Arable farmer’s guide to store lambs

[Jimbo26]

Hello

I am thinking of finishing some store lambs this winter and I was wondering what advice people had on this. The field is currently in wheat and will go in to peas in the spring.

What would people advise as a crop for the sheep?

When would you buy/sell?
Stocking density?
Would you treat them when they arrive on farm?

Any other advise?

Thanks

 

[cotswoldcs]

Buying store lambs before the end of October and planning on making a profit with Brexit? I'm a sheep and arable farmer but I think buying store lambs pre-Brexit and aiming to sell post-Brexit is risky at best. You could do very well if it all turns out right as most sheep farmers will be trying hard to sell as many lambs as possible as quickly as possible. Buying cheap and selling dear is the way to go with store lambs. But very brave. And possibly foolish. I wish I could be more optimistic sorry!

Growing a cover crop and ploughing it in will at least generate a financial benefit.

To answer your question stubble turnips is your cheapest option. Sow ASAP after harvest (or even before!). Stocking density is a tricky one to judge but with 60Kg N you should be able to finish a good number of lambs off your field. Yes you will need to treat them but that depends on so many variables it's almost impossible to say. If after wheat you won't want any lambs until October at the earliest. Sell when they are over 45kg which will be in a certain number of weeks from when you start.

 

[Jimbo26]

Thanks @cotswoldcs. Do stubble turnips cause problems with osr in the rotation?
I was thinking forage rye for grazing.
Stocking wise I was thinking 6-8lambs/ acre.
It isn’t fenced, so I was thinking 3 strands of electric fencing.
Would you supplement their feed with hay, straw or concentrates?

 

[neilo]

Potentially, there could be fortunes made in store lambs this year. Those that subscribe to BoJo’s brand of gutsy optimism might well be able to pick up store lambs on a very depressed trade in September/October, if ‘no deal’ looks increasingly likely and everyone looks to get out of their lambs at any cost. If everything then turns out OK, or a last minute deal/delay pulls the sheep industry back from the cliff edge, those plucky gamblers could make a fortune.

If the op’s ground is to be bare over winter anyway, it would be better DD’ed with a cover crop of some sort. If he buys store lambs/cull ewes at a decent price, then ends up selling them for little more, it won’t be any worse than having to pay to chop that cover crop back in.

Ultimately, how big are your balls @Jimbo26 ?

 

[Al R]

Potentially, there could be fortunes made in store lambs this year. Those that subscribe to BoJo’s brand of gutsy optimism might well be able to pick up store lambs on a very depressed trade in September/October, if ‘no deal’ looks increasingly likely and everyone looks to get out of their lambs at any cost. If everything then turns out OK, or a last minute deal/delay pulls the sheep industry back from the cliff edge, those plucky gamblers could make a fortune.

If the op’s ground is to be bare over winter anyway, it would be better DD’ed with a cover crop of some sort. If he buys store lambs/cull ewes at a decent price, then ends up selling them for little more, it won’t be any worse than having to pay to chop that cover crop back in.

Ultimately, how big are your balls @Jimbo26 ?

My thoughts are exactly the same as the comments above...

 

[DrWazzock]

and a brass neck.

You will need a set of scales as well, and the knowledge to be able to grade / select them for market correctly. That is most important.

Turnips would do well but need to be in pronto. They will need some rough hay or barley straw as well in a ring feeder and maybe a sprinkle of cake to finish them.

Buy some small cheap thin ones with plenty of margin for improvement.

 

[neilo]

and a brass neck.

You will need a set of scales as well, and the knowledge to be able to grade / select them for market correctly. That is most important.

Turnips would do well but need to be in pronto. They will need some rough hay or barley straw as well in a ring feeder and maybe a sprinkle of cake to finish them.

Buy some small cheap thin ones with plenty of margin for improvement.

I’ve never fed hay or straw in a ring feeder to lambs on roots, it’s just diluting the nutritional value, as well as requiring a tractor to go in and cause compaction round the feeding area. I was tempted to feed a ‘sprinkle of cake’ last year and even enquired about Hogg feeders, but then I had them over the scales and came to my senses. KISS, always. You only need extra feed if you have too many animals for the available/utilisable crop, or the genetics/health of the lambs is poor.

 

[Danllan]

Echoing @neilo, but setting your 'nads aside, it's not your balls on the line it's your wallet. But, if you can afford a few £k on a punt it's worth consideration, it'll either end up costing you a fair bit more on top or you'll make a killing, nothing in between! (keep us posted)

Thinking on it, you might want to consider doing a deal with someone who has a fair number of stores he's trying to shift, mitigating losses on both sides...?

 

[landslave the 2nd]

What your location? Soil type, acres to drill ,if your a first time why not drill & rent it out till spring to the professional... get some dollar in and the benefits of the golden hoof

 

[michael N123]

and a brass neck.

You will need a set of scales as well, and the knowledge to be able to grade / select them for market correctly. That is most important.

Turnips would do well but need to be in pronto. They will need some rough hay or barley straw as well in a ring feeder and maybe a sprinkle of cake to finish them.

