# Can lambs/sheep over-graze?



## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

I have my two tunis lambs in a small pen.....about 12'x12'. I feed them hay and sometimes a handful of grain in there ...along with their water. I've let them out a few times to graze in the field. I'm just about ready to put them in the field to stay and was wondering if they will over eat on the grass? Is that possible? 
I know.......silly question but I'm a new sheep owner. Will they stop when they are full? I stopped giving them bottles about a week ago. They were born on Jan. 23, I believe........so about 3 months old.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Yes they can over graze, even getting grass tetny, although its very rare and as you're managing them even more unlikely. Bottle babies are a higher risk for over eating, if they've had larger less often feeding that has distended their stomachs, so if you can feed them hay before letting them out on grass for the first couple of weeks (or as you're doing things now sounds OK too) they'll be fine. When I start the flock on pasture I try to feed their hay and grain early then turn them out for a few hours late, for a few days.


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## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

I want to be able to actually move them to this small field to stay. I can keep feeding them hay and some grain and putting them out for a little while but when will I be able to move them to their new forever spot without worrying? Or is there always a worry?


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## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

About the bottle feeding..................I'd say for the last 2 weeks, maybe 3 weeks before I stopped, they were only getting one bottle at night. About 16 oz. Would that be the "larger, less often" that you're talking about?


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I think they will be fine out on grass. Mine are out all day in the summer and haven't over eatten yet - or didn't tell me if they did. The biggest worry is when you first put them out - get them used to the grass a bit at a time. Don't let the graze on too much clover or alfalfa at first either. I usually put them on grass after they've had a few hours with the hay each morning. 

Mine stop eatting when they get tired and need a nap or when it's hot. When it cools off and they have slept a bit- they are back at it.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Even 3 or 4 days of doing what you're doing is more care than most people take. I'm sure they will be fine! Technically any sheep can get into trouble on lush pasture, its the nature of ruminants. They should always have access to some hay (even a flake changed every week if uneaten) , and water (mineral salt etc.) All pastred animals are limited to eat whats inside the fence and thats not always what they need. Dry hay acts as a buffer if a sheep feels it needs dry forage it will eat some, if it can.


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## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

Thank you. I was concerned....as last time I let them out (Saturday evening,) they grazed for 2 hours and I never once seen their head come up.


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## th_Wolverine (Apr 15, 2013)

We raise sheep in Murry KY and have 2 pastures we feed about 137 head. One thing we do to keep them from over-grazing is supplementing the grazing diet with hay. When they eat the hay off the top of the grass, it keeps them from chomping right to the roots. And over time, they get used to the hay, so whenever we drop it they graze in that spot contentedly without wandering too far because they don't HAVE to go far to be filled. This method has also cut down on our worm problem, because their noses are less in the mud where the pests are. So moving the hay spot around can help with that problem perhaps. It lets them roam without over-grazing so you get full _and_ happy sheep


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## goodhors (Sep 6, 2011)

You might check with the Vet about an "over-eating" shot, which is real common around here in the professional breeder situations. All the flock lambs get it, have had it, when you shop for project lambs for FFA or 4-H. I expect it is given to the lambs because they are fed pellets to gain better, before getting sold on. Lambs will easily over-eat when young and on rich lamb pellets. Sorry, I don't know the name of the shot, everyone just calls it the over-eating shot.

We fed our purchased lambs some pellets, some hay, then let them out to graze for short times, 30 minutes for a couple days, then 45 minutes for a few more days. Just kept stretching the time out while lambs got used to the grass over a few weeks.

You want lambs full of hay first, so they don't have much stomach room for grass. If they run and play, not doing much grazing, that is fine. You keep an eye on the poop, which should be like big rabbit pellets most of the time. Any runs, discolored from green, remove the lambs from grass for a day or until poops firm up again. Then try turning out in field again.

A lamb with runny poop goes into SICK real quick, loses weight, gets dehydrated fast. So going back to only hay diet, no grass or pellets, should straighten things out quickly. However it might take a few days of hay only, to firm the poops back up. We then started over on the grass time, allowed only short grazing on full stomachs. Lambs need time, couple weeks at least, to get the stomach used to digesting the grass, so you just CAN NOT hurry things.

We might be over careful, but those darn project lambs run $100- $150 a head! Makes a BIG dent in the kid's budget if they would lose one from not being careful enough on starting the grazing times. It is a time management thing, not a cost factor to get them grazing without getting sick from the food change. 

Something else to remember, is that for lambs growing, gaining weight, you will want to continue with the hay a bit, because the grass is mostly water in this first part of the season. Not as much nutrition as that lamb really needs to grow well, right now.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Over eating disease is Pulpy kidney or enterotoxenia. Typically its more problematic with high grain rations, but it targets the best doing lambs and certainly you do want to vaccinate for it even on pasture. There are also digestive issues like bloat, polio, and grass teteny grazing grass from hay + grain too quickly.


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## goodhors (Sep 6, 2011)

Thanks Ross, for the details on the over-eating shot. NOT what I would have guessed for the correct name!


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