Solid-mouthed ewes will get adequate volumes of roots for their requirements. When forage appears to be sparse at the end of the grazing period, offer small amounts of good quality hay to the sheep. Grazing Management Sheep efficiently convert forage into meat and wool. Part of the efficiency is due to their ability to be selective in plants and parts of a plant they graze. Selective grazing allows sheep to consume the most palatable parts of the plants, and these palatable plant parts usually are the most nutritious.
Selective grazing is highest when sheep have access to the entire pasture.
They can seek out preferred plants and plant parts from a large area when abundant forage is available. Unfortunately, continuous grazing of the entire pasture can reduce productivity of both pasture and sheep in the long term. All pasture plants need an opportunity to regrow and recover from stress and injury caused by grazing. Plants get no rest under continuous grazing because sheep selectively graze off young, succulent regrowth soon after it develops on a plant, prohibiting recovery and increasing plant stress. Repeated grazing of the same plant soon causes the plant to become weaker, lose vigor and reduce yield.