Buy some small cheap thin ones with plenty of margin for improvement.

How the feck do you finish lambs with hay and straw

 

[DRC]

and a brass neck.

You will need a set of scales as well, and the knowledge to be able to grade / select them for market correctly. That is most important.

Turnips would do well but need to be in pronto. They will need some rough hay or barley straw as well in a ring feeder and maybe a sprinkle of cake to finish them.

Buy some small cheap thin ones with plenty of margin for improvement.

We have never fed hay or straw to sheep on stubble turnips ,and they get fat enough. The same with in lamb ewes. Nothing but turnips right up to lambing

 

[andybk]

dont buy in bad feet or scab/ lice , simple stubble turnips as quick as you can , if you dont utilize them someone will

 

[Mc115reed]

Sounds too me like your not a sheep man your an arable farmer that’s seen other arable farmers making a bit of cash at the job and want in on it.... my advice would be plant stubble turnips and sell them too a big time sheep farmer local and keep a very beady eye on him and what he does and have a go next year....

Imo store lambs is a numbers game... you need atleast 1k of them to make any sort of money or it ain’t worth the stress or work involved... store men only make at very most £10 a life on a lamb by the time they’ve had a few die and treated them for various other things which they try to die from, your fence energisers get stole/break, caught them a few times, weighed them, took them too market etc...

Don’t be lead too think your gonna plant a 100 acre field of turnips, go market and buy 1000 lambs at £40 a life and drop them on your turnips, pick them up in January and take them market and get £100 a life

 

[farmerm]

If it goes well you might make £10-20 a head, if it goes badly you might loose £20-40 a head or more and give yourself plenty of extra work in the cold and wet...

You will need fencing, some means to be able to pen up and sort them and some means to transport them. You may be able to bring them in as one lot but it is unlikely they will all be fit for market at the same time, perhaps a batch every 2-3 weeks.

Plant the turnips, let some other mug graze them this winter and learn the lessons with minimum financial risk...

 

[Jimbo26]

I am under no illusions that profit will be slim if at all. However, I have some bare ground for spring cropping, labour, and I would like to introduce some livestock back in to rotation in order to help soil life. Plus if it made a few pounds it would help go towards to rent.

Has anyone planted triticale in the autumn and tried grazing it? Or any other cereal? I think stubble turnips will cause problems with the osr in the rotation.

 

[Al R]

I am under no illusions that profit will be slim if at all. However, I have some bare ground for spring cropping, labour, and I would like to introduce some livestock back in to rotation in order to help soil life. Plus if it made a few pounds it would help go towards to rent.

Has anyone planted triticale in the autumn and tried grazing it? Or any other cereal? I think stubble turnips will cause problems with the osr in the rotation.

I planted triticale in half a field where I ran out of DSV cover crop mixture, combined the day before, triticale sown the next day which was September 1st and it was a very decent crop that would have been fit for wholecrop in November standing above the waist and the grain was filling, dare I say if you grazed it before it went into boot you could get multiple grazings off it possibly? I topped mine and ploughed it in.

 

[Mc115reed]

Plenty of people grazing cover crops with sheep but doubt there’s many people finishing lambs on them ... cover crops are more suited too in lamb ewes in my opinion...

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I am under no illusions that profit will be slim if at all. However, I have some bare ground for spring cropping, labour, and I would like to introduce some livestock back in to rotation in order to help soil life. Plus if it made a few pounds it would help go towards to rent.

Has anyone planted triticale in the autumn and tried grazing it? Or any other cereal? I think stubble turnips will cause problems with the osr in the rotation.

Triticale or wheat are great feed, lots of autumn crops here are grazed (tillering, leaf/disease reduction) then let run to harvest - whether wholecropped or combined

Often profitability can be increased 30-40% when well managed and well grazed, over using the extra passes and inputs to achieve a lesser (or weedier) crop over the sieves.

General rule of thumb is to graze half the leaf area as quickly as possible, but have a plan B for severe weather events.
Use good backfencing to prevent roaming, and the backgrazing of regrowth.

As for extra fibre, it can be as cost effective to maintain the headlands or margins as grass, this is commonly done with many forage crops (beet, brassicas) as well.

 

[yellowbelly]

Plenty of people grazing cover crops with sheep but doubt there’s many people finishing lambs on them ... cover crops are more suited too in lamb ewes in my opinion...

Finished all our hoggs on covercrops this spring. The ewes, grazing the same mixes, got 'plenty fit enough', leading to too many prolapses.

 

[DRC]

I am under no illusions that profit will be slim if at all. However, I have some bare ground for spring cropping, labour, and I would like to introduce some livestock back in to rotation in order to help soil life. Plus if it made a few pounds it would help go towards to rent.

Has anyone planted triticale in the autumn and tried grazing it? Or any other cereal? I think stubble turnips will cause problems with the osr in the rotation.

Stubble turnips are the only thing that really support the number of sheep in my opinion .
Other stuff, the seed is too expensive for what you get