feeding fruits & vegies

[lilfoot]

Hello, new to this forum & a sheep newbie too.
I have a small flock of Shetlands (16) & 2 Katahdins which I feed assorted trimmings from a local grocery store. A wide variety of organic produce as well. The sheep as well as our goats, chickens, ducks & turkeys clean this daily supply up pretty well....something for everyone! Hay in round feeder as well as water is always available....bit of grain offered to encourage returning to the barn every night now that winter is upon us. In the summer we rotate paddocks with our minis horses so there is abit of grazing....but no large meadows to roam in.
Our vet said fruits/vegies are fine, no grapes or tomatoes for the sheep tho.
Have been doing this for many months but would like to hear from others who do similar....or why you wouldn't? Thanks!

 

[vt_mountainman]

I was going to ask the same thing! We eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, and I wondered if some of the things that we now compost could be fed to the sheep. I would guess that they wouldn't eat food waste the same way that pigs do, but perhaps some of our (better!) compost could be put to good use as food for the sheep. Also, lilfoot, why did your vet say no grapes or tomatoes for them?

 

[lilfoot]

I assume she felt they were not good for them...same as potato peelings are a problem for some animals?
I specifically asked about potatoes for the sheep & she said they were fine, better to chop them so they don't choke though.

 

[Sheepshape]

Sheep generally only eat that which is relatively OK for them. Over the years I have offered stuff from the garden and they eat what they like.....carrots and parsnips....tops,only a few eat the roots etc.
How wide a variety of what they will take was VERY clearly demonstrated to me in the early summer months last year. I gave them access to the little orchard we have to eat the grass. The orchard opens onto our vegetable garden.....door not secured.
Well.....bark stripped from pear and cherry trees where not protected by plastic. Strawberry plants,climbing and French beans,cabbages,cauliflowers,herbs, carrot,parsnip and beetroot tops......totally gone. Plants untouched.....potatoes, courgette,pumpkin,onions,leeks,lettuce.
All animals fine and full.....vegetable garden.....not so good.

 

[lilfoot]

Sorry for your loss...poor garden & trees.... Hope everything was easily replaced!

We have found all our critters will gobble up just about anything...maybe not at first but they will eventually come to love it. Examples would be pineapple, pumpkins, melons, potatoes, mangoes, lettuce, cabbage, greens of any type, herbs, papaya, broccoli, beets, watermelon..... some stuff I've never even eaten!

Hoping we are offering a well balanced diet with plenty of variety to cover all the bases.
They drink very very little I have noticed but put this off to all the juicey stuff they are eating.
Poops have always been good as we offered this gradually since spring along with hay/pasture.

Still looking for input on the merits or drawbacks if anyone knows....

 

[SheepGirl]

Grapes and tomatoes are poisonous to sheep. Same with some potatoes.

 

[BrownSheep]

You learn something new every day! I've feed my sheep tomatoes and potatoes.

 

[bonbean01]

First thing...welcome to BYH!!!!!
The veggies and fruit our sheep have been fed are...pumpkins and yellow squash...I cut them up for fear of choking as they gobble them so quickly...cabbage...but start out slowly and increase slowly or we've had some soft poopies...cut up apples without the core and they have eaten fallen peaches and I had fits about the pit and their rumens...but they ate the peach and spit out the pit...whew...cut up wilted carrots, and for really special treats not related to the healthy stuff...graham wafers...LOL...no wonder they love me! They have killed two small apple trees by eating off the bark, and have killed one young peach tree by trying to climb it and breaking it...the remaining fruit trees will be fenced off from them this coming spring.

 

[Sheepshape]

Thank you,lifoot. I wasn't too upset about the garden and was lucky enough to replant carrots,beans etc which all went on to do well in our unusually good summer last year. My strawberry crop were lost,but the plants have recovered. My cherry and pear trees probably will die due to the circumferential bark removal (but sheep are nowhere near as bad as goats for doing this!)
Much like bonbean01,I spoil my sheep. They have lots of digestive biscuits and bread. I figure that the sugar in the biscuits is no different from the molasses in ewe lick and that which is placed in breeding ewe nuts.My sheep also gallop over whenever I call them,so they are easy to manage.

 

[lilfoot]

Ok so I guess I'm not the only one spoiling the wee darlings. They do love their treats & it makes up a large portion of their feed intake. Its too funny when they see me with the treat wheelbarrel...stampede! The goats are even more hillarious....they come running every time I step out the front door!