Silage and straights OK
Silage and straights OK
Straights and high quality
silage allow a Worcester
producer to feed early
lambing ewes according to
requirements and helps
reduce costs. Emma Penny
reports
AD-LIB silage and straights provide a cost-effective ration and ensure plentiful milk for the 420 January lambing ewes and their lambs on one Worcs farm.
Rob Haydon, who farms 119ha (294 acres) at Lowerfields Farm, Bretforton, Evesham, relies on big bale silage, fodder beet, maize gluten and soya to feed his Suffolk cross Rouge and Mule ewes.
High quality silage allows Mr Haydon to reduce concentrate inputs, while feeding straights and adjusting rations according to number of lambs carried and stage of pregnancy allows economical feed use. This helped produce a gross margin of £823/ha (£333/acre) last year, with lambs sold from 10 weeks old, weighing about 18kg and grading mostly as U and R.
"Silage costs the same to make whatever the quality, but if its high grade then theres potential to cut concentrate costs," he says.
Big bale silage is fed as soon as ewes are housed – usually in November. They are scanned and split into groups of 100 depending on whether they are carrying singles, twins or triplets. This year, for the first time, ewes were shorn in the last week of November.
"The idea of shearing is to grow as big a lamb as possible. We used melatonin rather than sponging and PMSG this autumn, so despite the increased cost, ewes should carry fewer lambs, reducing mortality. We aim to make sure lambs are well grown at birth so shearing should help – it increased feed intake by about 20% overnight," explains Mr Haydon.
The farms consultant, Alistair Bird, who works for the Cotswold Sheep Group, explains that as well as increasing birthweight, shearing will increase stocking density and make condition scoring easier.
Feeding according to condition score is important at Lowerfields Farm, with thin ewes and triplets being fed ad-lib silage and 0.4kg a head whole barley, while single bearing ewes and fit ewes expecting twins remain on silage.
Single bearers receive the poorest silage; first cut taken during the spring drought with 9.5ME and 59 D-value, while all other ewes are on second cut with 11.7ME and 73 D-value. All silage is chopped to help maintain intakes.
Three weeks before lambing is due to start, chopped fodder beet is introduced to the singles to help boost milk quality, while a smaller amount is fed to other ewes to help maintain their interest in feed and reduce risk of twin lamb disease.
At the same time, thin twin bearers and ewes carrying triplets are offered 0.4kg barley and 0.4kg maize gluten, with twin bearers receiving half the amount.
For ewes expecting multiple lambs, soya is introduced 10 days before lambing at a 10% inclusion rate to provide quality protein and boost colostrum production.
Mr Bird says that although some producers would regard silage and maize as providing adequate protein – 16% – the desire for plentiful milk from early lambers makes feeding soya, which raises feed protein to 18%, beneficial.
Singles are also fed soya, introduced on the day lambing is due to start. This is to ensure adequate milk production for wet fostering.
Ewes remain on these rations until after lambing, when all ewes are moved onto the triplet ration of 0.4kg barley, 0.4kg maize gluten and 10% soya.
About a month after lambing, soya inclusion is reduced to help stem milk production, and then the amount of barley fed is reduced to help dry off ewes. "Its kinder to cut feed inputs gradually," says Mr Haydon.
EWE FEEDING
• Flexible.
• Analyse forage.
• Cost-effective.
High quality silage and straights – maize gluten, barley and soya – (inset) are fed according to ewe condition, says Rob Haydon (left). Consultant Alistair Bird warns against cutting corners, and advises analysing forage.