Types of feed, diet and feeding norms for sheep at home. Diet and feeding of sheep from a to z

The question “what do the sheep eat?”, Of course, worries everyone who wants to have this animal. Let's say right away that keeping sheep at home is considered quite beneficial. Animals can use a wide variety of affordable and affordable feeds. But which ones, let's find out together from our material. Photos and videos will also be helpful.

As with most herbivores, the main food for sheep is plant food. At the same time, they consume a huge amount of herbs and plants, including weeds and even thorns. The only thing that experts advise is not to graze sheep on flooded meadows, as well as on swampy and forest pastures. For animals, mountain or steppe more arid grassy pastures are suitable.

The basis of food for the house for both females and rams is hay and pasture grass. Sheep are very fond of small grass and leguminous hay, as well as many types of straw. Oatmeal, millet and barley are better absorbed and give good weight gain. It is also good to add root crops as a top dressing: pumpkin, potatoes, beets and carrots, zucchini and other melons and gourds.

Grass

Green food is the staple of the sheep's summer diet. Animals on grassy pastures can spend the whole day without additional feeding. Fresh greens are nutritionally similar to quality concentrated feed. But in terms of protein and vitamins, it even surpasses them.

However, it is worth remembering that by the end of summer, the grass already loses half of its nutrients and vitamins. Therefore, at this time, it is advised to additionally feed the animals with specially grown herbs of cereal crops. For example, it can be oats, rye, winter wheat before heading. Corn, alfalfa, peas are perfect.

Silage

In terms of nutritional value and usefulness, silage for sheep ranks second after fresh grass. Its animals willingly eat, while meat and dairy productivity increases. The daily norm of high-quality silage is 3-4 kg for one adult. As practice shows, corn silage mixed with roughage or leguminous hay is most digestible.

Hay

As with any livestock, hay is a versatile feed. The nutritional value of such feed depends on the composition of the herbs, as well as on the correct storage and harvesting. The best hay for sheep is forbs during flowering. See the photo.

Sheep love alfalfa hay. In addition, it contains a lot of protein, sugars and vitamins. Clover and legume hay are also good. An adult should be given 2-4 kg of high-quality hay per day.

Root crops and melons

This type of feed is not only useful, but also a favorite for the sheep. Animals eat fodder beets, pumpkins, vegetable marrows, carrots with great pleasure. At the same time, beets and carrots, being coarse fiber, improve digestion. Vegetables saturate the body with essential vitamins and minerals.

Roots and melons must be in the feeder of feeding and feeding females. This helps to increase milk production and has a beneficial effect on the birth of healthy offspring. In addition, succulent crops improve the quality of the wool and increase the clipping. You can feed 2 to 4 kg of vegetables per day.

Concentrated feed

This group includes cereals (grain of oats, barley, wheat), legumes (peas, soybeans, vetch), bran, corn grain, cake. All of these feeds contain a high amount of nutrients, as well as such essential substances as fats, protein, minerals, starch. Concentrated feeds are indispensable for highly productive sheep. However, due to their considerable cost, they are used only as an additive to basic feeds.

Corn kernels are best eaten by sheep, but they are low in protein. Therefore, in addition to it, legumes are used. The cake can be given sunflower and soy. The daily rate of concentrates is 100-150 grams per adult. For a ram - 500-600 grams.

Straw

A poorly nutritious type of roughage, however, it is a good feeding during the stall period. The best for feeding sheep is legume straw, as well as barley, oat and millet. Since straw consists mainly of coarse fiber, it can be given no more than 1 kilogram for young animals per day, and no more than 2.5 kilograms for adults.

Diet and feeding rates

Sheep feeding rates are calculated depending on the age, season, as well as on the condition of the animals (breeding, lactation, fattening, etc.). In total, according to the animal husbandry standard, 12 nutrients are isolated, which must be present in any type of diet. Of all the essential minerals, sheep are most in need of zinc, calcium, phosphorus and cobalt.

Do not forget that the diet and feeding rates depend on the sex of the animal. So, for example, a ram needs a separate diet. Especially if it is used for breeding purposes. Let's consider the options for diets in more detail.

Spring diet

In the spring, it is very important to correctly transfer the sheep from hay to green grass. Since young grass is rich in vitamins and protein, it is absorbed well, but with a sharp transition, it can cause diarrhea. The first time the sheep should put some hay in the trough.

  • the basis of feeding is grass;
  • during the rest period - hay;
  • 300-700 grams of concentrates;
  • rock and mineral salt in the form of a lick.

Summer diet

During this time, the sheep should receive green grass both day and night. During the day - on grazing, at night - freshly cut in the feeders.

  • the basis of feeding is grass (85-90%);
  • 100-200 grams of concentrates;
  • no more than 1 kg of hay;
  • salt.

Autumn diet

Grass in the fall is poor in nutrients, so the lack of vitamins is compensated by hay, root crops, melons.

  • grass during pasture;
  • good hay (3 kg);
  • 3-4 kg of vegetables and root crops;
  • mineral salts.

Winter diet

  • the basis is good-quality hay (4 kg);
  • silo (4 kg);
  • 100-300 grams of compound feed;
  • apples, vegetables, melons (3-4 kg);
  • mineral salts.

Feeding the queens

Sheep should be fed only high quality fresh feed. Approximately 4 weeks before lambing, the supply of hay is reduced and the amount of compound feed increases. During this period, the feeder of the queens should be full at all times.

  • 300-500 grams of cereal hay;
  • 200-300 g of bean hay;
  • 500 g of straw;
  • juicy feed, vegetables (3-3.5 kg);
  • 300 g of concentrates;
  • 12-15 g of salt.

After lambing, the daily rate of hay is increased to 1 kilogram, succulent feed - up to 4 kg, concentrates - up to 400-500 grams.

Diet of breeder rams

As we said, a ram needs a separate diet. Throughout the year, the male should have good body condition. In the non-breeding period, they give:

  • 1.5-2 kg of hay;
  • 2-3 kg of juicy feed;
  • 500-600 grams of concentrates.

Approximately 2 months before mating, the ram is transferred to more nutritious feed. But already during mating, the dose of fiber is reduced to the animal and given:

  • 1-1.5 kg of hay;
  • 0.8-1 kg of oats;
  • 200 g of oil cake;
  • 100-200 g of bran;
  • 200-500 g of vegetables;
  • 200 g of cottage cheese or 2 chicken eggs;
  • 10 g of salt.

