[Jacob-list] Old Sheep

[G & J Johnston]

We have a handful of older ewes, the oldest is pushing 18 and her eyesight
is beginning to fail too.

 

We feed them 'coarse mix' twice a day, which they manage to chomp with their
back teeth, normal hay and digestive biscuits (don't know if you have these
over there but they are fairly sweet and have lots of bran in).  The sheep
love them once they have tried them, as they have a good crunch. They are
good for a quick energy boost.

We also make sure the old ladies always have a licky  bucket with molasses,
grains and added trace elements in, plus access to water and shelter.

They can graze on normal pasture if it isn't too short, and love willow
leaves to pull off the branches, although they can no longer strip bark.

 

We let them through with the main flock when the lambs are born so they can
continue to hold their maternal position in the flock, and just enjoy having
lambs around.  The eldest had twins at 15 but since then we've not lambed
her or the others.

If you keep feeding yours with easy to eat feed she will start to put on
condition over the summer without the burden of lambing, and will be better
prepared for next winter.  Some of our old ladies are quite chubby, one is
skinny but full of life.

 

These are not Jacobs, but Hebrideans which are very similar.  We have not
kept Jacobs to such a great age, but I think they are quite capable of a
long life.

 

Juliet in Scotland

 

 

 

www.scothebs.co.uk

 

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