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Sheep winter fodder

Green farmer

What are people’s plans for getting the sheep over the winter this year. Any one going to do anything different ? Hoping to get enough silage here and stay away from ewe rations as much as possible as it’s climbed to €295 a tonne.

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Dickie10

ewes are in great order mud fat some prob average fat score 4 so i can afford to let them lose a condition score for lambing mid february which they will naturally as grass gets tighter. i had budgeted to start giving hay in a rack next weekend but i wouldnt think i will need to unless frosty weaather comes. its been balmy for sheep all autumn. if i get to 20th of dec without hay feeding i will be flyin

DJ98

Anyone got a price for beet this year?

wrangler

Dickie10 wrote: »

ewes are in great order mud fat some prob average fat score 4 so i can afford to let them lose a condition score for lambing mid february which they will naturally as grass gets tighter. i had budgeted to start giving hay in a rack next weekend but i wouldnt think i will need to unless frosty weaather comes. its been balmy for sheep all autumn. if i get to 20th of dec without hay feeding i will be flyin

Lambing at condition score 3 isn't good enough, they'll have no reserve to milk off their back, mid feb is only 9 weeks away and a long winter after.

early_riser

DJ98 wrote: »

Anyone got a price for beet this year?

E50-55 a tonne around here anyway

Dickie10

wrangler, what would u think i should do? i have scanning next week , would they benefit from the good quality hay from now?

wrangler

Dickie10 wrote: »

wrangler, what would u think i should do? i have scanning next week , would they benefit from the good quality hay from now?

I'd monitor their condition, but I wouldn't lamb at condition score three.
But you're right, four is probably too heavy for lambing, especially if you're using something like texel.
Your grass is probably good enough for them, hard to know without seeing it, They don't need much mid pregnancy. Just monitor them, very hard to put condition on them in the last six weeks pregnancy if you let them go down.
Ewes are very wooly now too so make sure you put a hand on them when you're condition scoring, If you're vaccinating five or six weeks out from lambing is a good time to examine them, also when you're scanning them

Lambman

I agree with wrangler hard till put condition on them in last 6 weeks they will just put it into the lamb or lambs which is more bother lambing... I'd be giving them hay or silage from now on if your lambing February don't want till change there diet too late that could bring on its own problems aswell.

Dickie10

scanning friday so will be good time to handle them

memorystick

Does it pay to feed store lambs on grass? I bought 37 weighing from 28 to 35kgs. They also have access to beet tops.

Young95

memorystick wrote: »

Does it pay to feed store lambs on grass? I bought 37 weighing from 28 to 35kgs. They also have access to beet tops.

If they are close to 40kg yes but not the small lads. May let them frame up more.

White Clover

memorystick wrote: »

Does it pay to feed store lambs on grass? I bought 37 weighing from 28 to 35kgs. They also have access to beet tops.

What age and breed of lambs are these memory stick?

memorystick

There a mix of Suffolk and border Leicester I think. Bought them in baltinglass a month ago. On tops and grass and getting a pinch of meal to keep them quiet but not every day as I work. Between 28 and 35 it's. Some of them are jumping like spring lambs which is good.

tabby aspreme

If lambs are on beet tops, and grass run back they should not need nuts

memorystick

tabby aspreme wrote: »

If lambs are on beet tops, and grass run back they should not need nuts

I give them 5 kgs if they are near the yard. It's a handy way of keeping them quiet and it should pay for itself.

DJ98

Whats the main differences between dirty and washed beet apart from the obvious:rolleyes:

Birdnuts

Anyone ever fed sheep Mangolds?? Their a type of fodder tuber

AntrimGlens

Got a couple of bales sampled the other day using a handheld silage analysis machine at our Discussion Group. Don't know just how reliable it is as the Advisor sampled another sample twice and got two different readings.
Anyway bales that were made late May were:
DM - 37.94
pH - 4.6
ME - 11.75
CP - 16.19
D-val - 75.1

Bales made in late august were:
DM - 27.12
pH - 4.13
ME - 10.6
CP - 13.9
D-val - 66.3

Think the ewes will be getting the first cut bales and ewe lambs will do alright on the second cut. I think the time has come to do a bit more reseeding as ME content is lower than i'd like, but this field hasn't been reseeded in donkeys years. Shouldn't require too much meal fed along with the first bales, will have to sit down and work it out.

early_riser

How are lads getting on feeding beet? Neighbour said i can buy some off him if i need it, was thinking about getting some in case the winter does drag on and stretch the hay i have at least if the spring is good i can leave the hay in the shed till next year.
Have the early ewes with lambs grazing some leafy turnips at the min and have a couple of acres of rape for the march lambers will be putting them on that next week so not fixed too bad but might be tight bales depending on weather

Siamsa Sessions

early_riser wrote: »

How are lads getting on feeding beet? Neighbour said i can buy some off him if i need it, was thinking about getting some in case the winter does drag on and stretch the hay i have at least if the spring is good i can leave the hay in the shed till next year.
Have the early ewes with lambs grazing some leafy turnips at the min and have a couple of acres of rape for the march lambers will be putting them on that next week so not fixed too bad but might be tight bales depending on weather

Feeding beet outside here since Christmas. They're flying on it and I cut them back a bit last week after seeing them up close when we had them in for a foot-bath. They're getting approx 1 beet/day now (1kg), as well as the little pick of grass that's left. The beet isn't washed and I split it with a shovel (I like torture!). Very little left around the field the following day.