Feeding baby lambs and young

For the first 5 days, feeding of lambs is based on maternal colostrum. It is this that is an important basis for their further development and growth. Therefore, if the lambing uterus is sick or died, the babies should be immediately planted with another lactating female. If the planting fails, then the colostrum is replaced with cow's milk or a special mixture. They drink first from the nipple 5 times a day, then gradually they teach them to drink from a bowl. By the age of two months, babies should switch to 2 meals a day.

After weaning from their mother, young animals switch to an adult diet, where fresh grass and concentrates in the form of additives become the basis of their nutrition. Up to a month, sheep are given no more than 50 grams of concentrated feed per day, at 2 months - 100-150, at 3 months - 200 and at 4 months - 300. They are given in the form of flakes or in crushed form. Young animals are especially sensitive to a lack of protein in the feed, so they need to be given bean hay, grain and high-quality cake.

Diet for lambs from 4 to 6 months:

  • 500 g of hay;
  • 500 g of haylage;
  • 500 g of vegetables and root crops;
  • 300 g of compound feed;
  • 150 g of oil cake;
  • 4 g of salt.

Young cattle diet:

  • 1 kg of hay;
  • 500 g of root crops and melons;
  • 200 g of concentrates;
  • 8 g of salt.

Fattening

To obtain good lamb, as well as wool and sheepskin, animals are fattened before slaughter. To do this, use a special diet:

  • 500 g bean hay;
  • 200 g of clover or alfalfa hay;
  • 5 kg of silage;
  • 1 kg of beets and other vegetables;
  • 200 g of pea grains;
  • 150 g barley;
  • 100 g of corn.

Feeding mode

It is very important at home not only to observe the correct diet, but also the feeding regime of the sheep. So, for example, adults and young animals in the stall period are fed three times a day. Before and after sleep, animals should receive less nutritious food, during the day - more high-calorie. All succulent feeds are given before drinking, and concentrates after.

Sheep should be given hay in the morning, succulent feed and concentrates in the afternoon, and straw and hay in the evening. You should also drink three times a day. During the grazing period, animals need not be supplemented if they are on the pasture for at least 13-14 hours a day. In good weather, sheep should be fed outdoors. It is laid out in a nursery or special feeders.

What should be the feeders?

The distance between the perches of the lattice is made about 10 centimeters. This prevents scattering of feed and allows the sheep to reach for food freely. Do not forget that the ram eats separately, so it needs its own feeder. Otherwise, he can drive females away from food. For more information about feeding and breeding animals, see the photo and video.

Video "Briefly about sheep breeding"

In this video, you will once again see how easy it is to care for and feed the animals, and also see how the flock uses pasture.

* Calculations are based on average data for Russia

As you know, the main diet of many types of farm animals is grass. But fresh grass is available from spring to autumn. In summer, it is harvested for future use and dried in hay, which is then used to feed stall animals. However, this is very laborious and time consuming. A lot of space is required to store an adequate supply of hay for the winter. And, finally, in dry hay (especially when stored for a long time), the supply of nutrients is much lower than in fresh grass. Modern technologies have made it possible to create new ways of harvesting grass, which help to preserve more useful components in it. These include the production of vitamin herbal flour and herbal granules.

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What is herbal flour? This is a protein feed intended for farm animals and poultry and obtained from artificially dried grass, harvested in the early phases of the growing season (at the first stage of budding), dried at a high temperature and crushed to a powdery state. Grass flour is used as a substitute for hay and as a high-quality vitamin supplement with a high carotene content in combination with roughage or concentrated feed. The use of specialized equipment for the production of grass meal allows you to avoid significant losses of raw materials, which are observed during natural drying of grass (breaking off shoots, flowers and leaves). Also, this method of production excludes the adverse effect of moisture and the course of various biochemical and microbiological processes. Granules are made from herbal flour. Pellets lend themselves well to storage, unlike hay, which can cake, mold or rot with conventional harvesting. Experts say that when drying grass artificially, the content of feed units increases by at least 1.5 times, protein - 1.6 times, carbohydrates - 3.5 times, and carotene - 7-8 times. In addition, grass flour and granules are easier to digest than hay, allowing you to get good weight gain and milk yield. In the West, this type of feed is widely used in the feed industry, primarily in the production of feed for poultry, pigs and young cattle.

The production of grass flour and granules from freshly cut grasses is a promising business, because the yield of succulent forage is several times higher than the grain yield. However, the need to strictly adhere to technological requirements and expensive equipment make it very costly. This production assumes a continuous process carried out through the complex mechanization of all stages of the preparation of herbal flour. These stages include mowing green mass, loading and subsequent transportation of raw materials, drying, grinding, storage. Let's consider them in more detail.

Production process of herbal flour and herbal granules

Sown annual and perennial grasses, meadow grasses with a high content of legumes, etc., vetch with oats, alfalfa, clover, goat's rue, nettle, lupine are used as raw materials for the production of flour. The nutritional parameters of the feed depend on the type of collected grasses. The latter are confirmed by a veterinary certificate and / or the conclusion of a chemical laboratory. As in the case of fresh feed, there are three main types of raw materials: forbs, legumes (clover or alfalfa, less often - goat's rue), leguminous mixtures (vetch-oat mixture, or the like).

The legumes to be cut should be about 50 centimeters high. The optimal harvest time for clover and alfalfa for grass meal production is at the end of the stalking phase. This phase lasts approximately 21 days. That is, during the growing season, when mowing legumes, you can collect 3-4 complete cuttings of high-quality green mass. Meadow grasses begin to mow during the stemming phase (during this period the plant height is about 30 cm). The quality of the finished product is largely dependent on the quality of the raw materials for cutting or grass flour. Experts advise using grasses of one cut for no more than 12 days. It has been scientifically established that most of the carotene in plants is contained in the morning hours from 6 to 10 in the morning. Then its level begins to decrease, and by 20 hours its amount may decrease by 4-6 times compared to the initial one. Thus, in order to preserve the maximum amount of carotene in the raw material, it is best to mow and process forage crops in the early morning hours, but, of course, this requirement cannot always be met.

To increase the performance of dryers, you need to chop the herbs as best as possible. The maximum allowable particle size at the first stage of raw material procurement should not exceed 110 mm. At least 80% of its total volume must be particles up to 30 mm in size. Trust me, the time spent sharpening and adjusting the mower-chopper knives will pay off in the future with savings on fuel (one of the biggest expense items) and a significant improvement in product quality.

The total weight loss when mowing grass and loading it into transport should be no more than 2%. For the preparation of grass mass with its simultaneous crushing, special equipment is required: self-propelled forage harvesters (Don-680, Maral-125, KSK-100A, etc.), semi-mounted forage harvesters (Polesie-3000), forage harvesters complexes or trailed forage harvesters with tractors of traction class 1.4; 2 and 3. In this case, the harvester is set up for fine cutting.

