Today we are going to talk about the concept of flushing sheep. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Maybe you haven’t. If you haven’t, flushing is strategically feeding your sheep extra feed at certain times to increase productivity of your flock (this also applies directly to goats!). It is something we have done for 2 seasons now. We will likely continue to flush our flock in the future.
The idea behind flushing is that you can maximize your lambing rate if your ewes are on a positive plane of nutrition prior to and during breeding season. What we mean by this is that your ewes are actively gaining weight. In this scenario, their bodies think times are good and resources are plentiful. Therefore, it is safe and beneficial to have higher reproductive rates. This results in higher ovulation rates, conception rates, and less early pregnancy embryo losses.
Depending on the condition and management of your flock, flushing your ewes can increase their reproductive rates by 10-20%.
That’s a significant production increase for a fairly minimal investment in flushing. And, as you probably know, your reproduction rate is one of the main driving factors in whether a small ruminant operation is successful or not. 10-20% more lambs to sell is definitely economically motivating!
So how do we flush our sheep? Flushing is simple and easy to accomplish. All you need to do is increase your sheep’s feed levels for 2-4 weeks prior to breeding season and about a month into breeding season. You want to feed them prior to breeding so that they ovulate as many eggs as possible. Then, you feed them for the first month of gestation to reduce embryo losses and increase implantation rates.
Most embryo losses occur during the first month of gestation. So you are feeding them to make sure the ewe’s body thinks it has the resources to support extra embryo. This reduces the number she aborts. After about a month losses are unlikely, and you can return to maintenance level feeding until the requirements of the fetuses increase late gestation.
For flushing to be effective rather than a waste of money certain criteria needs to be met.
Firstly, your sheep need to be in an appropriate body condition score (BCS). Flushing works best on ewes in moderate condition (BCS of 2-3). Very thin ewes don’t respond well to flushing (BCS 1), neither do fat ones (BCS 4-5). If your ewes are maintained at a high level of nutrition with a high BCS throughout the year they aren’t going to respond to flushing. Ewes that are too thin are too busy literally starving to be able to reproduce well. If you don’t know how to body condition score (BCS) you animals, please refer back to our article on the topic. It is an important skill to have.
Additionally, flushing is best used for mature ewes. It is not as effective on ewe lambs as they should already be on a higher plane of nutrition to promote growth. Ewe lambs also do not possess the udder development and frame size for high numbers of lambs. Their bodies know this and won’t produce as many lambs as mature ewes regardless of how you feed.
And finally, flushing works best if you are trying to breed early, late, or out of season. You will get less or no response to flushing if you are breeding during peak breeding season. This is when your animals will be more likely to ovulate at their maximum rates anyways.
As you are making decisions, remember flushing won’t overcome genetic constraints.
It will just allow you to maximize your genetic potential. If your ewes do not have the genetic potential to produce quads, no amount of feeding will induce them to do so. However, a large portion of the difference in animal performance between flocks is environmental not genetic. Just because a flock of sheep can survive and reproduce on a low input diet doesn’t mean they are meeting their potential on that diet. You will not know if you are leaving money on the table until you try improving nutrition.
Now that we have discussed what flushing is and when its appropriate to use. How do we flush our ewes?
Ewes can be flushed on any high quality feed you have available. It is often done by feeding 1/2-1lb of grain/head. However, it can be done equally as effectively using high quality pasture or hay. Or you can use any combination of the above. Your focus should be on increasing the energy level in their diet. When deciding on an energy source for flushing, keep in mind that legumes should be avoided as they contain an estrogen like compound that can interfere with breeding cycles.
You can minimize your flushing input and maximize your success by separating your ewes into groups based on their age and BCS. That way you can focus on flushing ewes that are likely to respond. On an increased plane of nutrition, it should take 3-4 weeks to increase their condition by a half score. You ideally want your ewes to be a BCS of 3 or more to breed. Your BCS 3.5+ ewes are less likely to respond to flushing and can be maintained on their current diet. This way you can focus on only feeding your lower condition ewes to improve their performance.
If you are interested in potentially increasing the performance of your flock or have a lot of thin ewes going into breeding season consider experimenting with flushing! Research has proven it effective. Plus flushing can be used under any type of management system from grass fed to grain fed and everything in between. If you would like to learn more about how we are managing our flock, please sign up for our newsletter!
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