When to start feeding texel cross ewes

[Further a field]

I normally start give my in lamb ewes some corn six weeks prior to lambing as I ve usually no grass then... but this year they are on some good grass/ tack ground and fit as a result .in that situation how long could I delay feeding them?

 

[neilo]

How many lambs in them? What’s the ‘grass’ that’s in front of them, old pp/couch or ryegrass?

If it’s decent quality grass (not just belly fill), and assuming they are coming indoors for lambing, I’d pull the triplets out and tickle a small amount in now, but leave the rest until a week or so before housing.
If it’s only poor quality grass, then introduce a snifter a bit earlier.

A good chance to make the forage work for you and save some inputs.

 

[Further a field]

It's good grass on a diary farm I ll be bringing them inside to lamb end of march.i dont scan them ,cant get anyone to do small numbers.
I m hoping to get them nearer to lambing with out corn

 

[neilo]

It's good grass on a diary farm I ll be bringing them inside to lamb end of march.i dont scan them ,cant get anyone to do small numbers.
I m hoping to get them nearer to lambing with out corn

In that case I’d trickle a bit in a week or so before you house them, just to transition their rumens over to the housed ration, and to boost colostrum production.
If you’re not scanning, pull any leaner ones out a feed them a bit earlier....or don’t.

I was talking to someone that was lambing a couple of thousand ewes outside without any concentrates, and asked him why he didn’t pull out his triplets for feeding. He pointed out that the odd triplets the scanner marks as twins always do just fine, which is right. I haven’t separated or fed outdoor lambing triplets since, nor seen a case of TLD in that flock. I am convinced forage fed ewes compensate by eating more, whereas concentrate fed sheep always only have what you give them, be it 250g or a kilo.