How Much Does a Sheep Eat Per Day?

Like housing space, how much a sheep eats scales with its own weight rather than sitting at one flat number — a useful distinction given how much sheep breeds vary in size, from smaller hill types to large lowland ewes.

About 3% of bodyweight per day, in dry matter

Sheep consume roughly 3% of their bodyweight per day in dry matter. That's the figure our feed cost calculator uses, scaling directly from the weight you enter rather than a single figure applied to every flock.

These illustrate how the ratio scales rather than representing specific breeds — enter your own sheep's actual weight in the calculator instead of reading a weight band off this table. The same 45–65kg (hill) and 60–90kg (lowland) weight ranges already used by our housing calculator apply here too.

Total dry matter, from pasture, hay or concentrate

This is total dry matter intake, whatever form it takes — grazed pasture, hay, or concentrate feed, combined. It doesn't break out how much should come from each, which depends heavily on season and whether a flock has genuine grazing access or is being fed entirely by hand.

Lactation raises this considerably

This figure is a dry ewe's maintenance intake, not a lactating one's. Nursing a lamb (or lambs) is one of the most nutritionally demanding periods in a ewe's year, and intake rises meaningfully above the maintenance figure during it. We haven't found a specific multiplier sourced for backyard-scale keeping, so treat this figure as a baseline and budget for more around lambing — our space guide covers how housing needs shift the same way at that time.

Working out your own cost

Enter your sheep's weight and flock size into the feed cost calculator along with your local feed price for a daily, weekly and monthly estimate, or use cost of keeping to combine it with a health allowance and other costs. Water is a separate daily input worth planning for too — see our water guide.

Turning this into a winter hay order? The how much hay does a sheep need guide works it out step by step, including waste and a winter total.

Source: dry matter intake ratio (~3% of bodyweight/day), general livestock feed-guidance consensus. Weight bands (45–65kg hill, 60–90kg lowland): DEFRA's Code of Recommendations for the Welfare of Livestock: Sheep, already cited for this site's sheep housing calculator. Sources checked: September 2026.

Common questions

How much does a sheep eat per day?

Roughly 3% of a sheep's bodyweight per day in dry matter — a 60kg ewe eats about 1.8kg a day. It scales with weight rather than being one flat figure, since sheep range from smaller hill breeds up to large lowland ewes.

Does a ewe with lambs eat more?

Yes, meaningfully — lactation is one of the most nutritionally demanding periods in a ewe's year. We haven't found a specific multiplier sourced for backyard-scale keeping, so this figure covers a dry ewe's maintenance intake; budget for more during lactation and ask a vet or grazing adviser for guidance suited to your flock.

Is this figure pasture, hay, concentrate, or all of it?

Total dry matter intake, whatever form it comes in — grazed pasture, hay or concentrate feed combined. It doesn't break out how much of the diet should be each, which varies by season and whether the sheep has real grazing access.

Does this apply to housed sheep as well as grazing ones?

Yes — it's a total dry matter figure regardless of whether that comes from grazed pasture or from hay and concentrate fed indoors. What changes between housed and grazing periods is the form the feed takes and how much of it you have to actually buy, not the underlying daily quantity.