Sheep & Goat Prenatal Diet: "Flushing" your ewes

It's that time of year again!  Time to start thinking about preparing for spring lambs!  Are you excited?  I sure am!!!!!
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Here are a few tips for making sure your girls and guys are in tip-top-shape for baby making. 

• Minerals -Make sure you have a mineral mix specifically designed for sheep available at all times.  I cannot stress this enough!  There is nothing in their diet that is more important than a proper mineral balance when going into rut.

• Vitamins -If you are breeding and milking  a dairy breed, especially in climates with cloud cover much of the year or where ewes are housed,  it is likely that your ewes will need a week-long vitamin boost with A/D before breeding. Milk production depletes this mineral overtime and can reduce productivity greatly.   August is a great time to do this!  Give 2 CCs of A/D every other day for a week.  Consider giving a 2 CC vitamin B complex to increase appetite as well.  You can not overdose this, excess will be flushed out in the urine.  Alternatively, cod liver oil can be given to naturally replenish A/D.  I find this method to be healthier and likely absorbs much better than the chemically engineered vitamins, although the cost will be higher.  Most sheep will eat it mixed into grain, the picky ones may be drenched instead,  
• Sel/E, BO/SE  -Although we already touched on minerals, this mineral is particularly important and especially scarce in cooler/rainy climates like ours.  A good time to give this mineral-boosting vaccine is immediately after the week-long vitamin regimen.  By giving this, you will ensure that your ewes are completely replenished and none of your lambs will be born with WMD (white Muscle Disease) which is a sel/e deficiency, and one of the leading causes of death at or near birth, right alongside hypothermia.  Trust me, it's worth calling your vet and ordering a bottle of BO/SE (bo-say) to have on hand for your flock. 
• Forage/Feed  -Alfalfa and orchard grass is the best choice of hay for this period Aug-Oct.  Lush pasture, if you have it, is even better!  Supplement with alfalfa even when on pasture.  (I love the Chaffhaye bagged product, easy to throw in the back of a passenger vehicle without mess and highly digestible, and my favorite...no waste.  Sheep will not much of the baled dry alfalfa stems.)  Grain can also be given, a high quality barley/oat/pea mixture is best, but in limited quantities unless your ewes are underweight.  If you believe your ewes are overweight, do not give grain.  In general, you want your ewes to be on the thin side by the end of July (after a year of milking steadily, they should be!) and on a steadily increasing diet from mid August to the beginning of Oct.  That is, if lambs are normally born between early Jan and late Feb.  If you are planning for March lambs, delay the schedule by a month.  As a (very general) rule of thumb, most ewes will naturally begin to ovulate for Jan-Feb lambs, and yearling ewes for March-April lambs.  HERE is a lambing table schedule if you are not sure, or are planning to turn the ram in at a certain time for lambing during a certain time period.   
• Deworming ​-It's very important to make sure your ewes are not beginning a pregnancy with a parasite load.  I highly recommend getting a fecal sample done by your veterinarian and deworming at least a couple weeks before putting the ram in with the ewes. Some chemical  dewormer is not safe for pregnant ewes.  There are also many natural alternative worming schedules that can be safely given during and before pregnancy, and I have had great success with these, used in combination with rotational grazing.  
• ACV Apple Cider Vinegar is a great supplement to add to water before breeding.  According to old wives tales, this will cause a higher percent ewe lamb than ram lamb births.  I'm not sure if it does.  But in any event, it aids digestion and the sheep seem to love it.  I use about a cup to 10 gallons. 
• Marking harness -Now is a great time to get a marking crayon on your ram, so that you will have definite dates for lambing.  And don't forget about your ram's nutrition right now as well!  Pretty soon he will be girl crazy and may even forget to eat.  It is very important to have him at his best in the weeks leading up to breeding.

*If you've done all these things, congratulations!  You're getting your 2021 lambing season off to an excellent start!