Feeding for Lamb and Calf Survival leading up to Spring

Heifer Feeding pre-calving

No one wants to be pulling calves from their heifers, and feeding levels in later pregnancy are often singled out as one method of reducing the risk of this. It’s not a great strategy for a few reasons:

1. An underfed heifer will protect the calf by using her own body stores to provide it with energy – thus to reduce the calf’s liveweight feeding levels would have to be will below requirements.

2. Feeding well below requirements has negative flow on effects for colostrum and milk production – compromising calf survival and growth.

3. If heifers have not been grown out well before calving, then their pelvis will not be big enough to easily give birth.

4. Poorly fed or conditioned heifers pre-calving are at high risk of being too weak to push the calf out themselves, or look after their calf afterwards.

Focus instead on sire selection for calving ease, and feeding heifers well throughout pregnancy.

Feeding ewes pre & post lambing

The three weeks before and after lambing are arguably the most critical feeding-wise for your ewes. They’re making colostrum, and then milk to feed growing lambs, growing unborn lambs and putting brown fat on them so they survive after birth, and hopefully not losing too much condition along the way.

At the end of pregnancy, the ewe’s energy needs increase exponentially – if she’s got multiples on board she’ll struggle to eat enough to meet her needs, and start taking it off her back. Prioritise your available feed, especially if this is limited. For example:

a) first cycle, multiple, poorer conditioned ewes – top priority ewes that need to be on higher covers

b) mated hoggets if you have any – these are still growing and need to be looked after

c) better conditioned first cycle multiples

d) everything else – rest of multiples, then singles

This is when having cycle data from scanning is really helpful – there’s a big difference between the amount of feed a ewe needs about 3 weeks out from lambing vs her later lambing friend still over 2 months away – about double! But put in the same paddock, they’re both going to eat the same amount.

Should I separate my triplets? Yes, if you have limited feed, in which case it would benefit them to be better fed. However, if you can keep all your multiples on decent covers (at least 1200kgDM) then there’s no need to do so, they can’t physically eat any more than your twin ewes.