Hog on tyfon

Adrian · Jan 18, 2019

Hello,

I put in some stubble turnips (tyfon) on stubble ground for hoggets to graze...

The tyfon came very well - my issue is now is that the hog have zero interest in eating it...

We have had incredibly mild weather here, so there is a lot of grass for picking in the stubble - so the hog are choosing to eat this inside.
They have a good run back of stubble...

I am losing the stubble back to the arable man come 1st March, so I want to try to get them to start eating the tyfon ASAP...

I have closed them onto the tyfon area for a few hours for the last few days, to get them accustomed to it...

My question is - could I close the hog into the area with the tyfon with only a minimum area for lieback, (forcing them to eat the turnips)
Or could that bring issues with them only having the tyfon to eat?

Any and all help or advise appreciated...

Thanks...

MattWG · Jan 18, 2019

We graze rape and give them a small bit and no run back (we are a very dry farm) if they won’t eat it

rusco · Jan 18, 2019

I had the same issue last year, but they will soon start eating the tyfon when the grass disappears so closing them in a smaller area should do the trick. The only problem that I had occur was a few lambs had their ears swell up after a few days eating the tyfon but the swelling went down after a few days, though it was only in the white faced lambs and not the Suffolk or BFL crosses

michael N123 · Jan 18, 2019

Electric fence it so there a bit tighter

easyram1 · Jan 18, 2019

We were feeding Tyfon to pedigree Suffolk lambs 20 years ago. They never liked it when first put onto it and if given run back stayed on that or if penned onto Tyfon would prefer to eat hedge banks etc. Conclusion was it was bitter and initially unpalatable. So we fenced them onto a small section till they started to eat and all was well pretty quickly. We were feeding them Tyfon from June/Sept so not sure if things are different at this time of year.

andybk · Jan 19, 2019

just shut the rams on some forage rape , walked it yesterday , totally cleaned the volunteer barley down to the ground , hardly touched the rape yet , but hey will when they get hungry , often an issue with brassicas .

Adrian · Jan 20, 2019

First - thanks for all replies, appreciate you all taking the time...

So,I closed em in on Friday - and they have taken to them. I suppose they don’t have much choice, or else they go hungry...

This is my first year with any kinda catch crop, so i’m not sure how much they should get every day, or what the cleanout should look like...

I am being generous enough with her amount they are getting at the minute, more to ensure they don’t have to eat it too hard... But, as they get more used to it - wouldn’t like to be wasting any if I could...

Any tips? Not sure if the pics I have tried to attach have worked... but to me, it looks like there is a bit of wate - but maybe that’s normal and what it should look like?

Also - if I let them have a decent grass run back now again, do people think they will abandon the tyfon again, and only graze the grass? Or once they have a taste for the turnips, they come and eat them and eat a pick of grass as well?

Thanks again all...

Adrian · Jan 20, 2019

Another pic... hopefully...

bluepower · Jan 20, 2019

Adrian said:
Another pic... hopefully...

I would say that they haven't half eaten that . Keep them much tighter until they clear it right up, they are not hungry enough at the moment.

milkloss · Jan 20, 2019

Is this the sort of stuff that sweetens when it’s had a frost on it like curly kale/brusselsprouts?

easyram1 · Jan 20, 2019

Adrian said:
First - thanks for all replies, appreciate you all taking the time...

So,I closed em in on Friday - and they have taken to them. I suppose they don’t have much choice, or else they go hungry...

This is my first year with any kinda catch crop, so i’m not sure how much they should get every day, or what the cleanout should look like...

I am being generous enough with her amount they are getting at the minute, more to ensure they don’t have to eat it too hard... But, as they get more used to it - wouldn’t like to be wasting any if I could...

Any tips? Not sure if the pics I have tried to attach have worked... but to me, it looks like there is a bit of wate - but maybe that’s normal and what it should look like?

Also - if I let them have a decent grass run back now again, do people think they will abandon the tyfon again, and only graze the grass? Or once they have a taste for the turnips, they come and eat them and eat a pick of grass as well?

Thanks again all...

Dont give them any run back or they will never eat your Typhon. They have hardly eaten any of it yet! Although we were grazing in the late summer/autumn we let our lambs graze the stalks down to about 2-3 inches so we could get a further 2 or 3 grazings from regrowth. This required us to back fence as we moved the lambs across the field. Obviously at this time of year you will not get any regrowth but will in the spring

Jonny_2 · Jan 20, 2019

I’m growing some Tyfon this spring all being well. Hoping to graze from start of July and get a couple of grazings. How low can you graze it and how long does it take to regrow?

