The Lamb Pen
General Category => All Sheep and Lamb Discussion => : Honey Tree January 05, 2018, 02:35:02 AM
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I have a number of sheep that have decided wood chewing is a great past time. They chewed a huge whole in the side of the feed shed and ate half a bale of hay. They started on my tack room wall. I nailed a tarp on the wall to stop that. Now they've started on every shed they have access to. Short of nailing tarps on every building on my property, is there a product that will deter these beavers?
They have loose trace minerals available.
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We have a lot of wood and our sheep never really chew it. I am guessing maybe they are needing more fiber? Are you feeding enough hay?
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Pretty sure they have enough fiber. They get alfalfa cubes and almond hulls. With the hulls comes some shell. You'd think they'd like to eat the nice woody shells but apparently they think the sheds taste better.
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Salt?
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The loose trace minerals are primarily salt. I didn't know if anyone knew of something that I could apply to the wood as a deterrent. Darn beavers!
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While sheep do fine with no "long fiber" and you must be feeding enough to keep them productive , I would think 2 things.
Boredom and habit. .Once they begin cribbing , or wool plucking ,they teach more and it never stop .
I question if your meeting the fiber needs. Particularly if limit feeding you hulls and cubes .
I see this in fat lambs on self feeders being fed limited rougah.
I now toss a pitch fork or 2 of rough or poor hay a day into feedlot lambs. Wood eating stopped.
If your limited feeding ewes,they will crib on anything. Your meeting thier calorie needs,but not thier FILL needs.
Hence why I feed free choice grass hay.
And make them clean up for a day,before another round bale added.
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I would agree with giving them some long stem hay each day. Something that satisfies their need to chew. A lower quality grass or grain (oat, wheat, rye, barley, triticale, etc) hay will probably put an end to their wood chewing.
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Thank you for your suggestion. I'll try adding some long hay to their current diet. I do feed long hay when I run out of cubes and can't connect with our cube supplier. Our cubes have a much longer hay fiber than the bagged variety. Our supplier chops and cubes in the field so they don't need to grind the hay and add clay as a binder.
The girls are out on light pasture during the day but I lock them in the paddock at night to feed and also because there are coyotes nearby. There are a number of boards laying on the ground for them to chew on but they seem to have a preference for wood that serves a purpose.
Thanks so much!