Feed blocks vs cake

marttheflanker

New Member
Everyone tells me I'm dull using blocks this year as they work out so dear.
I can't get my head round this.
Cake £220 - 250 / tonne, fed at 1kg / head per day.
Buckets £450/ tonne expected intake 150 - 200g / head / day.
They can eat twice that at 500g per day and still compete with cake, without the labour, stress and mismothering??
18% and 13.5me.

Am i missing something????
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
The ingredients and feed analysis in most feed block sis very similar to that of cake. 200g of a feed block can't provide the same nutrition as 1kg/hd of a similar analysis cake, just by virtue of it being pressed into a round lump instead of 6mm pellets. You should be comparing feeding the same quantity of each IMO.

Blocks are convenient, but there is a huge premium attached to using them. If you are happy to pay that premium, great, but it's certainly not a cheap way to feed sheep.
 
I always feed cake the last six weeks, lm getn 18percent at 225 a ton, blocks are handy but expensive, horses for courses , it works for you, just carry on doing it.
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
Everyone tells me I'm dull using blocks this year as they work out so dear.
I can't get my head round this.
Cake £220 - 250 / tonne, fed at 1kg / head per day.
Buckets £450/ tonne expected intake 150 - 200g / head / day.
They can eat twice that at 500g per day and still compete with cake, without the labour, stress and mismothering??
18% and 13.5me.

Am i missing something????


Yes what you are missing is that the ingredients in the blocks aren't magically better than cake (often poorer IMO), if you would feed 1kg of cake/day
200g of block isn't going to replace that.
They'd need to eat the same amount of block to cake to get the same benefit.

There are some very high quality blocks but they are also mega expensive.

It really comes down to how much you value the convenience factor.

Have feed serious tonnage of blocks and buckets over the years....... stopped completely now in favour of cake & oats
 

DrDunc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Dunsyre
Currently I feed everything blocks to mid term pregnancy, then buckets until a couple of weeks lactation here, no concentrates.

Huge advantage over concentrates fed from a snacker is during the outdoor lambing. Ewes don't come running to the bike, leaving me with hours mothering up lambs abandoned in mummies rush to eat her sweeties.

I'm quietly coming to the conclusion that the ewes just don't get enough feed from blocks/ buckets though. They certainly couldn't survive on them without the huge quantity of good quality hay and haylage they get.

I'm thinking that I should be feeding a ewe cake through the winter, then weaning them onto buckets with good haylage a month before lambing?

I still need to do the costings and ponder......
 

General-Lee

Member
Location
Devon
Currently I feed everything blocks to mid term pregnancy, then buckets until a couple of weeks lactation here, no concentrates.

Huge advantage over concentrates fed from a snacker is during the outdoor lambing. Ewes don't come running to the bike, leaving me with hours mothering up lambs abandoned in mummies rush to eat her sweeties.

I'm quietly coming to the conclusion that the ewes just don't get enough feed from blocks/ buckets though. They certainly couldn't survive on them without the huge quantity of good quality hay and haylage they get.

I'm thinking that I should be feeding a ewe cake through the winter, then weaning them onto buckets with good haylage a month before lambing?

I still need to do the costings and ponder......
3in1!
 
Currently I feed everything blocks to mid term pregnancy, then buckets until a couple of weeks lactation here, no concentrates.

Huge advantage over concentrates fed from a snacker is during the outdoor lambing. Ewes don't come running to the bike, leaving me with hours mothering up lambs abandoned in mummies rush to eat her sweeties.

I'm quietly coming to the conclusion that the ewes just don't get enough feed from blocks/ buckets though. They certainly couldn't survive on them without the huge quantity of good quality hay and haylage they get.

I'm thinking that I should be feeding a ewe cake through the winter, then weaning them onto buckets with good haylage a month before lambing?

