Mineral blocks for sheep

[hiraethog]

Are there any certain types of sheep blocks out there which reduce daily intake or are there any different alternatives to using them? At the moment 40 in lamb ewes are going through two high energy rumenco blocks a week which seems a bit excessive, although they must need them at this stage which is mid to late pregnancy. Thanks in advance.

 

[spin cycle]

you're using feed blocks as opposed to mineral blocks......at that they're eating about 150g/day which is ok IIRC......probably give little more of something else like hay perhaps ....but if ewes look well don't change a thing

 

[Kazak]

I always reckon a bit of meal works out miles cheaper than blocks and probably better for stock.
Yes blocks have a place in hills/ difficult access terrain...
But other than that cant see an advantage in blocks in relation to meal. (other than labour, but even then the price difference is hard to justify)

 

[Al R]

Exactly which block are they on? My twin ewes 10 days from lambing havnt gone through half a block of crystalyx in 3 weeks, they don’t have much in terms of other feed either but mineral status must be right on them?

 

[hiraethog]

To clarify some points, The earliest lambing ewes (14) which are inside are getting straw as well as a 21% protein feed @ 1kg head a day plus the adlib blocks. The later lambing ewes which are outside are getting the same amount of sugarbeet nuts as a belly filler plus the blocks but no fodder. Everything looks well enough!

 

[hiraethog]

These ones..

 

[neilo]

To clarify some points, The earliest lambing ewes (14) which are inside are getting straw as well as a 21% protein feed @ 1kg head a day plus the adlib blocks. The later lambing ewes which are outside are getting the same amount of sugarbeet nuts as a belly filler plus the blocks but no fodder. Everything looks well enough!

If you’re feeding straw as a fodder source, there is little nutrition in it so feed requirement is going to be higher. Similarly outside ewes, if they have no fodder (or much grass now presumably).

Are these Charollais ewes? If so, they will also have a much higher maintenance requirement than other/smaller ewes.

 

[Kazak]

To clarify some points, The earliest lambing ewes (14) which are inside are getting straw as well as a 21% protein feed @ 1kg head a day plus the adlib blocks. The later lambing ewes which are outside are getting the same amount of sugarbeet nuts as a belly filler plus the blocks but no fodder. Everything looks well enough!

Fair enough, they seem to be very well treated!
As Neilo said the fact that the outside ones have no fodder and the inside on straw might make them need more energy from somewhere...
as I said, buckets have a place in some situations (like yours) but i see lads just throwing them buckets at a mad price x ton..

 

[hiraethog]

Hi Neil. Yes the 'early' lambing mob are due in 6/7 weeks are charollais with the commercials being texel / charollais crosses due in 10 weeks. There is no grass for them but the commercials are just as big as the pedigrees.Should I be upping the cake?

 

[neilo]

Hi Neil. Yes the 'early' lambing mob are due in 6/7 weeks are charollais with the commercials being texel / charollais crosses due in 10 weeks. There is no grass for them but the commercials are just as big as the pedigrees.Should I be upping the cake?

Can you get hold of any better fodder, like silage or hay? It seems a long way out to be feeding a lot of cake, but if they’re on straw, it’s little more than belly fill. I’ve no experience of straw feeding, other than when trying to slim ewes, but i’d Think you need to put more in from somewhere to make up for the deficit. Blocks are an expensive way to do that, but convenient.

Are they scanned, with singles split out?

Charollais & Texel x Charollais ewes will all be big sheep that are very good at eating. They will certainly need more than the books say, which are normally working on 70-75kg ewes.
I moved 300 Highlander ewes out of a bare field to go onto beet at the beginning of the week. They’d been having round bales of silage and some liquid feed to hold them (hoping it would dry enough to start roots). Two days ago I moved 120 recipients and pedigree Charollais ewes into the same field, on the same diet. They have cleared the same quantity, in the same time, as more than twice the number of Highlanders! Hoping to hold them there for a week or so until we scan them, if I can keep up with the bales.