This is a picture of the contents of sheep's rumen. As you can see, it is slightly larger than a standard football. The contents consist of mostly hay with some scattered corn. It weighs 16 pounds. This was taken from a recently butchered lamb who obviously had a very healthy rumen. |
The Importance of Roughage By: Skeet Keller There has been in the past and still is today a lot of controversy as to what role roughage plays, and its importance in a sheep's diet. First of all we need to come to understand just what sheep are and how their digestive system works. Sheep are ruminants. Ruminants are animals that chew cud. They are herbivorous mammals having a stomach with four parts consisting of the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, and the abomasum. Herbivorous mammals are those that feed on grass and other plants. By nature ruminants have developed this complex digestive system, which allows them to consume and store roughages (fibrous feedstuffs) during the light of day when it's safe for them to graze and then regurgitate (chew a cud) and complete the digestive cycle at night. This complex digestive system is truly a thing of beauty. Because of the way the digestive system is designed it allows sheep to consume almost anything and still have the ability to extract nutritional value from it. That brings us to the original question "Why is roughage important to sheep?" Since this article is directed to club market lambs I won't go into every detail as to the importance of roughage. I will focus my comments to the club market lambs. Since the grain rations fed to club lambs for the most part are nutritionally complete and as mentioned earlier sheep can extract nutrition from almost anything it eats, then why feed roughage? The most important thing club lambs gain from consuming adequate amounts of roughage is not vitamins or minerals, it is a thing called "scratch factor". Scratch factor is when the stems of roughage rub against (scratch) the walls of the rumen. This scratching not only cleans the walls of the rumen but also stimulates the rumen to release digestive juices. Also, since the rumen is like a big vat (container for storing water and food consumed) these stems keep the high-energy grains fed to club lambs separated and keep them from clumping up. When this clumping is not prevented sheep develop what is called bloat. Bloat is the result of collection and trapping of gas in the rumen. The production of gas is a normal function in the digestive process. Ruminants get rid of these gases through belching and chewing cud. With the high tech grain rations formulated today without roughage, the chewing of cud is almost nonexistent. Bloat is not only a serious disorder; it is deadly. It will kill sheep faster than any disease common to sheep. Not only is it deadly, it is a horribly painful way for a sheep to die. There is abdominal pain as the gas continues to build in the rumen. Eventually, the intraruminal pressure causes the skin over the abdomen to become tight and inelastic. Because of pressure on the lungs sheep die in as little as two hours from suffocation. Not a pretty site to observe, believe me! Hay fed to club lambs doesn't need to be high dollar. In fact as long as the hay is not dusty and especially free of mold, lower quality hay is more desirable for club lambs. This is because hay bellies are a big worry when it comes to club lambs. Problem is we tend to confuse a lamb with hay belly, and a lamb with a very sprung rib cage. Lambs with long gun barrel bodies are a product of genetics nothing more nothing less. You can give a lamb with these genetics all the hay it wants and it will still be long and gun barreled. Same as with a lamb with a really sprung rib cage, you can deprive him from any form of roughage, but it will still have a sprung rib cage. No doubt if a lamb stuffs its self weather its hay, grain or water it will get a little belly on it. But, this belly with a little control of its intake can be eliminated in less than 2 weeks. This is why I don't recommend high quality hay for club lambs. As to the type of hay I recommend, it would be small-stemmed alfalfa. Not because of its protein or vitamin and mineral content. Because of the stem is why I recommend alfalfa. I firmly believe and have personally raised lambs that were given free choice alfalfa and did not have a hay belly. If you feed a dust and mold free small-stemmed alfalfa hay to your lamb demand 100% consumption. The leaf of alfalfa hay is what lambs prefer to consume. It is like candy to them compared to the stem. Give them the choice and they will eat nothing but the leaf. But, the leaf is not what we want to get into these lambs' rumen. It's the stem we want them to consume. This is accomplished by demanding 100% consumption. Give the lamb a whole flake of alfalfa hay. The main thing the lamb will go for will be the leaf. No doubt when you later return to the pen the leaf will be consumed but some or most of the stem will still be there. Don't give him any more hay until he consumes the stem. Again I stress the fact that this is only if you are feeding small stemmed alfalfa hay. Some alfalfa hays are allowed to grow too long and the stem becomes very large and tough. These types of alfalfa hay are not only impossible for sheep to consume but cattle and horses as well. The younger the alfalfa is when it is harvested the smaller the stem will be. I use this same program on my breeding stock. I try to buy as high quality hay as I can afford for them and I demand and usually get 100% consumption. In closing I want to leave you with what I consider to be two of the most important quotes you could remember when dealing with sheep: "A healthy rumen is a healthy sheep" and "A sheep on hay won't bloat". |
This page was last updated on: January 7, 2005
