Oats for sheep

[N44CKL]

Hi,
I have an abundance of oats available they didn’t make milling 🫠
Due to there currently being “no market” for feed oats it seems like it could be a good feed source for my ewes and next years lambs. I wouldn’t make a dent in what we have in the grainstore but it seems a cheaper feed source.
Any advice on feeding oats, what to mix with, and lamb age for consuming? I’ve read protein is lower so should be mixed, I feed 16% nuts pre and post lambing currently and finish lambs at 4-5 months.
Cheers

 

[Jerry]

Ideal feed for lambs, mixed with a protien pellet to bump that up a little.

Slow release energy fed whole, either ad lib or through 3 in 1 feeder

 

[livestock 1]

Ideal feed for lambs, mixed with a protien pellet to bump that up a little.

Slow release energy fed whole, either ad lib or through 3 in 1 feeder

Is there much variation in analysis with oats. I bought a few narrow ones last year and wondered if there was much in them

 

[Still Farming]

Sheep love them.
Just add some protein pellets and minerals possibly

 

[farmerm]

Right or wrong I mix with barley and depending on price and availability either some soya or a high protein pellet. Also at current relative values I am finding them to be a cheaper source of heat when mixed with wood pellets than straight wood pellets in the biomass boiler..

 

[Bury the Trash]

Well i guess those I Milling Oats will have good specific weight but it also depends on the lignin content. lower the better because that can be pretty indigestible to them there ruminants

 

[harperfarmer]

We always fed a lot of oats to all the sheep. Suffolk x Mules lambing in Feb. Pre/post lambing mix was 70% oats 20% wheat and 10% mineralised soya (Dennis brinicombe bags) plus some molasses to dampen the dust. We did roll but only very lightly. Could probably get away with feeding it whole but would need more molasses really. Knew exactly what was in it and the sheep did well. We mixed it 50:50 with lamb pellets for creep feeding as well to reduce costs a bit.

 

[livestock 1]

We always fed a lot of oats to all the sheep. Suffolk x Mules lambing in Feb. Pre/post lambing mix was 70% oats 20% wheat and 10% mineralised soya (Dennis brinicombe bags) plus some molasses to dampen the dust. We did roll but only very lightly. Could probably get away with feeding it whole but would need more molasses really. Knew exactly what was in it and the sheep did well. We mixed it 50:50 with lamb pellets for creep feeding as well to reduce costs a bit.

Sheep do pass a but through un rolled

 

[Lincs]

Hi,
I have an abundance of oats available they didn’t make milling 🫠
Due to there currently being “no market” for feed oats it seems like it could be a good feed source for my ewes and next years lambs. I wouldn’t make a dent in what we have in the grainstore but it seems a cheaper feed source.
Any advice on feeding oats, what to mix with, and lamb age for consuming? I’ve read protein is lower so should be mixed, I feed 16% nuts pre and post lambing currently and finish lambs at 4-5 months.
Cheers

Where are you located?

 

[N44CKL]

Where are you located?

North Oxfordshire

 

[Renaultman]

Sheep love them.
Just add some protein pellets and minerals possibly

And a bucket full of molasses over them as you get near and after lambing.

 

[Flatlander]

Is there much variation in analysis with oats. I bought a few narrow ones last year and wondered if there was much in them

Thin oats will have less feed value as the hull will be a big percentage of its weight. I’ve grown thousands of acres of oats over the years and got caught by rain and discoloured some some years. They make good feed and mostly fed whole. Rolling them seems to create problems with dust and the man that buys mine when down graded said his cattle prefered the whole ones.

 

[livestock 1]

Thin oats will have less feed value as the hull will be a big percentage of its weight. I’ve grown thousands of acres of oats over the years and got caught by rain and discoloured some some years. They make good feed and mostly fed whole. Rolling them seems to create problems with dust and the man that buys mine when down graded said his cattle prefered the whole ones.

Yes thanks for that I thought that. The hill will be the biggest part of the poorer ones. I can remember feeding some much fatter oats seemed to do stock better. I bit into some of these thin ones and the inside content seemed to be minimal

 

[Flatlander]

Yes thanks for that I thought that. The hill will be the biggest part of the poorer ones. I can remember feeding some much fatter oats seemed to do stock better. I bit into some of these thin ones and the inside content seemed to be minimal

I’ve delivered to an oat processor and the shell the groat out and ship them south into the states. The hulls get moved to feed mills to add into a pelleted feed. just bulk that’s cheap. Next to no feed value. The place I delivered to supplied a pet food company in Kansas. They took oat groats by the rail car and often paid better than for milling for the likes of us. Nice to know where we are in the pecking order.

 

[Ysgythan]

Hi,
I have an abundance of oats available they didn’t make milling 🫠
Due to there currently being “no market” for feed oats it seems like it could be a good feed source for my ewes and next years lambs. I wouldn’t make a dent in what we have in the grainstore but it seems a cheaper feed source.
Any advice on feeding oats, what to mix with, and lamb age for consuming? I’ve read protein is lower so should be mixed, I feed 16% nuts pre and post lambing currently and finish lambs at 4-5 months.
Cheers

They don’t need anything with them. The only thing I’d consider is some beet nuts if you’re looking to finish lambs quickly.

 

[J 1177]

Yep add db sheep 32 protien and a touch of molasses, a good ration

 

[Oldmacdonald]

You could alkali treat them with maxamon, buffer grain etc

 

[Farmer Roy]

Err, whole oats are the standard “drought” feed for sheep here, for as long as I remember . . .

 

[ploughman1963]

Hi,
I have an abundance of oats available they didn’t make milling 🫠
Due to there currently being “no market” for feed oats it seems like it could be a good feed source for my ewes and next years lambs. I wouldn’t make a dent in what we have in the grainstore but it seems a cheaper feed source.
Any advice on feeding oats, what to mix with, and lamb age for consuming? I’ve read protein is lower so should be mixed, I feed 16% nuts pre and post lambing currently and finish lambs at 4-5 months.
Cheers

On the welsh borders we have been getting £200+ per tonne recently- how far away are you?

 

[N44CKL]

On the welsh borders we have been getting £200+ per tonne recently- how far away are you?

Crumbs, North Oxfordshire