eat more silage in or out?

eorna

do sheep eat more silage when they are outside or when they are inside?? or do they eat the same?? i see outside they are getting the odd nibble of grass but inside they are warmer and they don't move...

sea12

eorna wrote: »

do sheep eat more silage when they are outside or when they are inside?? or do they eat the same?? i see outside they are getting the odd nibble of grass but inside they are warmer and they don't move...

I only feed hay so it might not be the same but I always find they eat much more when they are inside.

supersean1999

eorna wrote: »

do sheep eat more silage when they are outside or when they are inside?? or do they eat the same?? i see outside they are getting the odd nibble of grass but inside they are warmer and they don't move...

Slighly off topic but how long Would a Silage bale last say 30 ewes. Im planning on putting two groups of ewes in 2 acre fields and putting Silage in ring feeder . Id Guess a bale should last 5 days ???? There wont be much grass in them fields by mid jan when i plan on starting Silage.

razor8

supersean1999 wrote: »

Slighly off topic but how long Would a Silage bale last say 30 ewes. Im planning on putting two groups of ewes in 2 acre fields and putting Silage in ring feeder . Id Guess a bale should last 5 days ???? There wont be much grass in them fields by mid jan when i plan on starting Silage.

i gauge a bale of silage per 200 ewes a day

a bale out with 30 ewes would be well gone off before the sheep finished it IMO. I wouldnt put a bale out with less than around 60.

razor8

eorna wrote: »

do sheep eat more silage when they are outside or when they are inside?? or do they eat the same?? i see outside they are getting the odd nibble of grass but inside they are warmer and they don't move...

would depend on what grass was available and if it was green or rough pasture

drive it

supersean1999 wrote: »

Slighly off topic but how long Would a Silage bale last say 30 ewes. Im planning on putting two groups of ewes in 2 acre fields and putting Silage in ring feeder . Id Guess a bale should last 5 days ???? There wont be much grass in them fields by mid jan when i plan on starting Silage.

Last year I had 62 ewes out, they ate a bale every 3-4 days the wetter or colder the weather the quicker they went through it

supersean1999

Ok cheers . I can put more together . They wont have access to much grass while getting Silage . I want to Keep as much grass as i can for the hill ewes coming down. Would a bale be gone off in 5. Days .that seems quick. Feeder will be covered

supersean1999

Ok cheers . I can put more together . They wont have access to much grass while getting Silage . I want to Keep as much grass as i can for the hill ewes coming down. Would a bale be gone off in 5. Days .that seems quick. Feeder will be covered

razor8

you might get away with 5 days depending on how dry silage is, i like to see a bale gone in 3-4 days in a batch

eorna

razor8 wrote: »

would depend on what grass was available and if it was green or rough pasture

thanks razor, my question was assuming no grass left in the field

razor8

eorna wrote: »

thanks razor, my question was assuming no grass left in the field

ok, again would depend on weather, i'm sure during harsh weather they will eat more, very hard to quantify

Johnsey

supersean1999 wrote: »

Ok cheers . I can put more together . They wont have access to much grass while getting Silage . I want to Keep as much grass as i can for the hill ewes coming down. Would a bale be gone off in 5. Days .that seems quick. Feeder will be covered

How do you cover the feders Sean ? I usually have haylege and its grand if it gets wet they still eat it but have all hay this year and need a simple cheap way of covering round bale feeders . Jfc have a lovely hay bell for sheep but @ € 350 roughly I won't b getting those !! Cheers!

AnFeirmeoir

yes was going to mention the bell feeders, didn't realize they were so dear but still might be worth it. I don't know would they cause a bit too much pushing at the feeder though, there only seems to be about 6 spaces or so.

I have the square one with the curved galvianized cover. To be honest its useless for keeping hay dry as everyone knows the rain in Ireland is sideways.

You could leave the plastic on the top half of the bale until they have a good bit of it eaten?

supersean1999

Johnsey wrote: »

How do you cover the feders Sean ? I usually have haylege and its grand if it gets wet they still eat it but have all hay this year and need a simple cheap way of covering round bale feeders . Jfc have a lovely hay bell for sheep but @ € 350 roughly I won't b getting those !! Cheers!

Oh my idea won't cost much, iv never fed much silage out, I'll prob cut plywood in a circle or get few sheets of galvanise cut to shape, it won't be high tech just so I can take it off handy and tie it down, there won't be much thought put into it, I just like the idea of keeping as much rain off it as possible that's all,

sea12

Johnsey wrote: »

How do you cover the feders Sean ? I usually have haylege and its grand if it gets wet they still eat it but have all hay this year and need a simple cheap way of covering round bale feeders . Jfc have a lovely hay bell for sheep but @ € 350 roughly I won't b getting those !! Cheers!

I saw those hay bells at the ploughing. Look a great job but too dear at 350. But they would save allot of waste.

Always amazed though at all the hassle and frenetic activity trying to save hay and then seeing it being put out in a field and half a bale rotting later in the year.

AnFeirmeoir

Its always the same thing with JFC. Their products always seem to be a genuine solution to a practical problem, but because its just made of plastic, the price seems too high. Saw they had a sort of lamb shelter at the ploughing that i thought was a brilliant idea,
but it was for all the world a large bin cover with a few holes cut in the side for lambs to run in and out. I couldn't bring myself to spend over 100 on it. If it was made from some other material that i could see the work gone into it i probably would have.
Makes no sense i know as the plastic will last longer than most other materials. Its just the perception that its easier to mass produce and should be cheaper.