# sheep pellets vs. hay



## StockDogLovr (Apr 13, 2009)

I've been mucking out my sheep barn which has accumulated quite a lot of hay/poo/pee. The amount of hay they have wasted is astonishing! Last year I found alfalfa that was cheap by CA standards, $7/bale for around 120 lb, but the stem was so coarse that they wasted tons of it. Recently I was buying #1 alfalfa that was baled a bit too dry, $11 for about a 100# bale if that, and they still waste a lot of stem.

I know folks who deal livestock, and they use a sheep pellet made by a local mill. It sells for about $41/250 lb. barrel, so about the equivalent of $16.40 for a 100 lb. bale. Given they eat all of it, no waste, do those of you who feed pellets rather than hay find that it works to your benefit $$-wise? I figure also that the sheep would get more out of it given it is balanced for sheep, whereas with hay it's really hit or miss whether the nutrient profile is correct for them.

Trying to justify the extra expense of doing this, especially since you have to pay barrel deposits up front!


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Are they pure alfalfa pellets?

If so, it may be a good deal

Another way to cut waste is to use feeders with small openings so they have to work at getting hay out


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## Reed77 (Mar 20, 2011)

about how many flakes/bales of alfalfa would you say they have waisted and over what period of time?


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

I wouldn't feed pure alfalfa hay they do well on a mix grass/legume hay and waste less. Pellets are just hay ground up so they will need something to help rumination and avoid frothy bloat.... like mix hay. Not much nutrition in alfalfa stems anyhow.


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## StockDogLovr (Apr 13, 2009)

The info for this feed is here:

http://elkgrovemilling.com/sheep_mix.html

It looks to be alfalfa but with distiller's grains and other ingredients to balance it for sheep (I'm assuming balanced for sheep, IOW supplemented). Fed at a rate of 1-1.5%, so that's less than the usual 2%.

I was using hockey netting inside my slatted feeder to make it harder for them to get the hay, but then lambs kept getting their heads caught one way or another in the netting. I need to do a better design.

I'm thinking of doing these pellets in the PM when they have to be closed into their barn, and then hay in the AM which I can toss out on the ground outside the barn. They still waste it out there, but I don't have to muck it! I may also go back to mixed grass hay, since they cleaned that up better when I fed it. I went to alfalfa for the increased nutrition for pregnant/nursing ewes.


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## redroving (Sep 28, 2005)

My friend soaks the pellets first before feeding (~15 mins) because she heard that sometimes a sheep will choke on the pellets. We used to be able to get alfalfa fines from a alfalfa cubing facility. It was the pile of powder and partial cubes that came off the conveyors. We since have good pasture and stopped having to supplement.


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## vicb66 (Oct 20, 2007)

We too deal with tons of waste.It's fine in the winter for the compost and bedding but in the summer we feed exclusively chaffhaye.Check out their website.They have a 6 pallet minimum but it lasts for years.It's fermented alfalfa haylage.I milk both Icelandic Sheep and French Alpine Goats.It costs about $10 per bale and there isn't any waste at all.Plus the nutritional content is posted on each bag so you know what quality hay you are getting.


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## StockDogLovr (Apr 13, 2009)

At what rate do you feed the chaffhaye, and is $10/bag what you paid delivered (the 6 pallets)? I bought something similar recently to use as a supplement carrier for my horses, Safe Starch Forage by Triple Crown, but it was $29.95 for the 50# bale, and people would have to be millionaires to feed it as the only source of food!

I just bought 4 x 250 lb. barrels of the sheep pelleted feed, so after that I'll be looking into the chaffhaye.


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