That title almost sounds like a dirty movie!
But it is not, not really. Flushing is a sheep producers term for over feeding to improve bodily condition to ensure conception at the best rate possible and to produce strong, healthy, vigorous lambs for production. Of course, vigorous, robust lambs are the aim of every sheep owner. No one prefers weak and sickly little gaffers. But the methods of arriving at the end are quite different in production farming than they are in grass farming.
This is basically a grass operation. Ruminants like sheep and goats and cows have more than one stomach and were meant to eat roughages and forages. They have more than one stomach so that by the time the grass goes out, it has been well digested and the nutrients have been extracted. If you examined the poop of a healthy sheep, you might be surprised to note that there is no grass in it. Unlike the poop of a dog who eats grass, the sheep completely digest the entire grass, while dogs, who are not meant to eat forages, cannot digest grass. We cannot either.
Man, in his incessant quest for bigger and better got the strange idea that ruminants should eat grain. The rumen, one of the stomachs of the sheep, can actually bloat from producing gas from the grain fermenting in the gut and the sheep can die. To ensure this does not happen, those farmers feed grain to the lambs from birth, called creep feeding. The rumen then has time to adjust to grain and the animals can eat a lot of it without consequences. Still, that is not how is should be.
So, on this farm, The Fat Ewe Farm, the ruminants do not get grain. Instead they are served a lush mix of grasses, leaves, clover, wildflowers, weeds and grass. That diet is highly palatable for the animals. They will eat and eat and eat because it is so naturally good, but they will not get sick. Clover is actually a legume, the same as alfalfa, and provides excellent nutrition and some protein and calcium for the ewes and does and cows.
One of the best things, is that the forage hay is all natural, never sprayed, easily grown and lasts all winter. And the animals absolutely love it. They hunt through the hay to find the tastiest morsels first, nibbling a clover, then a dandelion, a little thistle and some grass. Why, it is a veritable smorgasbord for the critters! And they are being well nourished, at least on par, but most certainly even better, than the grain fed cousins. The sheep love grain too, but it is not a natural food and here , grain is heavily sprayed with chemicals and grown with chemicals too. Gross!
The Fat Ewe Farm is not flushing the ewes, technically, just feeding them excellent quality feed. That is enough and it is the best for the animals, and in turn, if we eat the animals, naturally grass fed meat is healthiest for humans too. Win, win!
But it is not, not really. Flushing is a sheep producers term for over feeding to improve bodily condition to ensure conception at the best rate possible and to produce strong, healthy, vigorous lambs for production. Of course, vigorous, robust lambs are the aim of every sheep owner. No one prefers weak and sickly little gaffers. But the methods of arriving at the end are quite different in production farming than they are in grass farming.
This is basically a grass operation. Ruminants like sheep and goats and cows have more than one stomach and were meant to eat roughages and forages. They have more than one stomach so that by the time the grass goes out, it has been well digested and the nutrients have been extracted. If you examined the poop of a healthy sheep, you might be surprised to note that there is no grass in it. Unlike the poop of a dog who eats grass, the sheep completely digest the entire grass, while dogs, who are not meant to eat forages, cannot digest grass. We cannot either.
Man, in his incessant quest for bigger and better got the strange idea that ruminants should eat grain. The rumen, one of the stomachs of the sheep, can actually bloat from producing gas from the grain fermenting in the gut and the sheep can die. To ensure this does not happen, those farmers feed grain to the lambs from birth, called creep feeding. The rumen then has time to adjust to grain and the animals can eat a lot of it without consequences. Still, that is not how is should be.
So, on this farm, The Fat Ewe Farm, the ruminants do not get grain. Instead they are served a lush mix of grasses, leaves, clover, wildflowers, weeds and grass. That diet is highly palatable for the animals. They will eat and eat and eat because it is so naturally good, but they will not get sick. Clover is actually a legume, the same as alfalfa, and provides excellent nutrition and some protein and calcium for the ewes and does and cows.
One of the best things, is that the forage hay is all natural, never sprayed, easily grown and lasts all winter. And the animals absolutely love it. They hunt through the hay to find the tastiest morsels first, nibbling a clover, then a dandelion, a little thistle and some grass. Why, it is a veritable smorgasbord for the critters! And they are being well nourished, at least on par, but most certainly even better, than the grain fed cousins. The sheep love grain too, but it is not a natural food and here , grain is heavily sprayed with chemicals and grown with chemicals too. Gross!
The Fat Ewe Farm is not flushing the ewes, technically, just feeding them excellent quality feed. That is enough and it is the best for the animals, and in turn, if we eat the animals, naturally grass fed meat is healthiest for humans too. Win, win!
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