I still need to do the costings and ponder......
I feed twins with a snacker for a month before lambing. All lambing rounds done with quad and trailer. I find that after a couple days settled on the lambing fields, the ewes don't bat an eyelid as I tootle past.
I used to mainly feed buckets but couldn't justify paying a whole lot more for less on my current bigger scale. If you are about anyway, feeding with a snacker will save you a fortune.
 

Y Fan Wen

Member
Location
N W Snowdonia
Currently I feed everything blocks to mid term pregnancy, then buckets until a couple of weeks lactation here, no concentrates.

Huge advantage over concentrates fed from a snacker is during the outdoor lambing. Ewes don't come running to the bike, leaving me with hours mothering up lambs abandoned in mummies rush to eat her sweeties.

I'm quietly coming to the conclusion that the ewes just don't get enough feed from blocks/ buckets though. They certainly couldn't survive on them without the huge quantity of good quality hay and haylage they get.

I'm thinking that I should be feeding a ewe cake through the winter, then weaning them onto buckets with good haylage a month before lambing?

I still need to do the costings and ponder......
Two points; you can vary block intake by changing the type. Rumenco have 3 or 4 different formulations.
You can feed both conc and blocks at the same time. That way you get the advantage of much reduced metabolic disorders, helping shy feeders, and also controlling intake more accurately.
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
Yes what you are missing is that the ingredients in the blocks aren't magically better than cake (often poorer IMO), if you would feed 1kg of cake/day
200g of block isn't going to replace that.
They'd need to eat the same amount of block to cake to get the same benefit.

There are some very high quality blocks but they are also mega expensive.

It really comes down to how much you value the convenience factor.

Have feed serious tonnage of blocks and buckets over the years....... stopped completely now in favour of cake & oats
you forgot to mention the 3 in 1 feeders .....
 

tepapa

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Wales
1kg cake at 12.5me = 12.5 mj supplied to the ewes diet to supplement the forage as concs are designed to do.

100gs of block at 13me = 1.3 mj supplied to the diet. 200g's = 2.6 mj energy.
So depends what your trying to do. If the diet is short of 12mj of energy in late pregnancy you aren't going to supply the deficit with blocks. If your trying to get a little extra energy in the diet at a certain time of year they have a place as their convenient.
 

GTB

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
I'm quietly coming to the conclusion that the ewes just don't get enough feed from blocks/ buckets though. They certainly couldn't survive on them without the huge quantity of good quality hay and haylage they get.
This^^^
We've been feeding Maxx buckets since Christmas and just couldn't keep condition on the ewes. It was too wet to feed concentrates. Now the ewes are inside on concs they're putting on weight slowly.
 

Johnbeer

Member
I use crystalyx high energy over winter then add lifeline buckets and introduce 18% nuts up to 0.5kg at lambing inside. Not sure if anyone has a opinion on this or if the lifeline is of any use but I think at least there is minerals available if they need it. I’d rather spend money on keeping animals alive and well then be paying vet bills.
 

scottish-lleyn

Member
Mixed Farmer
The main thing is not being afraid to change somthung if its not working. I have been 100% grass only for a few years and the ewes never recieved anything but. This year all my sheep are getting a blend of bp darkgrains and a cerial pellet and lifeline block because there is not grass i tryed just blocks but they were not doing but the mixture of both seems to be doing the trick.
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
The main thing is not being afraid to change somthung if its not working. I have been 100% grass only for a few years and the ewes never recieved anything but. This year all my sheep are getting a blend of bp darkgrains and a cerial pellet and lifeline block because there is not grass i tryed just blocks but they were not doing but the mixture of both seems to be doing the trick.


Aye, the green stuff is in short supply this year!

Basically your feeding the same as me - BP, bruised barley, Maize distillers grains (mixed at 2t BP, 3t B-barley, 3t Maize grains comes to 16%) and instead of lifeline buckets I'm putting the liquid version of it on the feed.
2nd year doing this and I'm very pleased with it.

It's a fine balancing act to get enough molasses on and having it still flow through the snacker, mind :rolleyes:
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 81 42.2%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 68 35.4%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.6%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.6%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,294
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top