Sheep Chat Thread

[chooks4life]

Quote: That's interesting. I wonder if that would have helped that ewe that belonged to my landlord. He never gave them salt licks or mineral blocks, only some horse and pony pellets.

 

[Penny Hen]

That's interesting. I wonder if that would have helped that ewe that belonged to my landlord. He never gave them salt licks or mineral blocks, only some horse and pony pellets.

Another thing involving salt is that one a year ,in the Fall usually, I buy the natural rock salt chunk that is sold to deer hunters. It has no copper but contains a long list of trace elements that they don't need in large amounts but are probably missing from any other source. I can't be a hundred percent sure that it helps with fertility in breeding season but they seem to do better all the way around than in the years that I missed getting any.

 

[chooks4life]

That does make sense. In the wild, sheep are not inner-country animals, but in general they either live along coastal edges of their homelands, or make occasional visits to the coast like many other creatures. I was looking at feral sheep and wild sheep info recently and most were living very close to beaches, no matter the country. Some even swim out to get seaweed, others dig for salt, even going into caves for it. A lot of desert sheep would be eating plants like Salt Brush, and ruminants in general do seem pretty dependent on salt. (I know, most things are... I've got a lot to learn is all). We eat Himalayan Pink Rock Salt here and it's a lot nicer than Sea Salt. We don't eat Table Salt, nasty tasting stuff that is.

I've found that kelp is subtle but very potent as a supplement, so it makes sense to me that a salt block could make such a difference to your animals. I'll have to try one of those for the sheep.

All the best.

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

Free-roaming wild animals also have the luxury of moving around to different kinds of forages in different areas to help meet their nutritional needs. Pastured critters are pretty well stuck with whatever they are handed. We keep loose stock salt and loose sheep mineral out for our flock year-round. Our pastures are mostly sandy and our sheep consume a lot of salt. So much salt, that they physically cannot lick a block enough to get what they really need. By feeding the loose stuff we know that the animals are free to consume all that they need and it greatly minimizes health problems and poor flock performance that result from mineral deficiencies.

 

[chooks4life]

That reminds me... I saw someone say somewhere, maybe on this thread, that loose salt was the only way to give them enough, because a block wouldn't do it.

I know animals in pastures can't get enough of various things, but even feral/wild ones may travel to the coasts to supplement their diet, and it's strange that a salt lick would work for attracting deer which are roaming at will. It's amazing how much salt they crave.

I hope to obtain and plant Salt Brush among other herbs, because as you say, pastured animals are stuck with what they're handed. Our ancestors used to plant many herbs around the edges of the pasture as well as sow herbs through them. I have a few ideas for 'hedgerows' or 'leys' of herbs that I intend to plant for my animals. It's so convenient when they self-medicate.

Best wishes.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: Sheep don't have a full set of teeth in the front, which makes it hard for them to bite things like salt blocks.

They often can't get enough just by licking a block, so loose is always better

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep
Quote:

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Yes, I'm familiar with the ruminant's mouth structure.

Mine scrapes it with her lower teeth. I'd just assumed all sheep scraped at the blocks, I didn't know any stuck to licking. Maybe old ones, lol.

 

[ladyrsanti]

I've heard that scraping at salt blocks can wear at their teeth too and was advised not to buy blocks.

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

It is very hard on the teeth. I bet your dentist would advise you against going around biting salt blocks too.

 

[Penny Hen]

You can always bust up the natural salt block with a hammer too. I don't put it out instead of loose salt but in addition to loose salt.