Sheep are grazing animals. They eat grasses and other low-growing vegetation and ruminate (chew the cud). They spend most of the day alternating between periods of grazing and resting/ruminating.
Sheep and goats spend 6-12 hours grazing per day. Yield, density, and quality must be adequate for animals to meet dry matter intake requirements from pasture.
As compared to cattle, sheep eat a greater variety of plants and select a more nutritious diet, though less so than goats. Sheep will graze for an average of seven hours per day, mostly in the hours around dawn and in the late afternoon, near sunset.
Ewes and lambs are rotationally grazed through till weaning in mid-late October. After weaning, the dry ewes will stay on pasture as long as the grass is available, usually around November 15 to 20. Bales are rolled out on pasture until mid-December, then all groups of ewes are brought home for the winter.
Sheep are ruminants, meaning their primary feed is grass and small leafy plants. Each sheep has a rumen that holds a couple of gallons, and they need to fill the equivalent of a 5-gallon bucket with feed each day. Much of their time is absorbed with this effort.
Bloat is typically caused by two culprits in mature sheep: excess grain or overeating fresh, lush grass in the spring. When sheep eat too much grain too fast or consume the lush legumes like clover or alfalfa, the gases build up in the rumen and cannot escape fast enough, causing bloat.
Re: Putting Sheep onto long grass
If you can get it topped do so. Strip graze it with some electric fence. This will minimise them walking through the long grass. Also, they will graze it more efficiently and less will get wasted due to "trampling".
Rest periods (i.e. the interval between consecutive grazing in a paddock by sheep) long enough to have allowed enough time for many of the larvae on the pasture to die. Typically these need to be 40–80 days depending on temperature (see life cycle page and 'Factors contributing to paddock contamination with worms')
So sheep have evolved to live on plant material and, even in domestic situations where we may require higher levels of production than from a wild sheep, for some of the year, your sheep will be able to live quite happily on grass.
Tall dry grass will be poor feed quality and, in most cases, unsuitable for sheep. Cattle may be able to utilise the grass, but feed quality will not be high enough for growing stock.
You should also lessen the frequency of feeds gradually. During the first and second periods feed sheep daily, then introduce intermittent feeding. By the fifth or sixth period, put the feed out once every 3–4 days.
Sheep can be fed on several different schedules, at the discretion of the shepherd. We used to feed twice a day in the early years, until I read a study that sheep fed only once daily were healthier than those who were fed twice.
Several common garden plants are capable of killing sheep – rhododendrum, foxglove, privet hedge, oleander and others. Unless you know exactly what your garden plants are and that they are not toxic for sheep, don't throw your garden clippings over the fence for them to eat.
Drenching too often or not following a set program, is also a problem. As a general guideline, non-breeding sheep should need a single drench a year, and lambing ewes and weaners two drenches. Please keep in mind that conditions on your property and in your region will ultimately affect how many drenches you need.
Provide fresh water, free choice, 24/7. Provide adequate roughage (hay, silage or pasture). Provide adequate nutrition (pasture, high quality forage or grains) to brood ewes during the last third of gestation and until their lambs are weaned.
Many animals, such as cows, goats, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs and geese, will enjoy eating the freshly cut grass clippings as well. If you're doing this, ensure the clippings are actually fresh and haven't been bagged up for a long time.
Various materials can be used for bedding for sheep, depending upon cost and availability: straw, hay, dried corn stalks, corn cobs, peanut hulls, cottonseed hulls, oat hulls, sawdust, wood shavings, wood chips, pine shavings, sand, paper products, peat, hemp, and leaves.
Feeding methods. Sheep can be fed in the paddock or in a confined area as a supplement to pastures or stubbles or as a complete ration. Rations are usually in the form of whole grain, hay, pellets or a mix of these feeds.
Lambing outdoors in spring and early summer can be successful with no or limited shelter. While on pasture, shade is more important than shelter from wind and rain. Bringing sheep “back to the barn” at night is not necessary and exposes them to parasites where sheep concentrate each night.
Grain overload is also known as acidosis or grain poisoning. It occurs when cattle, sheep or goats eat large amounts of grain, and can result in acidosis, slowing of the gut, dehydration and often death.
You can reasonably expect to keep 6-10 sheep on an acre of grass and as many as 100 sheep on 30 acres of pasture. If you want to keep more than an acre can sustain, you'll have to look into purchasing additional land as you'll likely need to rotate your flock to keep them fed.
Target grass heights: Grazing too low (less than 4 cm) will impact regrowth, whilst allowing grass to go above 8-10 cm will lead to reduced quality through build-up of dead and stem material.
Bloat has been observed on alfalfa, white clover, and red clover pastures but is rare on trefoil sainfoin and vetch pastures. It usually occurs when cattle or sheep are first turned onto legume pastures. It seldom occurs on grasses, (or pastures with at least 50% grass), coarser pastures, or hay.
Most of our rescued sheep are wool breeds—or wool/hair crosses—and can't regulate this excess weight on their own. So we shear them to keep them from overheating and to improve their quality of life. This excess wool isn't natural—and sheep are the ones who pay the price.