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It is very important to establish the process of transporting the crushed mass to the place of further processing of raw materials. At the same time, its loss or contamination must not be allowed: the period between mowing fresh grass and drying it (including the storage period on the site near the drying unit) should not exceed two to three hours. The fact is that in a loose heap, crushed grass quickly warms itself up, as a result of which it loses its most valuable qualities. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to synchronize the work of the transport and the dryer. Tractor trailers and dump trucks with additional mesh sides are used as transport. The boards will minimize losses, preserving the grass during loading, transportation and unloading.

So, less than three hours after mowing, the grass should go to drying, after which the grass mass will be ground into flour. The crushed mass is fed to the drying unit on the feeder tray, from which it enters the drying drum along a conveyor and an inclined conveyor. Drying is carried out at a raw material heating temperature of no more than 70 ° C. The relative humidity of the finished herb flour should be 8-12%, and the herb cut should be 10-15%. Violation of these requirements (for example, overdrying the raw material to 5-6%) can lead to a loss in the mass of carotene and protein, as well as to an increase in the risk of fire. And underdrying the mass can overload the crusher's electric motor and cause frequent clogging of the sieves. According to the requirements, the loss of carotene during the drying process should not exceed 5%, and the loss of dry matter should not exceed 2%.

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For drying, high-temperature drying units can be used (they differ in productivity - from 0.5 to 1.5 tons of dry product per hour) or low-temperature dryers, where the air is heated to 100-130 ° C using heat generators, and the mass is processed by an ultra-high electromagnetic field. frequency, which can significantly speed up the process and improve product quality. At the outlet of the drum, heavy particles and foreign inclusions are separated from the dried mass.

Using the same line, the obtained raw materials can be used to produce grass flour, grass granules and grass cutting. The technology for the production of grass cutting is generally the same. The only difference is that the dry mass from the cyclone does not go into the crusher (as for the production of flour), but into a special bunker or a tractor trailer, where it is kept according to fire safety rules for at least twenty hours, and then is sent to a warehouse with a level humidity 17-19%. Grass cutting takes up a rather large volume, therefore, it is more expedient to briquet it at the next stage of production. To do this, you will need additional equipment - press briquetting machines, which tamp the cutting at a moisture content of 13% into briquettes. Upon completion of the work, it is necessary to check that no mass with a moisture content of more than 12% remains in the press channels.

If the production of cutting ends at this stage, then in the case of the production of grass flour and granules, this is far from the end. One of the most important criteria for the quality of herbal flour is the percentage of carotene in it. Since this percentage inevitably decreases during the processing of grass mass, in order to reduce losses, the antioxidants Santoquin or Diludin are introduced into artificially grown feed at a dose of 0.02% of the mass of the processed feed. This reduces the loss of carotene by 2-2.5 times. Antioxidants must be dissolved in a filler, which is fats or water (in the case of the hydrochloric salt of Santoquin).

At the next stage, after grinding, the herb flour is granulated. This procedure has several advantages. Granules are more convenient to use (for distribution to animals). This form can reduce the need for storage space by 3-3.5 times (especially compared to grass cutting), reduces losses during transportation and storage, and is also more convenient for mechanized loading and unloading from a warehouse.

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Granulation is carried out using special equipment - separate granulators with annular matrices or a granulation line. In the granulator hopper, granules of a given diameter are formed. According to GOST 18691 - 88, the diameter of the granules should be 3.0 - 25.0 mm (the most common herbal granules with a diameter of 8 mm), the length - no more than two diameters, density - 600 - 1300 kg / m3, and crumbling - no more than 12% , Mass fraction of dry matter in herbal flour should be within 88 - 91% (moisture - 12 - 9%), granular - 85 - 90% (moisture - 15 - 10%). The moisture level is very important, since the quality of the finished product depends on it.

When flour is pressed, the temperature in the granules rises significantly and must be quickly cooled to ambient temperature. Slow cooling leads to significant losses of carotene. Cooling down should not take more than 15 minutes, then the loss of carotene will be insignificant and fit into the norm up to 5%. For these reasons, after the granulator, the product is fed to the cooling conveyor, where it is cooled by the counterflow of air from the fan, and through it to the sieving table, where the mash is separated from the molded granules. Spread and rejected granules are returned to the granulator using a screw conveyor, and granules that meet the requirements of GOST are sent to the scales. The finished herbal granules are poured into three-layer paper kraft bags with a capacity of 30 to 50 kg or Big-Bags 1000 kg each. Granules in bags of 30-50 kg, as a rule, are sold at retail or in small wholesale, and Big-Bags packages are sold in medium wholesale. With large wholesale, herbal pellets are usually loaded in bulk into a truck. During packaging, the temperature of the product must be equal to the ambient temperature (exceeding up to 8 ° C is allowed). The filled bags are sewn up with small sewing machines and stacked on pallets up to two meters high. For moving pallets, sending bags to the warehouse, unloading and loading, you need universal loaders.

A number of requirements are imposed on the room where bags of grass flour are stored. It should be darkened, since carotene is destroyed by light. There are no strict heating requirements, but good ventilation is needed. The optimum air temperature for storage of granules is 2-4 ° C, and the relative humidity of the air is 65-75%. Granaries meet all these requirements. However, in the absence of such, you can do with a warehouse for storing raw materials or loose and granular feed. Aisles between stacks in a warehouse should be about one meter, and the minimum distance between the walls of the warehouse and the rows should be 0.7 meters. For the convenience of working in the warehouse, the width of the aisles between the stacks should be from 1.25 meters. Herbal granules can be stored in bulk in specially equipped warehouses or in inert gases with an oxygen content of no more than 1-1.5 in special storages. The latter consist of twenty hermetically sealed silos, each of which can be loaded with 50 tons of pellets, gas generators and conveyor systems.

Please note: the scheme for the production of grass flour may differ slightly from the above. Manufacturers are trying to find new solutions to reduce the cost of finished products. After all, grass flour cannot be called a cheap feed. For example, to reduce the cost of production, the grass mass is often pre-dried before drying. The withering of the chopped grass is carried out on windrows in order to reduce the loss of carotene from exposure to sunlight and, again, reduce the risk of contamination and spoilage of the feed. The duration of this stage depends on the weather conditions. It can be 4-36 hours before humidity is not less than 65-70%.

