Growth Rates

[farmeronecow]

Does anybody have a ballpark figure of growth rates of store lambs on Stubble turnips + creep?

 

[cotswoldcs]

In what weather? The rain this year coupled with poor growing stubble turnips has meant that we've abandoned the idea of finishing lambs on roots this season.

In a "normal" year lambs will finish on stubble turnips alone.

 

[farmeronecow]

In what weather? The rain this year coupled with poor growing stubble turnips has meant that we've abandoned the idea of finishing lambs on roots this season.

In a "normal" year lambs will finish on stubble turnips alone.

Yes I usually finish them on just Stubble turnips but I’ve got a group of smaller lambs that need pushing on. Trying to work out if it will be more cost effective to feed them now rather than later.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Stubble turnips approx 100-150g/day. No idea about creep, sorry.

What flavour of lambs?

 

[farmeronecow]

Stubble turnips approx 100-150g/day. No idea about creep, sorry.

What flavour of lambs?

Bought in store lambs so a bit of a mix, Suffolk’s, Hampshire’s and texel crosses mainly

 

[Bob]

Don’t know about stubble turnip but my hoggets are putting around 0.2 kg a day on pellets. Not sure if that’s good bad or indifferent

 

[unlacedgecko]

Don’t know about stubble turnip but my hoggets are putting around 0.2 kg a day on pellets. Not sure if that’s good bad or indifferent

What weight of pellets are they consuming?

 

[yellowbelly]

Don’t know about stubble turnip but my hoggets are putting around 0.2 kg a day on pellets. Not sure if that’s good bad or indifferent

What weight of pellets are they consuming?

FCR is as important as growth rate when you're finishing at this time of year, IMHO.
200g/day would be pretty good at this time of year though.

 

[Bob]

they are on adlib never really worked out how much there eating as they are been drawn every week and replaced with those running outside

 

[unlacedgecko]

they are on adlib never really worked out how much there eating as they are been drawn every week and replaced with those running outside

This is where EID could help evaluate poor performers.

Animals falling behind the growth curve could be very poor food converters (send at a lighter weight) or they could be shy feeders (put them in a smalls pen).

Creep is expensive, you want max bang for buck!

 

[Bob]

They are on EID weighed every week some put on 0.25Kg some less than than that . All data is stored just not sure what to do with it all. Agree should weigh feed going in to work out exact cost per day.
There again I might not want to know!!!

 

[sherg]

Yes I usually finish them on just Stubble turnips but I’ve got a group of smaller lambs that need pushing on. Trying to work out if it will be more cost effective to feed them now rather than later.

When do you want to sell them? They'll convert hard feed better when it warms/dries up and the days get longer most feeders don't bother with pellets until the begining of march at the earliest

 

[unlacedgecko]

They are on EID weighed every week some put on 0.25Kg some less than than that . All data is stored just not sure what to do with it all. Agree should weigh feed going in to work out exact cost per day.
There again I might not want to know!!!

Draft out the slow growing ones and put them in a pen on their own. See if that makes a difference.

 

[neilo]

It’s one of those long piece of string questions again.....

What is the creep? How much of it are they eating? What are the turnips like? How much of that are they eating? Dry ground or wet clarty clay? What’s the weather been like? Ad-Lib creep through a proper ad-Lib feeder with plenty of space, or restricted supplementation through a 3-in-1 feeder in a group of 500? Fast growing lowland/continental genetics or hill wethers?

So many factors that will change the answer imo.

 

[farmeronecow]

When do you want to sell them? They'll convert hard feed better when it warms/dries up and the days get longer most feeders don't bother with pellets until the begining of march at the earliest

I’ve only got limited grazing for store lambs as all my grazing is for my ewes once they get back from keep.
I would usually be expecting to finish the turnips mid March. I then draw the fats off, put the smallest 20 or so on grass and the rest go on finishing pellets inside.
What I’m trying to work out is if it would be cheaper to use creep now for a couple of months to help grow the smaller one on now rather than in a shed on pellets late March/early April

 

[sherg]

I'd leave them on roots for now, possibly get the bottom end of them inside and pellet them

 

[neilo]

I’d do the opposite, assuming you have a bit of grass available. Leave the smallest ones trundling on turnips to grow frame (slowly), then watch them bloom when the grass starts moving in the Spring. It’s always amazing what those ‘runts’ turn into with a bit of Dr Green, whereas they’d have eaten a lot of grub if housed and just turned into light, fat lambs.

 

[NZDan]

They are on EID weighed every week some put on 0.25Kg some less than than that . All data is stored just not sure what to do with it all. Agree should weigh feed going in to work out exact cost per day.
There again I might not want to know!!!

I've a customer measuring feed intake. His shetland lambs are more feed efficient than his Suffolk x Mules!!!!

 

[Agrivator]

Liveweight gain of lambs on forage crops is almost impossible to measure, mainly because of variations in gut fill and fleece moisture content.

All that matters is that they are thriving and improving in KO%, with a concomitant increase in price.
And the most significant factor of all is that when they are thriving, almost 70% of their live-weight gain is in the form of carcase gain.