09/09/2026
Grazing season is going great right now—lush grass, plenty of regrowth, and a healthy mix of grasses and legumes. So why, with all this great pasture available, am I giving the ewes and Mac a few flakes of hay?
Sometimes, you can actually have _too much of a good thing._
My older ewes—Teeter, Rosalyn, and M—have developed some digestive upset and scours, leaving their tails and legs pretty messy. My best guess is that the pasture is simply a little too rich for them right now. There is a lot of clover and birdsfoot trefoil, which are excellent, nutritious plants, but they also provide a lot of easily digested protein and nutrients.
These older ewes aren't growing anymore, and they aren't raising lambs right now, so they don't need as much nutrition as a young, growing animal or a ewe raising lambs. While the pasture is fantastic forage, it may simply be more than their digestive systems are handling comfortably.
I can't say for certain that the protein level is the cause—scours can happen for a number of reasons—but based on what I'm seeing, I'm trying a simple management change. Giving them some hay adds more mature, fibrous forage to their diet and helps balance out all that rich pasture. Think of it as adding some “roughage” to help slow things down and get their stomachs back to normal.
I normally try to avoid feeding hay on pasture during prime grazing season. But in this case, the alternatives were bringing them into a hot, stuffy barn or giving them some hay while they stay outside enjoying the pasture. I chose the lesser of two evils!
