Ewe feeding this spring

[Greythundercloudys]

If 500 mostly tex x ewes, they come inside mid Jan and start lambing first week in April, dad said the rain was a bit warmer by then. Looking to cut my feed bill down a bit, start feeding six weeks before lambing start.6ton of cake doesn't last long . Any ideas? Don't want ewes having no milk either.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Just start feeding them 4 weeks before lambing....

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Would be worried they would have small lambs and no milk

 

[Still Farming]

Feed oats whole year round .

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Would be worried they would have small lambs and no milk

You only get out what you put in so if you try and scrimp then you’ll get problems

 

[Guiggs]

Do you have to bring them in so early?

 

[Onwards and Upwards]

I’m hoping this isn’t a must for tex Xs. Around 500 here that I’m not planning on getting in until start of Feb for March 7th start. Thought trips might get a feed block or two in January and singles nothing until they come in March 6th... This is my first year with tex Xs. I do hope I haven’t got this very wrong.

 

[MJT]

If 500 mostly tex x ewes, they come inside mid Jan and start lambing first week in April, dad said the rain was a bit warmer by then. Looking to cut my feed bill down a bit, start feeding six weeks before lambing start.6ton of cake doesn't last long . Any ideas? Don't want ewes having no milk either.

What do you feed them when they come inside ? Hay or silage ? What is the analysis on it ?

 

[hally]

6 weeks pre lambing is long enough to feed tex x concentrates but only if on good silage, if on average hay you need to feed longer and harder. My old boss used to say "the man who feeds the ewes should lamb them",
by that he ment of you haven't fed them enough, small unviable lambs coupled with not enough colostrum will make lambing bloody hard work.

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Yes, that's true,

 

[Kip]

If 500 mostly tex x ewes, they come inside mid Jan and start lambing first week in April, dad said the rain was a bit warmer by then. Looking to cut my feed bill down a bit, start feeding six weeks before lambing start.6ton of cake doesn't last long . Any ideas? Don't want ewes having no milk either.

 

[Kip]

If 500 mostly tex x ewes, they come inside mid Jan and start lambing first week in April, dad said the rain was a bit warmer by then. Looking to cut my feed bill down a bit, start feeding six weeks before lambing start.6ton of cake doesn't last long . Any ideas? Don't want ewes having no milk either.

Is that a total of 6 ton of cake?? Doesn't seem that much to me?

 

[Greythundercloudys]

No , that's just the first load.

 

[MJT]

Feeding them for 4 weeks and only giving cake to twins and multiples 6 ton should be fine to start with surely, say 600grams a day of cake, 400 ewes have twins, that’s 250kg a day. Personally don’t see the need to feed concentrate for 6 weeks, the lambs will be doing the most of their growth in last few weeks and that’s when the ewes will need it if inside, feeding indoor ewes for too long just makes them fat lazy and causes problems .

 

[neilo]

What do you feed them when they come inside ? Hay or silage ? What is the analysis on it ?

^^^ this. Nobody can even start to make any worthwhile comments without knowing what forage the sheep are on, whether it be silage, hay or winter fodder crops. Even then, there are vast differences between what one Man classes as ‘good’ silage/hay, with what another does. Without some sort of analysis you are just working blind, on a rough estimate at best.

If you want to keep productive sheep with lower concentrate inputs, you need to provide their nutrition from somewhere else, whether it’s good quality bales or digestible grazed crop. You don’t get owt for nowt, but you may find a cheaper way of providing it.