Table of contents
- apples and carrots
- feeding rules
- Bread
- frequently asked Questions
As four-stomach ruminants, sheep are used to digesting high-fiber foods. Grass, hay and silage are ideal for the undemanding animals. But are sheep allowed to eat apples, carrots or bread from time to time?
apples and carrots
In fact, sheep are allowed many fruits and vegetables - above all apples and carrots - eat. However, you should feed this feed only occasionally and in small amounts, whereby per animal approximately an apple or one or two carrots a week should be perfectly adequate. Bear in mind that sheep are real roughage specialists, especially as many of the old breeds in particular are very frugal and good feed converters. These sheep should not be fed high calorie feed as you can so easily overfeed them.
A notice:
However, apples and carrots in particular contain a lot of fructose and should therefore be treated like sweets for sheep.
feeding rules
To ensure that your sheep are not harmed when you feed them apples and carrots, you should also observe these rules when feeding them:
- Do not feed rotten / moldy fruit and vegetables
- Only give apples and carrots that are in good condition
- make sure that individual sheep do not eat large quantities
- hand feeding is best
- do not leave any leftover food
Apples and carrots left behind can quickly start to rot or dry out, especially if they are wet. to ferment. Both can harm the animals and in the worst case even lead to their death.
Tip:
In addition to apples and carrots, sheep also like to eat beetroot, boiled potatoes and potato peelings. But the same applies here: only feed in small amounts!
Bread
The same rules apply to bread and rolls as to apples and carrots: since these high-carb foods aren't made for sheep's stomachs, they should only rarely and in small amounts be fed. Sometimes a piece of bread is fine, provided this
- well dried
- not moldy
- and not wet
is! Moist and/or moldy bread can start to ferment in the sheep's digestive tract, causing the animals to become seriously ill or even die. Also, when feeding bread, be aware that this food can be quite high in salt, spices, and other ingredients not suitable for sheep. The yeast it contains continues to ferment in the stomach and intestines, causing problems there.
A notice:
For this reason, you should never feed strange animals by feeding them at the fence or by throwing fodder into the pasture! This is often well intentioned, but makes the animals sick. Many grazing animals die from foreign feeding.
frequently asked Questions
Under no circumstances should you feed sheep maple and oak branches, buttercups (dandelions), sorrel, ferns, cuckooflower, buttercups, sedges or sedges. Absolutely poisonous for the animals are above all yew, tree of life (Thuja), Ragwort, autumn crocus, horsetail and sweet clover. Regularly check the feeding meadows for this growth and remove potentially dangerous plants.
Of course, sheep especially like to eat grass, hay and straw. The animals also like silage very much, but they should only be fed a little. Silage is very rich in energy and protein. Sheep also like to nibble on fresh twigs and branches from unsprayed and non-toxic deciduous trees, such as fruit trees. Beets and other root vegetables may also be given in moderation – but be careful, the same applies here as described under “Apples and carrots”.
Mirko
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