feeding rates pre lambing

[dodger]

i know this will vary from farm to farm and breed/lambing%/indoor/outdoor but on a housed flock welsh/scots mules 180% indoors beginning january to lamb mid-end march,adlib hay/silage,on straw, in past years concentrates have been fed from 6 weeks pre lambing starting at 1lb for 2 weeks then 1.5lb for 2 weeks then 2lb 2 weeks before lambing date,they then fed out for a further month, all in all 50kg per head roughly throughout lambing.singles/twins fed the same triplets start feeding earlier.Would this be excessive compared to others running the same system?

many thanks
dean

 

[will6910]

I feed around same but breed here is lleyn X texel mostly, as lambing gets near end I cut back meal to avoid big lambs in the later lambing ones

 

[dodger]

big singles is an issue so maybe cutting back the singles, i think i read on an eblex doc,based on lowland flock 0.2/0.4/0.6kg feed rates which would seem quite low?

 

[will6910]

I start my triplets and quads on 0.25kgs from housing at 8 weeks and build up to just over 1kg. and twins start on 0.25 from 6 weeks and get increased slower, singles in a normal year only get meal for last 2 weeks but this year hasn't been as easy as planned here

 

[dodger]

eblex figures are based on 70kg lowand ewes

singles-2.8kg prelambing
twins-17kg
triplets-23kg

this is over 6-8 weeks increased slowy but compared to 30kg per ewe seems a huge difference...?

 

[dodger]

 

[will6910]

a lot would be do with breed and condition of sheep to I believe, do u get your silage tested that u use?

 

[Downton_shep]

Are twins get rumevite blocks 6 weeks pre lambing. From 4 weeks pre lambing 0.35kg cake up till lambing. On straw with ad lib maize.

 

[exmoor dave]

1lb a day of 18% for twins and triplets (trips also have a crystalyx bucket in the corner)

about 1/2 lb or so for the singles

start 2-3 weeks pre lambing

then when the chaos really starts and sheep are bunched in to fewer pens they all just get fed the same.

then buckets blocks once they are back out in the fields, I don't feed any cake out side.

always fed rolls but noticed last year older ewes struggling to chew them so swoped to nuts this year, much better.......so wasn't best pleased 2 days ago when the latest 4 ton turned up as rolls

 

[Forever Fendt]

1lb a day of 18% for twins and triplets (trips also have a crystalyx bucket in the corner)

about 1/2 lb or so for the singles

start 2-3 weeks pre lambing

then when the chaos really starts and sheep are bunched in to fewer pens they all just get fed the same.

then buckets blocks once they are back out in the fields, I don't feed any cake out side.

always fed rolls but noticed last year older ewes struggling to chew them so swoped to nuts this year, much better.......so wasn't best pleased 2 days ago when the latest 4 ton turned up as rolls

do you feed the nuts on the bedding as you would rolls or are you using troughs

 

[exmoor dave]

do you feed the nuts on the bedding as you would rolls or are you using troughs

straight on the bedding, looks like a load of pigs have been throu afterwards but the ewes seem to clear it all up.

 

[itsintheblood]

1lb a day of 18% for twins and triplets (trips also have a crystalyx bucket in the corner)

about 1/2 lb or so for the singles

start 2-3 weeks pre lambing

then when the chaos really starts and sheep are bunched in to fewer pens they all just get fed the same.

then buckets blocks once they are back out in the fields, I don't feed any cake out side.

always fed rolls but noticed last year older ewes struggling to chew them so swoped to nuts this year, much better.......so wasn't best pleased 2 days ago when the latest 4 ton turned up as rolls

interesting about older ewes struggling to chew rolls as ive been thinking about switching to rolls because of the weather, with last years snow and wet , and again the wet this year, its getting hard to find a dry patch of mud to feed the nuts on
although there dosent seem to be much waste in the mud

anybody else swapped ?

 

[Devil's advocate]

We feed blocks for last month before first lambs due & nuts from two weeks before first lambs due. Ewes lambing 18 days after the first on an early lambing system are much less profitable, but can't see a solution to that. Ewes fed roots, decent pasture & well made hay for last 12 weeks of pregnancy though.

 

[Devil's advocate]

interesting about older ewes struggling to chew rolls as ive been thinking about switching to rolls because of the weather, with last years snow and wet , and again the wet this year, its getting hard to find a dry patch of mud to feed the nuts on
although there dosent seem to be much waste in the mud

anybody else swapped ?

My ewes even young ones will not eat rolls, that is fed floor or trough not a single ewe will touch rolls. Also same supplier just put through a different die at the mill. Neighbours sheep love rolls from the same mill???????????

 

[jemski]

Twins get half a kg a day from 4 weeks out. Trips get up to nearly a kg by the time they lamb. Singles only get fed when they come in to the shed, which is around when the first lamb is born. They get about a quarter of a kg then.

I have moved from rolls to nuts this year for the older ewes and ewe lambs, they definitely find them easier. Those still out n the field are fed in troughs this year as it is so damn wet everywhere, but in the shed I just chuck it onto the straw and they root around until they get every last one! Keep them busier longer than the rolls.

 

[itsintheblood]

My ewes even young ones will not eat rolls, that is fed floor or trough not a single ewe will touch rolls. Also same supplier just put through a different die at the mill. Neighbours sheep love rolls from the same mill???????????

do you feed them rolls when there hogs or are swapping nuts to rolls through the feeding time ( I wouldn't do this but would start with rolls when I started feeding)

 

[jemski]

To add, whilst outside they get fodder beet and good quality haylage.

 

[Devil's advocate]

do you feed them rolls when there hogs or are swapping nuts to rolls through the feeding time ( I wouldn't do this but would start with rolls when I started feeding)

No I've always fed nuts to hoggs. Think you have the answer, weird though that the same meal mix is not palatable, just because it is a different size.

 

[neilo]

Conc feeding levels are irrelevant without knowing what quality the ewe's other fodder is. If I house sheep on hay, they need more conc than if they are on good silage. Likewise, those outside on good roots, need little if any concs at all, unless they are carrying triplets. With my April lambers on roots, even the triplets won't get concs and they seem to do well enough.

Someone once pointed out to me that the odd multiples that the scanner missed, and which got fed with the twins, always seemed to do just as well as those pulled out and fed extra. He may have had a point, provided their is an adequate supply of decent forage?

I've blood tested a couple of groups of heavily pregnant ewes this winter, that have been on forage (turnips, swedes or grazed fodder beet only) and they have all come back as having adequate energy & protein in their diets. Unless we get another sh*te April like last year, I don't intend to feed my ewes any bought in feeds in the run up to lambing.

 

[General-Lee]

Out of interest is there any disease risk in letting them pick through the bedding rather than troughs? It would certainly be easier and less stressful!!