This additional stage allows you to reduce the costs of the drying process: increase the productivity of the unit by 50-60% and reduce fuel consumption per unit of production by 40-50%! However, it also has certain disadvantages. So, in the production of grass flour with wilting, more harvesting machines will be required (accordingly, they also need additional fuel). The process of harvesting green mass itself becomes more time-consuming, complex and, therefore, more expensive. At the same time, in the process of collecting and wilting, the quality of raw materials also deteriorates due to the loss of leaves and inflorescences. In addition, weather conditions play an important role, which represents a certain risk (partly predictable). Finally, even when this stage of processing takes place on windrows, and not in swaths, in its process, the carotene content in the grass is reduced by 2-4%. Its digestibility (primarily of protein) also deteriorates, and the risk of subsequent ignition of the dried grass in the drum of the dryer increases.

There are other ways to optimize the manufacturing process. For example, some manufacturers build a raw material conveyor to keep dryers running smoothly throughout the season. The length of the season depends on the region. In the forest zone and in the north of the forest-steppe zone, it is 90-120 days, and in the southern regions - 120-150 days.

You can also use new equipment that is more economical than traditional models. These include, for example, heat generators operating on cheap fuel - straw. One kilowatt of heat when using straw as fuel costs many times cheaper than diesel fuel, firewood, gas and electricity. According to the manufacturers of such equipment, 4-5 rolls of straw or 500-800 kg of birch firewood are required per day of continuous operation of the heat generator. Up to 16 tons of raw materials for the production of grass flour can be dried per day. Thus, it is quite possible to produce about 1600 tons of herbal granules per season. To provide the heat generator with fuel for the entire season, it is enough to allocate 50-100 hectares for straw.

In the production of grass cutting, it is possible to increase the productivity of the equipment by 20% and reduce fuel consumption by 10% if the mass is dried in two stages: first, it is dried only to a moisture content of 25%, and then it is dried with active ventilation. True, this method is suitable only when the air humidity does not exceed 70%.

Expenses and income

So what does it take to get started producing herbal flour? Let's make an approximate calculation based on the fact that the company will not be engaged in harvesting grass on its own. First of all, large enough areas will be required to accommodate all the necessary equipment, store finished products and stocks of raw materials. The height of the ceilings in the production area must be at least four meters. The total area for equipment placement is 250 sq. meters. Unlike warehouses, a production workshop must be heated (the minimum permissible temperature in it is +5 ° C) and have a water supply. The list of required equipment includes: a conveyor for feeding raw materials into a shredder, a shredder of materials IMD, a cyclone with a frame, a drying complex, a hammer crusher, a granulation unit (pellet press, bunker, control panel), a column or cooling unit, a packing unit (conveyor, scales, frame), control panels. To service this equipment, three people are enough per shift. The cost of the production line depends on the configuration and performance. For example, a line with a capacity of 0.5 tons of finished product in granules per hour will cost 3.5 million rubles, a line with a capacity of 1.5 t / h will cost just over 6 million rubles, 3 t / h - 9.3 million rubles. A line for the production of finished product in bulk with a capacity of 0.5 t / h will cost almost 2 million rubles, 1.5 t / h - 4 million rubles, 3 t / h - 4.8 million rubles. Add to this the costs of transportation, installation, commissioning, and equipment training.

If you care about your reputation, then your products must be certified for compliance with GOST 18691-88 and accompanied by a certificate of compliance, veterinary certificate and test report. This also comes with additional costs.

Let's calculate the main costs for the production of one ton of grass meal. These include electricity, gas (firewood, hay, etc.) for drying, equipment, raw materials, wages of employees of the enterprise. The exact cost of grass flour depends, among other things, on the type of fuel on which the heat generator operates. The consumed electric power of the drying is 154.25 kW. Accordingly, the cost of electricity per ton of finished products will reach 500 rubles. The amount of gas consumed for drying is 86 Nm3 / h. Thus, the cost of gas for drying one ton will be about 200 rubles. For drying, you will need about 80 kg of firewood (also per ton), which will cost 150 rubles. It will take three tons of grass to make one ton of products. This amount of raw materials will cost from 2,500 rubles. The wage fund will be at least 30 thousand rubles per month (in the regions, an employee of such a production receives 60 rubles per hour) based on work in one shift (this cost item is about 200 rubles per ton of product). Additionally, you need to include the cost of deductions for the depreciation of equipment based on the service life of the latter for eight years (about 300 rubles per ton of product).

Correct feeding of the sheep is the basis for normal weight gain and an increase in the number of flocks. Animal nutrition should be balanced, the choice of its regime depends on many factors. It is taken into account what the sheep eat, depending on the season, age category and the purpose of their raising.

What do sheep eat?

The diet of sheep consists almost entirely of plant foods, since they are herbivores. The flock spends a significant part of the time on grazing and feeds on pasture; during this period, the animals practically do not need additional feed additives.

For the full development of young individuals and an increase in livestock, it is necessary to include many different products in the diet at different times. Let's talk about each of them.

Juicy feed


The main part of the sheep's diet is succulent feed. There are several of them:

  1. Grass. Sheep eat not only young and succulent shoots, but also coarse grasses, such as thorns, weeds and even thin branches of trees. When choosing a pasture, breeders prefer arid areas, as flood meadows and marshy lowlands are not very suitable for sheep. Fresh green mass is very nutritious, but in the second half of summer it loses some of its valuable properties, therefore, by this time, animals begin to be supplemented with green cereals, for example, rye, oats, corn or winter wheat shoots, legumes.
  2. Silage. This feed is eaten by sheep with particular eagerness, it is slightly inferior in nutrition to grass. Especially good is corn silage mixed with roughage and leguminous hay. Its daily rate for sheep is up to 4 kg.
  3. Roots. Vegetables are a great source of vitamins and fiber and are a favorite sheep's treat. What exactly to feed the sheep with? Best of all fodder beets and carrots. They help improve the digestion of animals and their ability to resist infections. It is advisable to give up to 4 kg of such feed per day.
  4. Melons. They also saturate the body of animals with vitamins and fiber. Zucchini and pumpkins are usually used for these purposes.

Succulent feed is what sheep eat during the most favorable periods for fattening. Particular attention is paid to their quality, since it is they who saturate the animals in all seasons. The rest of the ingredients are used as top dressing.

