Nutrition

• General information about nutrition from the Cornell Sheep Program
• Cornell Feed for the Sheep Dairy Flock
• Management and Nutrition for Milking Sheep in Short and Frequent Lactations (PDF) by Niko Kochendoerfer and Michael L. Thonney – This document is a summary of preliminary data collected by Niko Kochendoerfer for her thesis research. Niko’s experiment has two objectives: 1) to test the hypothesis that milking meat breed sheep in short and frequent lactations may be as profitable as milking dairy sheep in one long lactation per year; 2) to optimize the level of fermentable fiber in diets for lactation ewes.
• Feeding Dairy Sheep – Nutritional Challenges and Opportunities ¹ (PDF) by Antonello Cannas, Michael L. Thonney, and Mondina F. Lunesu – Nutritional challenges in late pregnancy-early lactation. It is well known that milk production depends not only on the nutritional management of the animals during lactation, but also on their nutritional management during pregnancy, with special importance for its last part, as summarized by Cannas et al. (2002). Since sheep are much more prolific than cows and have a shorter pregnancy, their nutritional strain in late pregnancy is much more intense than that of cows…
• Fermentable Fiber for Milking Sheep on the Star System ¹ (PDF) by Nikola Kochendoerfer, Cornell University – The US imports 50 to 60% of the world’s annual exports in sheep dairy products, enumerating a demand that has risen by 30% in the past 20 years as measured by imports (Thomas, 2014). Considering the vast forage availability and idle acreage in the Northeastern US, this deficiency in domestic production presents huge opportunities. One of the reasons that sheep dairy produc- tion in the US is still in early stages is its seasonal character…
• Nutritional Strategies to Improve Lactation Persistency in Dairy Ewes ² (PDF) by Antonello Cannas, Anna Nudda, Giuseppe Pulina, Dipartimento di Scienze Zootecniche, University of Sassari – Milk production is largely dependent on the shape of the lactation curve. Relevant elements of the lactation pattern are the peak yield, which represents the maximum milk yield during the lactation, and the lactation persistency, which expresses the ability of animals to maintain a reasonably constant milk yield after the lactation peak. Thus, persistent animals are those that show flatter lactation curves…
• Supplemental Feeding of Dairy Sheep and Goats on Intensively Managed Pastures ² (PDF) by Bruce Clement, University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension – farmer in Vermont, and with Keith and Leslie Quarrier, dairy goat farmers in New Hampshire. Those conversations centered around the difficulty both farms were having in determining if it would be worthwhile to supplement their lactating animals on pasture with a grain/concentrate supplement and, if so, how much concentrate/grain supplement should be fed…