Grazing Barley With Lambs

[M-J-G]

A neighbour has a couple of stubble fields that have a lot of barley growing on them, he has offered them to me to graze off for him with sheep.

I know grazing wheat is safe enough and
I've grazed stubble with some barley on them before and I've had barley come up in reseeds, but these have masses of barley on them (that a plough wouldn't bury)

All I'm curious about is, is it safe to turn my ewe lambs onto fields where they'll be grazing 100% barley for a couple of months?

 

[Jerry]

A neighbour has a couple of stubble fields that have a lot of barley growing on them, he has offered them to me to graze off for him with sheep.

I know grazing wheat is safe enough and
I've grazed stubble with some barley on them before and I've had barley come up in reseeds, but these have masses of barley on them (that a plough wouldn't bury)

All I'm curious about is, is it safe to turn my ewe lambs onto fields where they'll be grazing 100% barley for a couple of months?

Never been a problem here.

 

[andybk]

yep , all good we graze wheat/ barley / turnip/ rape vetch mixes all winter , (pre maize) good high prot feed (especially any regrowth of cereals ) , old fashioned golden hoof on combine crop as well if your careful and dont hammer it in wet weather (get your clostridial vax up to date )
landlord used black oats last year or ryegrass , but volunteer oats made fields a bit untidy last summer , ryegrass was expensive didnt establish very well , so we thought some cereal was a better cheaper option and it will regrow better for a second bite

 

[Mc115reed]

My tups are walking round in a barley stubble fiend that’s got that much volunteer barley in you could combine it again this year and look fine too me

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Yes.

You'll notice the effects of compensatory gain/ loss when you do it, I would guess that they won't do a lot until their rumens adjust, then they'll go like gangbusters for a month, then they'll tail off as the feed decreases.
Just keep an eye on them through the "max gain" stage as that seems to be when they fall over

edit, don't pull them out when you see the weightgains dwindling, as they will probably still be "ahead of the game", we've seen 600+g /day gains at a farm in our discussion group
grazing winter wheat off based over a 9 week period, with good lamb prices it makes that leafwash look expensive!

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

No problem at all, they will do fantastically well on it.

 

[Agrivator]

Barley is a grass.

 

[M-J-G]

Barley is a grass.

Pretty sure we are all aware of that one, but I don't see the relevance, unless you're suggesting that any plant that is classed as a grass cannot be toxic or cause other upsets when grazed in high. volumes?

 

[Estate fencing.]

Good food for sheep, I graze ewes on barley volunteers and beet most of the winter now.