Will house in next week or two (depending on weather) and start twins on meal from early Feb as they're lambing mid-March. Will continue with 1kg of beet and straw for roughage when they're housed.

charolais0153

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Feeding beet outside here since Christmas. They're flying on it and I cut them back a bit last week after seeing them up close when we had them in for a foot-bath. They're getting approx 1 beet/day now (1kg), as well as the little pick of grass that's left. The beet isn't washed and I split it with a shovel (I like torture!). Very little left around the field the following day.

Will house in next week or two (depending on weather) and start twins on meal from early Feb as they're lambing mid-March. Will continue with 1kg of beet and straw for roughage when they're housed.

What meal are you going to feed?

Siamsa Sessions

charolais0153 wrote: »

What meal are you going to feed?

Probably 18% nut with soya added on top.

Paid 320 euro/ton last year for 20%S or something like that and I don't think it did anything extra for them. Having said that, Spring was harsh last year so it's probably not the best time to judge the meal.

I don't mind paying good money for good meal, but when you're not 100% sure it'll make a difference tis hard to hand over the cash.

Anyone know the price it's making on the ground this year? The farming media are saying it's up a good bit from last year, but they mightn't be the most reliable sources!

DJ98

What way to lads feed beet to housed ewes? Chop it here in middle with shovel and throwing into pens but finding it hard to get them started on it

Sheep breeder

Chopping with a beet chopper and bucket into troughs after lambing and feeding a 20% ration. Use to use a old turnip pulper with a motor to chop for ewes.
The ewes with lambs always get beet and ewe hoggets get it out on grass. The ewes would go mad while waiting on the beet to be fed and the young lambs eat a lot of beet with the ewes.

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Probably 18% nut with soya added on top.

Paid 320 euro/ton last year for 20%S or something like that and I don't think it did anything extra for them. Having said that, Spring was harsh last year so it's probably not the best time to judge the meal.

I don't mind paying good money for good meal, but when you're not 100% sure it'll make a difference tis hard to hand over the cash.

Anyone know the price it's making on the ground this year? The farming media are saying it's up a good bit from last year, but they mightn't be the most reliable sources!

Grennans 18% €305 and Super 20% €325 in bags collected. The 'Super ewe and lamb' is really good. List of ingredients in order, Soya, maize,oats, beetpulp, barley,ditillers, wheat gluten, molasses.
It worked well here last year
18% ration is maize, oats, soya, beetpulp, distillers,barley, wheat gluten, molasses, maize nuggets.
It's important to feed ewes well now up to lambing,

charolais0153

wrangler wrote: »

Grennans 18% €305 and Super 20% €325 in bags collected. The 'Super ewe and lamb' is really good. List of ingredients in order, Soya, maize,oats, beetpulp, barley,ditillers, wheat gluten, molasses.
It worked well here last year
18% ration is maize, oats, soya, beetpulp, distillers,barley, wheat gluten, molasses, maize nuggets.
It's important to feed ewes well now up to lambing,

Ya thats what we are using. The 20% nut has soybean as the top ingredient.

wrangler

charolais0153 wrote: »

Ya thats what we are using. The 20% nut has soybean as the top ingredient.

You're probably doing better on price, I didn't put the boot in on price yet, I just paid during the week and that was what they charged, not really buying enough now to bother

charolais0153

wrangler wrote: »

You're probably doing better on price, I didn't put the boot in on price yet, I just paid during the week and that was what they charged, not really buying enough now to bother

Ahah am only doing marginally better on price because i work in the place ha 320 for the 20%

wrangler

charolais0153 wrote: »

Ahah am only doing marginally better on price because i work in the place ha 320 for the 20%

Not every branch stocks the Super, they might stock it nearer to lambing, I usually buy a ton and deal in tinnycross but had to go to moate for it this time.
Had to go the whole way to Rath once last year to get it

charolais0153

wrangler wrote: »

Not every branch stocks the Super, they might stock it nearer to lambing, I usually buy a ton and deal in tinnycross but had to go to moate for it this time.
Had to go the whole way to Rath once last year to get it

Is their a super 20% aswell? The 20% is called the 'elite ewe and lamb' here. The super e&l is an 18% i thought

wrangler

charolais0153 wrote: »

Is their a super 20% aswell? The 20% is called the 'elite ewe and lamb' here. The super e&l is an 18% i thought

The elite ewe and lamb is a nut, is it the same ingredients, the super ewe and lamb that I use is a ration.......but there's a super ewe and lamb nut thats 18% just to confuse everyone.
I like the ration as opposed to the nut because I feed more concentrate and the nuts have a bit more molasses to bind them and the ewes would be a bit scoury.
I don't know if there's still more molasses in the nut but there was more a few years ago