Roughage


Roughage also takes up a fairly large proportion of sheep feeding, especially in winter:

  1. Straw. It is not desirable to use this type of feed, but it is often included in the diet of feeding adult sheep out of necessity, but its daily dose should not exceed 2.5 kg. Young animals can also be given straw, but in much smaller quantities, up to 1 kg. It is best to use straw from leguminous plants, oats, millet and barley.
  2. Hay. The highest quality is distinguished by forbs during the flowering period, clover, alfalfa, peas. They have valuable nutritional properties, and they also contain many essential trace elements. Hay is the basis for feeding the sheep during the stable period. Each adult should eat 2-4 kg of this food daily.
  3. Haylage. It is harvested during the haymaking period, while the grass is dried to a moisture content of 50% and preserved in sealed containers.

Roughage is too high in fiber, so too much can damage digestion. In addition, their nutritional properties are significantly inferior to succulent feeds.

Concentrated feed


For sheep, concentrates are the best feed, but sometimes it is impossible to fully feed animals with them, since they have a high cost. These include:

  • cereals such as wheat, barley, and oats;
  • legumes;
  • bran;
  • sunflower or soybean meal;
  • corn grains;
  • compound feed specially developed for sheep.

These feeds are extremely rich in proteins, fats and starch, therefore, it is necessary to feed the sheep with at least 100-150 grams per sheep and up to 600 grams per ram per day.

Diet and feeding rates

The components of the diet are combined in different proportions. Sheep feeding rates, ideally, should be selected for each individual individual according to its condition. Particular attention is paid to how to properly feed pregnant sheep and young animals. To compile a nutritious diet, it is worth considering all the factors affecting the diet separately.

By the seasons


At different times of the year, the nutrition of sheep is different, this is due to the availability of certain types of feed:

  1. Spring. At this time of the year, it is necessary to transfer the flock from roughage to fresh herbs. This should be done gradually, haste can lead to intestinal upset, for this, during moments of rest, you need to give hay to the animals. In addition to plant matter, up to 700 grams of concentrates and salt are added to the feed.
  2. Summer. In the warm season, fresh herbs should make up at least 85% of the sheep's daily ration. In addition, animals are given up to a kilogram of hay per individual, about 200 grams of concentrated feed and salt.
  3. Autumn. By this time, the grass on pastures loses the bulk of its useful properties, which are replenished with hay, at least three kilograms per day. In addition to it, the diet includes up to 4 kg of vegetables and mineral salts.
  4. Winter. The possibility of pasture flocks is completely excluded, so the daily ration is formed from 4 kg of hay, 4 kg of silage, up to 300 g of compound feed, up to 4 kg of vegetables, do not forget about the addition of mineral salts.

Diet of ewes, rams-producers

Nesting sheep should be fed the highest quality feed. A month before giving birth, most of the roughage is replaced with concentrated and juicy ingredients:

  • a pound of cereal hay;
  • up to 300 g of bean hay;
  • a pound of straw;
  • juicy feed not less than 3 kg;
  • 300 g of concentrates;
  • up to 15 g of salt.

Sheep, responsible for the reproduction of offspring, also need special nutrition. In normal times, it consists of the following ingredients:

  • hay, up to 2 kg;
  • juicy feed, up to 3 kg;
  • up to 600 g of concentrated feed.

During the mating period, the producer ram loses a lot of energy, therefore, 2 months before it, it is necessary to compact its feeding:

  • the hay rate is reduced to one and a half kg;
  • 1.4 kg of concentrates, more than half of which should be oats;
  • salt;
  • 2 chicken eggs or up to 200 g of cottage cheese;
  • up to 500 g of vegetable ingredients.

Feeding young and young lambs

The first 5 days of life, lambs feed exclusively on mother's milk. If this is not possible, which is possible in the event of death or illness of the uterus, then the cubs need to be planted with another female or given cow's milk to drink.

Feeding young sheep at home is carried out from the teat on a five-day basis; by the age of two months, the lambs should be fed twice a day. The transition is carried out smoothly and they try to teach young animals to drink from a bowl as early as possible.


Simultaneously with milk nutrition, lambs begin to accustom themselves to solid food. They start with concentrated feed, bringing their amount from 50 g in the first month to 300 g by the fourth, use feed varieties rich in protein. In addition, bean hay must be included in the diet.

4-6 months:

  • a pound of hay, haylage and vegetables;
  • 300 g of compound feed;
  • 150 g of high quality cake;
  • up to 4 g of salt.

over six months:

  • 1 kg of hay;
  • up to 500 g of vegetable crops;
  • 200 g of concentrated feed;
  • 8 g of mineral salts.

Fattening


To increase productivity, sheep are transferred to a special diet. Sheep feeding begins a few weeks before slaughter:

  • up to 700 g of high-quality hay, better than legumes or clover;
  • 5 kg of silage;
  • 1 kg of vegetables;
  • 450 g of concentrates.

For fattening sheep for meat, concentrates are used that are the richest in protein: peas, barley, corn. This will help you build muscle as quickly as possible.

Feeding mode

When feeding sheep, not only the constituents of the diet and their norms are important, but also the diet. For better assimilation of food by animals, you should adhere to some rules:

  1. During the stall period, feed three times a day.
  2. Introduce less nutritious food in the evening.
  3. Be sure to water animals of all ages daily.
  4. Give concentrates after drinking, and juicy feed before drinking.
  5. During the grazing period, you can refuse to feed if the flock spends at least 13 hours a day on the pasture.
  6. Sheep feeding should be carried out with a constantly full trough, also with pregnant and lactating queens.

Paying attention to the correct nutrition of animals is extremely important, since the state of health of each animal depends on it. Feeding affects the number of offspring; with proper and sufficiently plentiful nutrition, there are practically no cases of lambing by one cub. This allows you to increase the livestock as quickly as possible.

Alfalfa is one of the legumes intended for the production and variety of the fodder base for livestock. Alfalfa is widely used for making hay and silage; it is ground into flour and added to vitamin complexes for livestock.

Alfalfa plant, perennial seed crop, from the legume family. In natural conditions, it occurs in the wild. The roots of the plant are strong and thick, buried deep in the ground. The stem is straight, strong, covered with small densely planted leaves, the height of the plant can reach 85 centimeters.

Inflorescences of a blue, as well as a blue hue, collected by tassels, bloom in the summer. The fruits are hooked beans, which reach maturity in August.

Asia is considered the cradle of alfalfa, a wild plant comes across in the Balkans, in Russia, settles near water bodies, on the edges and meadows. The main purpose of alfalfa is the fodder base for livestock, the culture became famous since the 6th century and was vigorously mowed for horse feed.

Varieties

Alfalfa has over one hundred plant species. About half of them can be seen in Russia.


