Creep feed or not?

Username John

Hello all,

Following on from the tread of feeding ewes which were unexpectantly in young :rolleyes:
I now have 15 lambs, almost all singles - and am wondering should I creep feed them or not?

Obviously enough, i want to get them away as soon as possible, to try to get the best price.

I have good grass to put them out (when it dries up and can get them out)
I was planning to feed the ewes concentrate for a few weeks.

So - the question is - should I creep feed the lambs as well?
Or given that the grass is fairly good, and they are single lambs - would they still do ok without creep?
Plus - in the last 2 years, I think the price has held reasonably well for a while after Easter, so this makes me think against creep as well...

Thoughts?

Farrell

I wouldn't, well not initially.
If the grass is good, I'd move them weekly to fresh grass, & as your giving ewes concentrates, I'd give the lambs a little with them. If your not getting the response you hoped, the add creep. That's my option

dave747

in the same situation myself scanned alot of singles, started lambing at the weekend. plan on feeding ewes ration for a while after lambing same as yourself and hoping not to creep the lambs till they get to 34 or 35 kilos and start then to get a good finish on them. that all depends on weather and ewes being able to graze the grass of course

AnFeirmeoir

No definitely wouldn't creep single lambs on good grass, unless the mothers were ewe lambs or poor milkers.

Read somewhere that creep feeding more than 300 grams is actually a complete waste of money as it is just replacing grass. Creeping a small amount is very beneficial to growth and as you increase feed levels the benefits of the extra feed is much less.

dave747

another thing i was thinking of trying this year with the lambs, when they get to dat size, instead of meal making up a little creep gate and letting lambs graze ahead of ewes so they get access to the best quailty grass first

grassroot1

Feed your lambs or you will have nothing, it is January not April. Early lambing flocks need to feed to get lambs away at good prices. Keep the grass for the later lambers

Cran

grassroot1 wrote: »

Feed your lambs or you will have nothing, it is January not April. Early lambing flocks need to feed to get lambs away at good prices. Keep the grass for the later lambers

I'd agree with this you'd be carrying them for long time without creep this time of year.

AnFeirmeoir

He'll be feeding the ewes for first few weeks, so the lambs will be picking up some meal there. After that they should be ok with Grass.
Yes they will be faster with creep but he's not aiming for Easter here.

tabby aspreme

Easter is 20 th April this year , that's 15 weeks away, most lambs born now should be ready by then, whatever you do don't let them stop growing or you'll have them still in July

tomwaterford

grassroot1 wrote: »

Feed your lambs or you will have nothing, it is January not April. Early lambing flocks need to feed to get lambs away at good prices. Keep the grass for the later lambers

+1
Feed your lambs, you'll be better off they will pay better to feed than your ewes...they will be weaned april at the latest, ewes will have all year to put condition back on,(assuming you let rams off in october)

tommy5678

when you say creep for the lambs do you mean lamb pride.