat enough to meet their energy needs at the end of pregnancy.

  • If you don’t have enough feed – focus on the earlier lambing multiples, and those in poorer condition.

  • Aim not to graze below 1200kg DM/ha (~3.5 – 4cm).

  • They’ll need this much for the first few weeks of lactation too.

Triplets:

  • If you have plenty of feed, and ewes won’t be grazing below 1200 kg DM/ha/4cm, there’s no benefit to separating twins and triplets – the ewes can’t physically eat more

  • However, if you can’t offer all multiples that allowance, prioritise your triplet bearing ewes so that they are on higher covers and the best feed – they will need it.

Body condition score and milk yield – the impact of feeding:

  • Poorer conditioned ewes that are fed less than their 2.5x maintenance requirements will produce up to a litre less milk per day than heavier ewes – this won’t necessarily matter if she just has one lamb, but will have a big impact on twins or triplets

  • The good news is, if ewes are fully fed at the end of pregnancy, milk yields will be high regardless of body condition score – a win for lamb survival