posted 5 years ago
There is some work being done suggesting feeding sheep and goats collected tree leaves will work. I have not done much in this regard because I have so much available hay that I never really needed new ways to feed my sheep. But I can see where it would be asy to make a leaf collection system so that expensive haying equipment would not be required for a sheep homestead.
I do think it is VERY possible to extend the grazing season pretty easily though. Even here in Maine, I could easy graze until January by planting winter rye in the fall, letting the sheep graze until the winter rye is grazed down/snow arrives, then reintroduce the sheep to grazing the winter rye again in March. That would reduce my winter feed days from 150 days down to 75-80. That would be a 50% reduction in hay. That would be significant savings if a person is buying hay. The cost of fuel and seed for the winter rye would have to be calculated in, but at $40 a bale for hay, that would easy to deal with.
But a person does not really need to feed hay though. I have succesfully winter-fed silage all winter. My sheep nutritionist recommended 60% grass silage, and 40% corn silage, and they did well. You cannot feed lambs silage due to Rumen Pack, but any sheep over 3 months old would be alright. I think a person could get rid of the corn silage and feed 100 percent grass silage, but corn is very easy to grow, and even easier to produce in a homestead way with equipment already at the homestead. And since little lambs eat so little haying, buying just a few bales for them from 3 weeks to 3 months old is a VERY small amount of hay per year.