A mid-size ewe with a mid-size appetite
A Dorset ewe needs total dry feed of roughly three to four pounds for every hundred pounds she weighs, each day. Ewes commonly run one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds, so expect about five to seven pounds of hay and grazed pasture as the working range, with rams needing more in line with their heavier frames. That figure is the whole ration. Pasture supplies much of it in season; in the barn or a winter lot, it arrives as weighed hay, and a flake that feels generous can still fall short if it is light, stemmy, or partly refused and trampled.
Why the Dorset calendar changes the answer
Dorsets are valued for breeding outside the usual season, which means a flock often contains ewes at very different stages at once, and a single pen ration fits none of them well. A dry ewe resting between cycles maintains easily on forage alone. The same ewe in her final month of pregnancy needs rising energy and protein as the lambs make most of their growth, yet her rumen is crowded, so feed quality must climb even when total volume cannot. Sorting ewes into feeding groups by stage is not fussiness with this breed; it is how the ration reaches the animals it was calculated for.
Nursing twins is the expensive season
A Dorset ewe nursing twins produces a great deal of milk for her size, and her intake should peak accordingly, often at the top of the range or beyond in dry matter, built from the best hay you have plus a grain portion fed twice daily. Watch her condition across the first six weeks: some loss is normal, but a ewe whose backbone and hips sharpen quickly is milking off her back faster than the bucket is replacing it. Creep feed offered to the lambs themselves takes pressure off her, letting lambs eat directly rather than converting everything through their mother. As lambs eat more creep and approach weaning, step her grain down gradually so her udder and condition adjust together.
Lambs and rams have their own lines in the budget
Growing Dorset lambs need more protein-rich feed per pound of body weight than any adult in the flock, and they waste less of what they are given when feed is fresh, in clean bunks, and replaced rather than topped over stale fines. Rams outside the breeding season are easy keepers who stay fit on forage and mineral, but a ram worked hard through an extended, out-of-season breeding period can lose surprising condition and deserves a modest concentrate portion and a condition check when he comes out. Neither group should simply inherit the nursing ewes' rich ration by sharing a pen.
Keeping the groups honest day to day
Feed sheep minerals free choice, keep water clean enough that you would offer it without hesitation, and make every ration change over several days to protect rumen microbes. Note which group leaves hay and which cleans up and calls for more; appetite is information. Where several people share flock chores, confusion between groups is the most common feeding error, and KinsLe Care Teams prevent it by assigning each Dorset group's hay, grain, and checks to a named person, with completed tasks marked so the next feeder knows exactly what is already done.