I find with my blackbellies and my pigmy goats, the fatness of the belly is directly associated with the dryness of the food. Wet, green young grass = a skinnier look. Dry hay only = a very fat (gassy?) belly. To that end, I harvest dry hay at the end of the summer that I give them during the wet months. And in the dry months, they get cut green grass from the yard. But, the overpowering trend is to conform to the rule I mentioned above.
-Michael, Perino Ranch Blackbellies. On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 2:21 PM, Mary Swindell <mswin...@siu.edu> wrote: > Someone asked me if they should be worried that their November lambs have > fat bellies. These lambs are healthy otherwise, and are not carrying a > worm load, coccidiosis, or any other known problem. > > I had a similar experience this fall and winter with my adult ewes which > had fat bellies. They were not pregnant at the time, just fat in the > tummy. My vet (who deals with cattle as well as sheep), as well as a > couple of friends who raise cattle, said my ewes looked like they had "hay > belly". They said that in cattle, this condition results from the animals > being fed a poor quality forage. They said it is not serious, it is that > they fill up on the poor quality bulk trying to get enough nutrition when > better forage is not available. > > Usually, my ewes spend the entire summer and fall eating grass in the > pasture. But due to the extreme drought this past summer, they had to eat > hay (big round bales of grass hay) all summer and fall. In other words, > they never came off hay the entire year. They all seem fine now. They > were bred in October and they lambed in March, with no apparent problems. > > But my friend has lambs who are exhibiting the same signs of "hay belly". > They were born in November, and would have been weaned in about February. > So they've spent their first two months of post-weaning growth eating > grass hay, rather than spring pasture, as most spring-born lambs would eat. > > I got to thinking: We hair sheep breeders probably have more evidence of > the difference between fall-born lambs and spring-born lambs, than breeders > of wooly breeds because our sheep can breed and lamb year-round. So we > would be better able to compare the growth of young fall lambs (fed mostly > on hay after weaning), to the growth of young spring lambs (fed mostly on > grass after weaning) than most breeders of wool sheep. > > Which brings me to my question: Have any of you who raise both > spring-born lambs and fall born lambs noticed any difference in the growth > patterns of your fall lambs, such as a fat belly? Do you think this might > be what the cattle people call "hay belly", and might be due to being > weaned onto dry hay forage rather than grass pasture? What is your opinion > of this -- are there long term effects of this condition, and have you > observed that these fall fat-bellied lambs grow out of the condition? > > Your thoughts on this matter are really appreciated! > > Sincerely, > Mary Swindell > > ______________________________**_________________ > This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list > Visit the list's homepage at > %http://www.blackbellysheep.**info<http://www.blackbellysheep.info> > _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
