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Feeding rape

  • 10-04-2014 7:27am
    #1
    Username John
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,237 ✭✭✭


    Hello,

    Following on from the store lamb thread... some people mentioned feeding rape to store lambs over winter.

    I want to do a bit of reclaiming this summer, and I think rape might be a good fit, for 2 reasons :
    1. It might fit feeding store lambs, as per other thread
    2. Years ago, we would have set rape in reclaimed areas, as the feeling was that it cleaned the ground up nicely.

    Unfortunately, its so long ago since we did it, and I was very young at the time, so I don't remember much about how we managed it... :(

    How do lads feed it?
    When we did it, I know we put the lambs into the field, and that was that... There was no dividing wire like with cattle or anything like that, they had the run of the whole field til they were taken out a few weeks later...

    Is this what people currently do when feeding rape? Just leave the lambs have the entire field?
    If not - what do ye do?
    What do ye feed with it? Hay? Silage?
    Does it take lambs long to get used to the rape?
    Initially, is it a dangerous feed - could they gorge on it, or is it the case they wouldn't go too near it til they get a taste for it?

    Lastly - the area I would be thinking of putting rape in, would be a bit away from other fields.
    Would it work if lambs had rape in one field, and then had access to a grass field prob 300 metres away (the two fields are connected by a farm roadway)

    Thanks all.


Comments

  • #2
    Lano Lynn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 491 ✭✭Lano Lynn


    rape is great stuff,but can be hit and miss depending on weather sowing date point in rotation etc

    as regards dividing the area it all depends on size of field/number of lambs.

    I have found lambs don,t like walking into very tall crop so in a 10 acre field I leave 3 or 4 breaks/run unsown the lambs graze out from these passages and waste less.

    leave a wide headland can be enough runback.

    redstart seems to be good variety.but can come to thick if undersown.

    cut silage/rape/whole crop /whole crop/grass has been good here.

    in your part of the world you probably would get good regrowth in spring.

    rape will grow on acid soil but lime is important after (learning this the hard expensive way):(

    graze with framey lambs first (small lambs will turn into little balls of fat)

    if crop growing rapidly(summer crop)lambs can suffer iodine deficency and particular care should be take introducing them to the crop graze for an hour or two then out to runback for a few days.

    the downside is if all your lambs don't finish of the crop they will be very hard fed after.


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