Can silage be too long for sheep to eat.

derferjam

I have bailed silage and due to weather it got a bit late in the year for cutting (in an ideal world).

So just wondering is there such a thing as silage grass being too for sheep to eat. I want to feed them out in the field in round feeders.

Idea is to have bale upright cut plastic and remove netting and put feeder around it repeat the process by unscrewing round feeder and rolling over side to next bale and screw back
.
The bales well already be in the field so I won't muck up field and drag muck back to Yard.

ganmo

no, long grass silage is grand for sheep
when feeding bales outside here we cut a few big Xs in the plastic and netting and let them work away

Vandy West

The unopened bales will have to be fenced off or ewes will get thru the wrap.

Donegalforever

derferjam wrote: »

I have bailed silage and due to weather it got a bit late in the year for cutting (in an ideal world).

So just wondering is there such a thing as silage grass being too for sheep to eat. I want to feed them out in the field in round feeders.

Idea is to have bale upright cut plastic and remove netting and put feeder around it repeat the process by unscrewing round feeder and rolling over side to next bale and screw back
.
The bales well already be in the field so I won't muck up field and drag muck back to Yard.

From my humble experience, Silage should not be fed to pregnant ewes as it is very likely to cause prolapse (put out the reed).
It is OK to feed after the ewes have lambed, or to feed to non-pregnant sheep.

razor8

i would say the majority of farmers feed silage to sheep pre lambing, I’ve done so for many years and never had an issue with feeding apart from the odd few you get every year. (You’d be very lucky not to get at least 1 per 100)its just a matter of managing their diet and getting the balance with adequate meal right

Green farmer

Have to agree with razor, Had about 0.5% prolapse here last year. Think if you can breed it out of the flock, makes more of difference then what you feed. All singles here get silage only, with anything over that getting a shake of meal added in.

roosky

Donegalforever wrote:

From my humble experience, Silage should not be fed to pregnant ewes as it is very likely to cause prolapse (put out the reed). It is OK to feed after the ewes have lambed, or to feed to non-pregnant sheep.

What do you feed ewes during pregnancy?

sheepfarmer92

Feeding ewes chopped baled silage in new shed and unchopped haylage in the old shed and find no difference in the ewes, always fed unchopped haylage and prolapse would never be much of a problem, we notch and cull anything that does!

charolais0153

sheepfarmer92 wrote: »

Feeding ewes chopped baled silage in new shed and unchopped haylage in the old shed and find no difference in the ewes, always fed unchopped haylage and prolapse would never be much of a problem, we notch and cull anything that does!

They kind of reminded me of goats the way there is a few blavkies and no wool :D:D

sheepfarmer92

charolais0153 wrote: »

They kind of reminded me of goats the way there is a few blavkies and no wool :D:D

Were not racist down here! Finished shearing on saturday, too warm in the shed with wool on very happy with it!