Whole barley to sheep

Tomtrac

Member
Location
Penrith cumbria
I have a customer wanting to feed his sheep mainly his tups barley
Do i need to crush it
i am sure i have heard farmers feeding un crush ie whole barley and the sheep braking it down them selves any advise would be much appreciated
 

cattleman123

Member
Location
devon
I have a customer wanting to feed his sheep mainly his tups barley
Do i need to crush it
i am sure i have heard farmers feeding un crush ie whole barley and the sheep braking it down them selves any advise would be much appreciated
Be very careful with barley..i bet there is a lot of stockman on here who through their farming life have killed sheep with whole barley ...myself included..high value tups ..don't feed..buy some proper ram mix
 

CornishRanger

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cornwall
Whole Barley "should" be safe enough, they can't break it down fast enough to kill themselves in theory, for the same reason a fair percentage (up to 20% IIRC) may pass though undigested. I used it whole for years without any problems.
 

cull cows

Member
Treat it with urea then you can feed as much as you like as soon as you like, it’s the safest way to feed cereals.
Iv been thinking of trying feeding a pen of bullocks with barley treated with urea.i just don’t have the nerve to fill the trough and leave them to it
 

andybk

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Mendips Somerset
Whole Barley "should" be safe enough, they can't break it down fast enough to kill themselves in theory, for the same reason a fair percentage (up to 20% IIRC) may pass though undigested. I used it whole for years without any problems.
they can i lost 15 ewes that broke into a grainstore for a few hours long time back , even oats can give problems , that said whole barley or and oats with soya or wheat distillers is the mainstay of what we feed everything ,
 

spin cycle

Member
Location
north norfolk
they can i lost 15 ewes that broke into a grainstore for a few hours long time back , even oats can give problems , that said whole barley or and oats with soya or wheat distillers is the mainstay of what we feed everything ,

i had some get in my grainstore in spring....none died but now they break out and run back to it:banghead::banghead:

washed it out last week....left the doors open over night....next morning found 2 ewes in there:banghead::banghead::banghead:

i'm truly the worst sheep farmer on here:rolleyes:
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
Whole Barley "should" be safe enough, they can't break it down fast enough to kill themselves in theory, for the same reason a fair percentage (up to 20% IIRC) may pass though undigested. I used it whole for years without any problems.
, Even whole oats will kill them if they get at it and pig, grain store door not shut properly, sheep in yard etc.… been there done that got the tee shirt.
bit wrong as a generalisation the '20% passing through '...………. moisture content will affect it .....with drier grain not so good as 16 or 17% moisture even (never mind the storage problem with that :rolleyes:.)
The odd older animal will 'pass it through' as well. Whatever.... if there is some lost it can be put against processing costs of rolling etc imo. anyway.
bit of difference in palatability in that they like bruised or ground grain even I suppose it hits there taste buds better possibly.


3 in 1 feeders are expensive and ime I end up opening them up to add lib with oats. they are good though for feeding wheat if you but even then I mix wheat with oats as an extra bit of safety.
 

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