Crescent alfalfa (yellow)

A plant with a developed rhizome, as well as basal offspring, looks like a large semi-shrub forty to eighty centimeters high. Shoots are either naked or covered with sparse nap. On them, trifoliate petiole leaves of an oval-lanceolate or lanceolate shape grow. The length of the leaf reaches 0.5-2.2 cm, and the width is two to six millimeters.

Dense capitate clusters adorn alfalfa in June-July. There are seven to forty buds on small pedicels. The length of the boat is 1-1.2 cm. After pollination, twisted sickle-shaped or moon-shaped beans, covered with glandular pile, are formed. Their length is only eight to twelve millimeters.

Hop-like alfalfa

An annual or two-year-old grass with a less developed taproot grows a lot of thin, outstretched stems ten to fifty centimeters high. Small petiolate leaves of a rhombic shape grow in length by seven to fifteen millimeters, and in width by three to ten millimeters. They have a wedge-shaped base and a small notch at the top. There is a ferruginous pile on the reverse side.

Small (up to two millimeters) yellow flowers are collected in strong ovoid heads of inflorescences. Fruits in the form of a one-seeded bean up to two millimeters in length resemble small buds. They are also covered with pile, which falls off over time.

Alfalfa sowing (blue)


Elastic herbaceous shoots branch more strongly in the upper part. They grow up to 80 centimeters in height. The plant has a strong thickened rhizome. Oval or obovate leaves grow one to two centimeters long and three to ten millimeters wide.

On axillary peduncles, dense capitate brushes two to three centimeters long are picked up. Flowers in them are painted in shades of blue or purple. Their length is five to six millimeters. Rolled up like snails, the beans are six millimeters wide.

Alfalfa mutable (hybrid)

A perennial plant in the form of semi-shrubs grows seventy to one hundred and twenty centimeters in height. Strongly branched shoots are covered with small leaves on elongated petioles. They have an oval or ovoid shape with a sparse fluff on the underside. Tubular capitate inflorescences in leaf axils are located on longer peduncles.


The height of the loose brush is three to five centimeters. The petals are often variegated, and are also colored blue, purple or yellow. Larger beans are twisted into a spiral. They are covered with a light yellowish or olive brown skin.

Growing alfalfa

The precursors for alfalfa are legumes and row crops. Alfalfa itself is considered a good predecessor for many crops.

The plant is sown both as clean sowing and using alfalfa undercover sowing. Spring cereals are mainly used as a cover crop; Sudanese alfalfa grass is less suitable for such purposes.

Planting alfalfa without cover works very well in areas that are well cleared of weeds. Due to the inhibited growth of alfalfa plants in the first stages of formation, there is a possibility of overgrowing the whole crop with weeds. To prevent this, cover crops are used.

When choosing a site for growing alfalfa, it does not hurt to pay attention to the depth of the groundwater. The proximity of groundwater negatively affects the development of plants.

Soil preparation

When alfalfa is located after grain crops in the area, we carry out stubble cultivation and after two to three weeks fall plowing to a depth of twenty seven to thirty centimeters with a plow with a skimmer.


If, when growing alfalfa, sowing of a cover crop is used, then we carry out the preparation of the soil according to the technology for such a cover crop. In areas with sprinkling, we pay special attention to smoothing the area for a more even distribution of water, which contributes to an impressive increase in the alfalfa yield.

Fertilizers

During the growing season, alfalfa removes a large amount of similar nutrients from the soil with the harvest, such as potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium. In particular, this contributes to the acquisition of such high yields of green mass, including a similar amount of protein.

An impressive increase in the yield of alfalfa is also provided by the use of organic fertilizers, especially when applied together with mineral fertilizers. The organic matter is applied under the predecessor of the cover crop or directly under the cover crop within the range of twenty five to thirty t / ha.


For irrigated alfalfa, mineralized fertilizers must be applied before irrigation. Excellent results are obtained by phosphorus-potassium fertilizers applied after a separate mowing before irrigation at the rate of thirty kilograms of active ingredient, however, when applied once per summer, the dose of fertilizers is increased to fifty to sixty kg / ha.

Phosphorus-potassium fertilizers similarly increase the resistance of alfalfa to wintering and soaking.

According to many years of experience, alfalfa reacts extremely negatively to the lack of phosphorus in the initial stages of the growing season. With a lack of content of this element in the soil in the first month after the end of sowing, this negatively affects the vital activity of plants in subsequent years.

Seed preparation

The main preparation of alfalfa seeds is to thoroughly remove weed seeds and other foreign impurities. We pay special attention to the fight against dodders, in the presence of which we use specialized cleaning machines.


The cultivation of alfalfa seeds with molybdenum gives excellent results (in those areas where this element is not enough in the soil). We dissolve one hundred grams of molybdenum-sour ammonium in four hundred grams of water and treat one sowing unit with this composition.

Sowing

Germination of alfalfa seeds is noted already at + 1 ° C, and the seedlings tolerate frosts down to -5 ° C. So sowing alfalfa can be done at the same time as sowing early cereals as cover crops. In addition, it was during such a period that a lot of moisture accumulated in winter remained in the soil. Well, the most ideal temperature for germinating seeds is 17-20 ° C.

In arid areas of the steppe, the sowing rate is eight to ten kg / ha, in areas of the forest-steppe and in areas with irrigation, ten to fifteen kg / ha. The seeding depth on heavy soils is two to three centimeters, on light soils three to four centimeters. If there is a lack of moisture in the soil, you can use post-sowing reconsolidation of sowing with smooth rollers.

Sowing care

Having harvested the cover crop, we do not hesitate to harvest straw from the field at the end of threshing. If the arable layer is supplied with the necessary amount of moisture, it is possible at the beginning of autumn to fertilize alfalfa with potash (fifty to one hundred kg / ha of potassium salt), as well as phosphoric (one and a half to two centners / ha of superphosphate) fertilizers. This will increase the resistance of alfalfa plants to cold weather.


Every year we carry out spring harrowing with heavy harrows in two tracks, which favors the removal of last year's stubble, as well as loosening the outer layer of the soil. The desired result is obtained by top dressing, as well as harrowing of alfalfa after a separate cut.

In areas with spraying, try not to allow a decrease in the moisture level in a meter layer of soil below seventy-seventy-five% HB.

Harvest

Alfalfa is harvested for hay at the budding stage. Delay in harvesting reduces the percentage of protein and fat in the plants, spoils the development of aftermath and reduces the collection of hay after cutting. The quality of the hay is especially severely reduced. According to the research, the protein content in plants at the budding stage is 23.6%, before flowering 18.8%, at full flowering 15.3%. The crude protein figure in the leaves is twenty to thirty percent.

