‘Survival feeding’ your animals involves feeding the animals so that they maintain close to a minimum survival weight without gaining weight, or where there is no excess feed supplied for production purposes. Situations where survival feeding may be employed include feeding dry cows or ewes, or maintenance feeding bulls or rams in the off-season when they are not working.

The practice of survival feeding is normally not recommended and should only be used when the situation is desperate. It also has serious animal welfare implications if animals fall below minimal survival weights.

This Primefact covers the critical survival weights for sheep and cattle.