6 Best Sheep Feed For Drought Resistant Pastures That Old-Timers Trust
When pastures fail, old-timers turn to proven feeds. Discover 6 trusted options, like alfalfa pellets and beet pulp, to sustain your flock in a drought.
The pasture grass crunches under your boots, more brown than green, and the sheep look at you expectantly every time you walk by the gate. A dry spell that stretches into a full-blown drought is one of the toughest tests for any shepherd. Having a plan before the rain stops is the difference between weathering the storm and selling off your flock.
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The Challenge of Feeding Sheep in Dry Times
Feeding sheep during a drought is a two-front war. First, your primary food source—the pasture—is failing. Grasses go dormant, growth slows to a halt, and what’s left is often low in nutritional value.
This forces you onto the second front: supplemental feeding. Suddenly, you’re buying hay, pellets, and grain when you’d planned on free forage. This isn’t just a financial hit; it’s a logistical challenge of sourcing, hauling, and storing feed, all while your animals’ needs are increasing.
The real trick is to plan for this inevitability. You can’t make it rain, but you can build a system that’s less fragile. That means seeding pastures with forages that can handle the dry spells and knowing exactly which supplemental feeds give you the most bang for your buck when you’re forced to buy them.
Puna II Chicory: Deep-Rooted Forage for Sheep
Chicory is a powerhouse when the weather turns dry. Its secret is a long, deep taproot that drills down into the soil to find moisture long after shallow-rooted grasses have given up. This allows it to stay green and productive deep into a dry summer.
For sheep, Puna II is particularly valuable. It’s highly palatable and packed with protein and minerals. It also has natural anti-parasitic properties, which is a huge bonus for managing worm loads without constant chemical intervention.
But it’s not a silver bullet. Chicory needs well-drained soil and can be aggressive, potentially out-competing finer grasses if not managed well. Think of it as a key player in a diverse pasture mix, not a monoculture crop. It works best alongside hardy grasses and legumes that can hold their own.
Shoshone Sainfoin: The Non-Bloating Legume
Everyone knows alfalfa is a great legume, but old-timers often lean on sainfoin, especially for sheep. The reason is simple: sainfoin is a non-bloating legume. This means you get the high protein and nitrogen-fixing benefits of a legume without the constant worry of bloat, a serious and sometimes fatal risk for ruminants.
Shoshone is a variety specifically developed for persistence and drought tolerance in the western US. Like chicory, it has a deep taproot that makes it resilient in dry conditions. Sheep find it incredibly palatable, often preferring it over alfalfa, and it makes fantastic dry hay if you get a chance to cut it.
The tradeoff? Sainfoin can be slower to establish than alfalfa and may not yield quite as heavily in perfect conditions. But for a low-input, resilient hobby farm, its reliability and safety make it an outstanding choice. It’s a plant that takes care of your soil and your sheep with less worry.
Small Burnet: A Hardy, Palatable Perennial
Small Burnet is one of those overlooked plants that quietly does its job year after year. It’s not a legume and it’s not a grass, but it’s a deep-rooted perennial forb that stays green and leafy when everything else is turning brown. Its evergreen nature means it provides valuable forage late into the fall and early in the spring.
Its cucumber-like flavor makes it highly palatable to sheep, and it’s rich in vitamins A and C. While not a protein powerhouse like a legume, its value lies in its persistence. It fills the nutritional gaps during seasonal slumps and droughts.
Think of Small Burnet as the foundation of a resilient pasture. It thrives in a wide range of soil types, from sandy to clay, and doesn’t require high fertility. By including it in your seed mix, you’re building a forage base that provides something to graze almost year-round, reducing your reliance on stored feed.
Standlee Premium Alfalfa Pellets for Protein
When the pasture is truly gone, you need a reliable source of protein and fiber. This is where a high-quality alfalfa pellet, like those from Standlee, becomes invaluable. It’s essentially compressed hay, making it easy to store, measure, and feed without the waste and mess of bales.
Pellets offer incredible consistency. Every bag has the same nutritional analysis, so you know exactly what your sheep are getting, which is crucial for pregnant or lactating ewes. A scoop of pellets can provide the protein punch needed to maintain body condition when grazing offers little more than maintenance energy.
Yes, it costs money. But think of it as an insurance policy. Having a few bags of alfalfa pellets in the barn means you’re prepared for a sudden dry spell or an unexpected need for higher nutrition. It’s a simple, effective tool for managing your flock’s health when the land can’t provide.
Sweetlix Meat Maker: Essential Mineral Block
Drought doesn’t just reduce the quantity of forage; it reduces the quality. Stressed plants often lack the essential minerals and vitamins your sheep need for proper immune function, growth, and reproduction. This is why a good mineral block is non-negotiable.
Don’t just put out a plain white salt block. You need a complete mineral supplement formulated for sheep, like the Sweetlix Meat Maker block. A key feature is that it contains no added copper, which is toxic to sheep in high amounts. It provides selenium, zinc, cobalt, and other micronutrients that are critical when forage quality is poor.
Putting out a mineral block is one of the easiest and most cost-effective things you can do for your flock’s health. Sheep are good at regulating their own intake. Just make sure it’s always available, protected from the rain, and you’ll be heading off a lot of potential health problems before they start.
Whole Oats: A Classic, Simple Energy Source
Sometimes, you just need to get calories into your animals. While protein is important for growth, energy is what maintains body condition, keeps them warm, and fuels their basic metabolism. Whole oats are a classic, straightforward, and relatively inexpensive source of energy.
There’s no need for complex, expensive mixed feeds. A small daily ration of whole oats gives your sheep a safe, digestible energy boost. It’s a "cool" grain, meaning it has a lower risk of causing digestive upset compared to something like corn.
For the hobby farmer, the simplicity of oats is its greatest strength. It’s easy to source, easy to store, and easy to feed. It’s the reliable fuel that keeps the engine running when the high-performance stuff (green pasture) isn’t available.
Managing Water Access During a Long Drought
Feed is only half the equation. During a drought, water becomes the single most critical resource, and your reliable creek or pond might become a muddy puddle overnight.
A sheep’s water intake can double in hot, dry weather, especially if they are eating dry hay or pellets. You must have a bulletproof plan for providing clean, fresh water every single day. This might mean checking troughs more often, cleaning them to prevent algae, or even hauling water from a well if your pasture sources dry up.
Don’t wait until the pond is empty to figure out your backup plan.
- Have extra hoses, tanks, or buckets ready.
- Ensure your troughs are in good repair and easy to clean.
- If you rely on a single water source, have a secondary one identified.
Dehydration can set in quickly and has a devastating effect on an animal’s health. In a drought, vigilant water management is just as important as your feeding strategy.
Building a drought-proof flock isn’t about finding one magic solution. It’s about creating a resilient system with multiple layers—tough pastures, smart supplements, and reliable water. By thinking ahead, you can keep your sheep healthy and your farm thriving, even when the skies refuse to open up.