I was thinking of under sowing the Tyfon with Italian ryegrass to give a bite over winter and following spring before back into grass however would the Tyfon grow back over winter and give a bite the following April? Not keen on an Autumn reseed as contractors are flat out with arable work and if it came wet we wouldn’t be able to graze for ages.

neilo · Jan 20, 2019

Jonny_2 said:
I’m growing some Tyfon this spring all being well. Hoping to graze from start of July and get a couple of grazings. How low can you graze it and how long does it take to regrow?

I was thinking of under sowing the Tyfon with Italian ryegrass to give a bite over winter and following spring before back into grass however would the Tyfon grow back over winter and give a bite the following April? Not keen on an Autumn reseed as contractors are flat out with arable work and if it came wet we wouldn’t be able to graze for ages.

I would have thought there were better options available than Tyfon these days, in terms of yield and bolting resistance. I thought it had died a death in the last decade or so, surpassed by the rape/kale hybrids like Redstart/Swift/Winfred/lots of others. Or a grazing turnips such as Appin, which seems to be more popular than the rape/kales in NZ?

You won't get any regrowth in the winter but, as long as you've left some stems, they will start to shoot again when it warms up in the Spring IME. Those Spring shoots will be the plant trying to bolt to head though, so don't let them grow too much before grazing.

Adrian · Jan 20, 2019

neilo said:
I would have thought there were better options available than Tyfon these days, in terms of yield and bolting resistance. I thought it had died a death in the last decade or so, surpassed by the rape/kale hybrids like Redstart/Swift/Winfred/lots of others. Or a grazing turnips such as Appin, which seems to be more popular than the rape/kales in NZ?

You won't get any regrowth in the winter but, as long as you've left some stems, they will start to shoot again when it warms up in the Spring IME. Those Spring shoots will be the plant trying to bolt to head though, so don't let them grow too much before grazing.

This is my first time ever growing a catch crop, 4 months ago I didn’t even know tyfon was a variety of turnip...

As regards better options - am all ears... the later sown options the better...
The tyfon went in this year after spring barley, on 1st September. But it could be mid Sept some years before the barley is gone...

Once again, thanks for all replies...

rusco · Jan 20, 2019

The tyfon works best if sown early in the year to get multiple grazing's off it. We sow it at 1kg / acre along with the grass seed in a conventional reseed normally in late May/ early June, with the added bonus that it helps to keep weeds like redshank at bay. The lambs thrive very well on it and IME the kill out % goes through the roof, so drafting weights need reduced accordingly to avoid giving away too many free kilos of carcass!

Adrian · Feb 1, 2019

rusco said:
The tyfon works best if sown early in the year to get multiple grazing's off it. We sow it at 1kg / acre along with the grass seed in a conventional reseed normally in late May/ early June, with the added bonus that it helps to keep weeds like redshank at bay. The lambs thrive very well on it and IME the kill out % goes through the roof, so drafting weights need reduced accordingly to avoid giving away too many free kilos of carcass!

Hi Rusco,

What did you find the kill out % to be?

I weighed my hog this evening, and am a bit disappointed. They looked heavier than I thought...

A lot won’t be heavy enough to kill off the tyfon. If they went onto good grass + ration, would they still put on weight after coming off the tyfon?

I thought I remember reading somewhere that once they come off a crop like that, it’s very hard to keep em moving, and they go back more than anything...

Thanks...

JoeFo · Jul 11, 2019

How long after sowing can lambs graze?

ajcc · Jul 11, 2019

10 weeks but you could start at 8 weeks, then they would be going at it proper at 10 weeks.

Jonny_2 · Jul 13, 2019

Any ideas what my Tyfon is lacking? Been in 8 weeks and not very bulky at all, now going a funny colour!

Ph is spot on, p and k 1 and 2. Gave it some 0.30.15 when I drilled it and had about 150kg/ha of Urea

Al R · Jul 13, 2019

Jonny_2 said:
View attachment 819878 View attachment 819880

Any ideas what my Tyfon is lacking? Been in 8 weeks and not very bulky at all, now going a funny colour!

Ph is spot on, p and k 1 and 2. Gave it some 0.30.15 when I drilled it and had about 150kg/ha of Urea

@ollie989898 is better on agronomy than me but boron/sulphur/manganese/sodium/molybdenum/potassium could all show up like that

Hog on tyfon

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