When mown more than three times during the growing season, alfalfa falls out quickly. In order to increase its effective longevity, the first cut must be carried out at the beginning of flowering. Harvesting during budding helps to preserve leaves in the hay. In order to better preserve them, the mown grass is raked into swaths a few hours after the end of mowing. When the weather is right, after two to three days, the alfalfa hay dries up so much that it can be stacked or stacked.


In the steppe areas with a drier climate, the mown alfalfa is raked into swaths immediately after the end of mowing, and in the evening they are already dumped.

The timing of the extreme cut should be adjusted. The frost resistance of alfalfa plants that leave in winter largely directly depends on this. According to many years of research, it is better to perform the last mowing of grass stand one to one and a half months before the onset of constant cold weather. This time will be sufficient for alfalfa to grow back, form a rosette, and replenish the required amount of nutrients.

Alfalfa: properties and benefits

Alfalfa contains many vitamins, in fact, all groups of trace elements, acids, as well as other essential substances. All these substances are present in an easily assimilated form, which allows the plant to be eaten without additional processing.

Alfalfa can saturate your body with calcium, magnesium, potassium, fluoride, and iron. It can help with anemia, with regulation of hormonal levels in adolescents, as well as women in the postmenopausal period.


Alfalfa removes toxins from the body and reduces cholesterol levels. Using alfalfa as a medicinal product can help with many different ailments:

  • nervous disorders, as well as stress;
  • bruises, as well as abrasions;
  • joint diseases;
  • diabetes;
  • problems of the urinary system;
  • skin diseases;
  • haemorrhoids;
  • problems with the gastrointestinal tract;
  • colds, as well as runny nose;
  • eye ailments;
  • prostatitis and more.

Alfalfa helps women who do not have the required amount of milk during lactation. For this, tea is brewed with the addition of alfalfa. In medicine, alfalfa has long been used both in pure form and with the addition of other substances.

Alfalfa is an herb often used in cosmetology. With its help, you can reduce puffiness, tighten and renew the skin, increase its elasticity.

Creams - masks based on alfalfa nourish and enrich the skin, scrubs cleanse pores, tonics and creams moisten and regenerate. Application for hair care will give it a strong shine, saturate it with vitamins, and also reduce fragility.

Alfalfa can also be useful in cooking. It is used as a food additive, it is flavored with soups and salads with fresh grass, alfalfa seeds are used for sprinkling baked goods.

Contraindications should be taken into account when using alfalfa. If you are allergic, you need to test the effects of alfalfa on your body. Lubricate the skin at the bend of the elbow with an infusion or solution of the herb, if there is no response, you can apply, but start with small doses.

It is forbidden to use alfalfa for autoimmune problems, with a bad blood clotting rate, complications of stomach ulcers or gastritis. It is highly undesirable to give to children under three years of age, as well as pregnant women.

Do not collect grass for personal use in the fields - it is usually sprayed with pesticides.

If you are a lover of traditional medicine, a similar medicine like alfalfa is simply irreplaceable for your summer cottage.

Feeding of different sex and age groups of sheep should be differentiated taking into account the direction of the branch, the level of productivity, weight, age and physiological state of the animals. These differences are reflected in the feeding rates.

In the new system of rationed feeding, metabolizable energy, expressed in megajoules, is adopted to determine the energy requirement of the animal and to assess the energy nutritional value of the feed.
Normalized feeding of sheep is provided for metabolic energy, feed units, dry matter, raw and digestible protein, macronutrients (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfur, table salt), trace elements (iron, copper, zinc, cobalt, manganese, iodine), carotene, vitamins D and E (for sheep).

In addition, it is also necessary to normalize amino acid and carbohydrate nutrition, especially young animals.
The rates are calculated for animals of usable herds in conditions of stall keeping. For grazing and for feeding pedigree and highly productive sheep, the norms should be increased by 15-20%.

Characteristics of sheep feed
In the structure of the feed balance for sheep, the main part is green fodder (grass), hay, haylage, silage, grass meal.
Grass. It is the cheapest food, rich in carotene, carbohydrates, protein and minerals. The daily need for grass is, kg: for wallocks, queens, young animals older than a year - 7-10, lambs at the age of 2-4 months - 2-3.5, 4-8 months - 4.5-6 (depending on the quality of herbage and the mass of animals).

In summer, it is necessary to make the most of the grass when grazing on natural or cultivated pastures or green conveyor crops. BelNIIZh recommends the following approximate layout of the green conveyor: winter rye - from 20 / IV to 20 / V; long-term cultivated pastures (with 3-4 grazing) - from 20 / V to 20 / 1X; perennial grasses (cereal-legume mixtures) - from 10 / VI to 15 / VII; mixtures of annual forage crops (oats, lupine, peas, etc.) - from 10 / VIII to 15 / 1X; aftermath of perennial grasses - from 15 / VIII to 25 / 1X; stubble crops of rape, etc. - from 25 / 1X to 20 / X; area after harvesting grain and forage crops - from 20 / VIII to 20 / X.

Cultivated pastures are used for 5-7 years for grazing in combination with haymaking.
For pasture use, it is advisable to sow complex grass mixtures of 4-5 components with the inclusion of 1-2 legumes and 2-3 types of cereal grasses, regionalized or promising for a certain soil-climatic zone.

To increase the efficiency of pasture use it is necessary:
strictly adhere to the scheme of pasture rotation, which provides for the annual sequence of grazing pens for grazing and haymaking; periodically provide rest to individual areas for self-seeding;
to use driven pasture, which increases the productivity of pastures (by 20-25%) and sharply reduces labor costs;
calculate the load of sheep per 1 ha of pasture.

In some areas, for example in Eastern Siberia, winter pastures are created for sheep from crops of oats, oat-pea mixture, and rapeseed.
In the southern regions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the republics of Transcaucasia, there are seasonal pastures: spring-autumn (in the semi-desert), summer (in the mountains) and winter (in the desert), which allows keeping sheep on pasture almost all year round.

Hay
The main traditional feed for sheep is hay. They willingly eat small-stemmed, well-leafy hay, but they prefer hay from leguminous herbs (alfalfa,
The bad types of hay are forest and sedge. You cannot feed hay with an admixture of feather grass, the Ostyaks of which clog up the wool.
To ensure normal digestion and metabolism, it is necessary to include hay from the total nutritional value of at least 15-20% or 0.5-0.7 kg for sucking, 0.8-1 kg for suckling queens, 0.4-0.5 kg in the diets of sheep young animals.
The quality of hay depends on the botanical composition of the grass stand, the timing and methods of harvesting, storage.

