Sheep - AgRIS

Table 8.5 Total digestible nutrient (TDN) requirement (g/day) for maintenance and growth of
lambs
Body Weight Maintenance Weight gain
(kg)
50 g/day 100 g/day 150 g/day 200 g/day
5 120 150 210 250 300
10 168 211 254 296 339
15 222 279 335 391 447
20 271 340 408 477 546
25 330 414 497 581 664
30 374 469 564 658 753
35 425 476 640 747 855
40 474 594 714 834 954
Table 8.6 Digestible crude protein (DCP) requirement (g/day) for maintenance and growth of
lambs
Body Weight Maintenance Weight gain
(kg)
50 g/day 100 g/day 150 g/day 200 g/day
5 10 15 20 25 30
10 16 20 25 30 35
15 21 28 34 40 47
20 26 34 42 50 58
25 31 41 50 59 69
30 36 47 57 68 79
35 40 52 64 76 89
40 44 58 71 84 98
The male hoggets should be disposed off for slaughter betwen 6 to 9 months of age except
the ewes to be retained for breeding. The female hoggets have to be maintained separately
until they join the breeding flock at about 12 to 18 months age. If the post-weaning growth is
adequate normally good pasture is adequate. In the absence of good graazing, a good legume
hay should be supplemented. If the early growth is not satisfactory, supplementation of about
200-250 g concentrate would be necessary upto yearling age in addition to the fodder
supplementation/good grazing.
Yearling stage
This stage is only relevant to the replacement females, and males that are retained for
breeding and pertains to 9 to 18 months of age. The female hoggets have to be maintained
separately until they join the breeding flock at about 12 to 18 months of age. During this stage,
provision of grazing on a good pasture would be adequate to meet the requirements.
Feeding of rams
When the rams are to be mantained they should be only for breeding purpose. Otherwise
they should be sold for slaughter. In some places in the field, farmers keep large number of
rams in their flocks only for getting the wool clip. Some farmers have also religious sentiments
not to slaughter their rams. This practice should be discouraged. Generally if good grazing is
available, rams do well on grazing alone and no additional supplementation is required.
During breeding season, concentrate supplement should be provided. In the absence of
concentrate, supplement with good legume hay should be provided in the quantity twice the
recommended concentrate allowance. During non-breeding season if the rams loose weight,
fodder supplement should be provided. About 5 to 6% DCP in the fodder/pasture is adequate
to maintain the animal during non-breeding season.
Feeding of ewes
For proper feeding purpose, the ewe flock should be divided into dry,early pregnancy, late
pregnancy and lactating ewes and fed separately after grazing.
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