The maintenance period for ewes is the longest period in the production cycle for ewes. The maintenance period is when the ewe flock is not lactating and lasts up to about 30 days before breeding. Once the ewe flock has been bred, the first two-thirds of gestation is also considered a maintenance phase of nutrition. The term maintenance is used because the ewes only needs are to maintain themselves or if growth is expected, it is slow growth. If hay is being fed it would take three to four pounds of medium to low quality hay to meet these requirements.
Maintenance is often the phase where ewes are on pasture or some type of crop residue.
The lowest quality, cheapest sources of forage can be used successfully during the maintenance phase if the ewes are in adequate body condition. This is the production phase where sheep can be fed economically without lowering production levels. Breeding season nutrition . The goals of the breeding season are to get ewes settled in as few of cycles as possible, minimize the number of open ewes, have ewes ovulate multiple eggs and have a low incidence of embryonic mortality. The term flushing is used to describe increasing the energy content of a ration before the breeding season.