Herbal flour
A valuable feed product obtained from artificially dried grass is grass meal. 1 kg of it contains 0.6-0.7 feed, units, 13-19% of crude protein and up to 200 mg of carotene.
The best crops for making grass flour or cutting are alfalfa, clover, or a legume-cereal mixture. Flour is introduced into the diet of sheep in the amount of 10-15% in terms of nutritional value, in the composition of feed mixtures - up to 20-40% by weight, in the composition of mixed fodders - up to 20% instead of grain components.
Depending on the quality, artificially dried grass feed is divided into three classes.

Haylage
It is a canned food in hermetically sealed conditions (without access to air), prepared from cut grass and dried in the field up to 50-55% moisture. The distribution of finely divided bulk material can be easily mechanized. Hayage is used to feed all groups of sheep.
The main requirements for harvesting high-quality haylage: harvesting grasses during the optimal growing season (legumes - from budding to the beginning of flowering, cereals - from the beginning to full earing); wilting of grass in rolls to a moisture content of 50-55%; crushing the mass to a particle size of no more than 3 cm and thoroughly compacting it; fast filling of the container and reliable isolation of the feed from the air. Violation of these requirements leads to self-heating of the mass and spoilage of the feed. Haylage must meet the following requirements.

Silage
This is one of the common types of succulent food for sheep. In a balanced diet, it can be (% of the total nutritional value): for queens 40-50 (2.5-3.5 kg for sucking and 3-4.5 kg for sucking); for replacement chicks 30-40 (1.5-2 kg for bright and 2-2.5 kg for rams).
Silage is prepared mainly from corn, as well as from sunflower, pea-oat mixture, legume-cereal grasses. When ensiling herbs, chemical preservatives are used - liquid organic acids (propionic, formic, acetic) and their mixture - a concentrate of low molecular weight acids (LMC), as well as dry preparations (benzoic acid, sodium pyrosulfite).

Concentrated feed
Sheep are fed mainly with cereal grains (oats, barley, corn, wheat) and a limited amount of cake and meal. Concentrates are used to balance rations in terms of energy, protein, mainly in the composition of feed.
Concentrates are introduced into the diets of the lakes in the following quantities (% of the total nutritional value): for pregnant queens 15-20 (0.2-0.3 kg); sucking 25-30 (0.4-0.6 kg); rams-producers in the non-random period 40-45 (0.6-0.7 kg); during preparation and in breeding, depending on the load, up to 55-60 (1-1.3 kg); young animals aged from 4 to 6 months 35-40 (0.35-0.5 kg); from 6 to 8 months 25-35 (0.3- 0.5 kg); lambs before weaning according to what they eat; fattening livestock 25-40 (0.3-0.6 kg).
In the production of compound feeds, balancing additives (protein-mineral, protein-vitamin-mineral, premixes, etc.) are used - a homogeneous mixture of high-protein feeds crushed to the required size, micro-additives.
The rations are made up of feeds typical for a given zone, taking into account the prospects for the development of the feed base, technologies for preparing and feeding feeds, as well as the cost and yield of feed crops. In each area, the system of housing and the type of feeding of the sheep should be determined. The latter is characterized by the ratio of the main types of feed in terms of nutritional value (structure of rations). The diets should be balanced in all respects and meet the needs of animals for energy, protein, easily digestible carbohydrates, amino acids, vitamins, minerals (macro- and microelements).
The deficiency of feed protein in the diet of sheep in the amount of 20-25% can be replenished with nitrogenous non-protein substances (urea and ammonium salts), guided by the relevant recommendations.
Non-protein nitrogenous substances in the feeding of ruminants can be used by preparing a high-protein concentrate from grain and urea, obtained by the extrusion method. It is an alloy of pregelatinized starch and urea.
Urea concentrate (AKD) must meet the requirements of TU 8-22-4-77 and have the following physicochemical indicators: moisture content not more than 12%, protein equivalent (total nitrogen X 6.25) not less than 40%, water solubility after 60 min not more than 70%, the degree of dextrinization of the concentrate based on corn or sorghum is not less than 70%, based on barley or wheat not less than 40%.
If there is a lack of macro- and microelements in the diet of sheep, appropriate mineral supplements are introduced.
It is most advisable to feed mineral substances in the form of mixtures, the basis of which is table salt.

Granulated and briquetted feed
The use of nutrients can be significantly improved by more advanced methods of preparing feed in loose, granulated and briquetted forms. This allows for more efficient use of low-value roughage (straw, cobs, sunflower husks, etc.), chemical products (urea, ammonium salts, mineral additives); provides complete eatability of feed and makes it possible to mechanize their distribution.
Granules are compressed mixtures consisting of milled roughage, concentrates, feed additives. It is better to feed them to fattening sheep and to the rest of the groups - in combination with natural feed (hay, silage, silage, grass) in a ratio of 60-70 and 40-30% in terms of nutritional value, respectively. Of the pressed feed for sheep, briquettes are the most acceptable, since the components are introduced into them in the form of cutting, that is, the physical form of the feed is preserved.
The composition and nutritional value of feed mixtures vary depending on the sex, age and physiological state of the animal.
According to VNIIOK, loose feed mixtures should include,% by weight: straw 18-20 for queens and 10-12 for young animals; hay, cereal and grass flour 20-25; silos 45-50; concentrates 10-15; mineral additives 1 "
The daily giving of the mixture is, kg: for suyagnye 3.5-4 kg; for lactating 5-5.5; for young animals 2.5-3. Feed particles should be no more than 3 cm in length.
When feeding sheep with complete granular mixtures, one should proceed from the fact that the nutritional value of 1 kg of granules (according to VNIIOK) should be 0.5-0.55 for queens, taking into account their physiological state. units for singles and in the first half of pregnancy; 0.55-0.6 in the second half of pregnancy, 0.6-0.65 during lactation, and for young animals - 0.6-0.7 feed. units Per 1 feed. units should contain digestible protein of at least 90-100 and PO-120 g, respectively, for queens and young animals. 1 kg of feed should contain, respectively, at least 2.5-3 and 3-4 g of phosphorus and 1.8-2 and 2.5-3 g of sulfur, BelNIIZh recommends for adult sheep a granulated feed mixture of the following composition, in% by weight: straw - up to 45, grain grains of cereals - 35; herbal flour - 18; table salt - 0.5, urea - 1; diammonium phosphate - 0.5. For 1 ton of feed, 4 g of cobalt chloride are introduced. 1 kg of this mixture contains 0.58 feed, units, 70 g of digestible protein, 3.5 g of calcium, 3.8 g of phosphorus.

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