The Importance of Roughage By: Skeet Keller There has been in the past and still is today a lot of controversy as to what role roughage plays, and its importance in a sheep's diet. First of all we need to come to understand just what sheep are and how their digestive system works. Sheep are ruminants. Ruminants are animals that chew cud. They are herbivorous mammals having a stomach with four parts consisting of the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, and the abomasum. Herbivorous mammals are those that feed on grass and other plants. By nature ruminants have developed this complex digestive system, which allows them to consume and store roughages (fibrous feedstuffs) during the light of day when it's safe for them to graze and then regurgitate (chew a cud) and complete the digestive cycle at night. This complex digestive system is truly a thing of beauty. Because of the way the digestive system is designed it allows sheep to consume almost anything and still have the ability to extract nutritional value from it. That brings us to the original question "Why is roughage important to sheep?" Since this article is directed to club market lambs I won't go into every detail as to the importance of roughage. I will focus my comments to the club market lambs. Since the grain rations fed to club lambs for the most part are nutritionally complete and as mentioned earlier sheep can extract nutrition from almost anything it eats, then why feed roughage? The most important thing club lambs gain from consuming adequate amounts of roughage is not vitamins or minerals, it is a thing called "scratch factor". Scratch factor is when the stems of roughage rub against (scratch) the walls of the rumen. This scratching not only cleans the walls of the rumen but also stimulates the rumen to release digestive juices. Also, since the rumen is like a big vat (container for storing water and food consumed) these stems keep the high-energy grains fed to club lambs separated and keep them from clumping up. When this clumping is not prevented sheep develop what is called bloat. Bloat is the result of collection and trapping of gas in the rumen. The production of gas is a normal function in the digestive process. Ruminants get rid of these gases through belching and chewing cud. With the high tech grain rations formulated today without roughage, the chewing of cud is almost nonexistent. Bloat is not only a serious disorder; it is deadly. It will kill sheep faster than any disease common to sheep. Not only is it deadly, it is a horribly painful way for a sheep to die. There is abdominal pain as the gas continues to build in the rumen. Eventually, the intraruminal pressure causes the skin over the abdomen to become tight and inelastic. Because of pressure on the lungs sheep die in as little as two hours from suffocation. Not a pretty site to observe, believe me! Hay fed to club lambs doesn't need to be high dollar. In fact as long as the hay is not dusty and especially free of mold, lower quality hay is more desirable for club lambs. This is because hay bellies are a big worry when it comes to club lambs. Problem is we tend to confuse a lamb with hay belly, and a lamb with a very sprung rib cage. Lambs with long gun barrel bodies are a product of genetics nothing more nothing less. You can give a lamb with these genetics all the hay it wants and it will still be long and gun barreled. Same as with a lamb with a really sprung rib cage, you can deprive him from any form of roughage, but it will still have a sprung rib cage. No doubt if a lamb stuffs its self weather its hay, grain or water it will get a little belly on it. But, this belly with a little control of its intake can be eliminated in less than 2 weeks. This is why I don't recommend high quality hay for club lambs. As to the type of hay I recommend, it would be small-stemmed alfalfa. Not because of its protein or vitamin and mineral content. Because of the stem is why I recommend alfalfa. I firmly believe and have personally raised lambs that were given free choice alfalfa and did not have a hay belly. If you feed a dust and mold free small-stemmed alfalfa hay to your lamb demand 100% consumption. The leaf of alfalfa hay is what lambs prefer to consume. It is like candy to them compared to the stem. Give them the choice and they will eat nothing but the leaf. But, the leaf is not what we want to get into these lambs' rumen. It's the stem we want them to consume. This is accomplished by demanding 100% consumption. Give the lamb a whole flake of alfalfa hay. The main thing the lamb will go for will be the leaf. No doubt when you later return to the pen the leaf will be consumed but some or most of the stem will still be there. Don't give him any more hay until he consumes the stem. Again I stress the fact that this is only if you are feeding small stemmed alfalfa hay. Some alfalfa hays are allowed to grow too long and the stem becomes very large and tough. These types of alfalfa hay are not only impossible for sheep to consume but cattle and horses as well. The younger the alfalfa is when it is harvested the smaller the stem will be. I use this same program on my breeding stock. I try to buy as high quality hay as I can afford for them and I demand and usually get 100% consumption. In closing I want to leave you with what I consider to be two of the most important quotes you could remember when dealing with sheep: "A healthy rumen is a healthy sheep" and "A sheep on hay won't bloat". |
This is a picture of the contents of sheep's rumen. As you can see, it is slightly larger than a standard football. The contents consist of mostly hay with some scattered corn. It weighs 16 pounds. This was taken from a recently butchered lamb who obviously had a very healthy rumen. |
The Lambinators 4-H Club of Scioto County, Ohio |
