Forage rape stubble turnip mix

[Welshy12]

Just taken on 30 acres of this crop a couple hours away, there is a decent crop about 2 ft high, any tips? Hoping to put 450 store lambs on it to fatten.
One ten acre field and one 20 acre field, will be going up to check every ten days or so but the farmer will check them every morning

What sort of stockjng density would you put them in? And any minerals or anything i should sort before hand?

 

[Dkb]

Iodine bolus beforehand. Split the field up into blocks. I would say roughly 6-8 weeks is what you’ll get out of it depending on weather.

Fluke dose and worm dose upon entering if you think they need it.

The weight they are now would be the biggest factor to whether or not they’ll be finished upon removal.

Personally I would only put the 35kg+ lambs in on it as if they’re not finished when leaving unless you have more rape for them they’ll experience a big check when you take them away.

 

[Welshy12]

450 lambs would finish 30 acres of rape stubble turnip mix in 8 weeks? I have no experience with forage crop but the farmer last year quoted he had 400 lambs on 25 acres until april time?

 

[Dkb]

Well I grazed out 10 acres with 150 lambs in about 8 weeks last year. Just below waist high rape.

No stubble turnip in the mix granted. But it did only rain about 10% if the time they were there and I split it into weekly blocks.

Was this stuff of yours sown after winter barley? If sown in early July as a stand alone crop maybe it’s stronger than I’m giving it credit for but

For 450 lambs to stay on 30 acres from now until the start of April they would have to consume somewhere around 1.5 acres per week and I would see they’re intake being far greater than that IME

 

[neilo]

450 lambs would finish 30 acres of rape stubble turnip mix in 8 weeks? I have no experience with forage crop but the farmer last year quoted he had 400 lambs on 25 acres until april time?

Maybe so, but I doubt they were finished when they came off.

 

[Welshy12]

Granted, i will be pulling the fat ones out asap so they would probarly stretch until march .....

 

[polk_farmer]

Don’t know what the ground is like where your turnips are, but where we are, a certain number of of sheep will utilise an acre in the dry, whereas is will be nearer a hectare in the wet. Which makes it abit of a guessing game

 

[Welshy12]

Its in herefordshire ... guess its trial and error i supposec

 

[Estate fencing.]

Iv just grazed a excellent crop of turnips. 250 lambs lasted 10 weeks on 12 acres. so you might get 10 weeks out of them.
I had zero last for the first 5 weeks and probably 30% waste in the last 5 weeks. had to take them of in the end a week to clear up because where next to a main road with not even a hedge.
I also had 10 acres last winter that lasted 250 mule ewes 8 weeks, but that was the best crop I have ever seen.
Neither of these had rape in so would last better in the wet.

 

[Dkb]

Granted, i will be pulling the fat ones out asap so they would probarly stretch until march .....

Your probably getting annoyed with me telling you your business. But I think that is way too optimistic I don’t see it happening.

Unless you can sell 300 of them in December or something like that.

What I would do is pick out the 150 heaviest of them and feed them depending on their weight presumably they’d be gone in a month to 6 weeks and it would only take 40kg of concentrate.

It would take considerable pressure off your forage crop.

If not you’ll end up fattening the best of them off the crop and then running out of crop before the rest are ready. And lambs that come off rape won’t thrive as their stomachs have shrank.

Don’t forget the iodine bolusfor any lamb that’s going to be on the rape for longer than a month.

 

[Welshy12]

Not annoyed at all, never used a forage crop before so welcome any input