Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Animals: sheep
Practices
- Animal Production: feed/forage, feed rations, grazing - rotational, mineral supplements
- Education and Training: study circle
Proposal abstract:
The dairy sheep industry in the United States has been growing over the past 25 years, with many flocks located in temperate regions well suited to pasture production. As the number of sheep dairy farms increases, so does the need for information regarding pasture based production and supplementation. The study will determine if there is a significant difference between milk production of ewes at different stages of lactation fed only pasture and ewes fed pasture with grain supplementation. The research will evaluate dairy sheep production on high quality pastures, mainly kura clover-grass mixtures. In addition, the study will evaluate differences in milk composition of supplemented and unsupplemented ewes. The study will monitor milk fat, milk protein, milk urea nitrogen (MUN), milk solids and somatic cell count of milk from supplemented and unsupplemented ewes. These milk factors affect subsequent cheese production and MUN is an indicator for protein utilization. The study will estimate dry matter intake on pasture through the use of an external marker, titanium dioxide, noting differences between treatment groups. The results of the study will directly benefit pasture based sheep dairy producers by providing information regarding protein utilization on pasture. The information this project generates will help dairy sheep producers and researchers finely tune animal nutrition requirements for profitable and sustainable flocks.
Project objectives from proposal:
This project will evaluate the effects of supplementation and stage of lactation on milk production of dairy ewes grazing high quality pastures. The project will provide information to farmers and researchers about the need for supplementation to grazing dairy ewes for maximum production and efficient nitrogen utilization.
Expected short-term outcomes are:
1) Determine milk production from treatment groups.
2) Determine protein utilization of treatments through analysis of milk urea nitrogen levels.
3) Determine quality of kura clover and grass pastures.
4) Determine dry matter intake of grazing dairy ewes.
Intermediate-term outcomes: Dairy sheep producers will directly benefit from the information regarding milk production and protein utilization on rotationally grazed pastures. This information will emphasize the value of legume-grass pastures as the basis for a sustainable sheep dairy operation. In addition, milk composition information will be gathered from treatments of lactation stage and supplementation level. This information is valuable to dairy sheep processors and marketers promoting domestic sheep dairy producers and products.
Long-term outcomes: The results of this study will help dairy sheep producers and researchers finely tune animal nutrition requirements for profitable and sustainable flocks. Promotion of pasture-based dairying will encourage farmers to improve and monitor pastures. It will encourage the use of a rhizomatous, perennial legume, kura clover, in permanent pastures to improve soil fertility and stability. It will also promote a dialog among producer and scientific community regarding the continued improvement of forages for dairy sheep nutrition in the United States, a fledgling industry committed to rotational grazing.