Red clover for fattening lambs, grazed and silage

[paul&mandy]

Looking to get lambs into this. I know they do well on grazed red clover but what it like baled and wrapped provided it's done right.
Sometimes it would be nice to finish lambs inside later on when we are under water or run out of turnips etc.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Looking to get lambs into this. I know they do well on grazed red clover but what it like baled and wrapped provided it's done right.
Sometimes it would be nice to finish lambs inside later on when we are under water or run out of turnips etc.

It bales better with a bit of Hybrid Ryegrass mixed in

 

[milkloss]

A good crop but as said it definitely needs grass with it. Does very well with festololiums such as lofa and also irg.

not much good for grazing unless you’re really on it…… sheep will nibble the heart out of the RC if you’re not careful and kill it off pretty quick.

 

[ISCO]

It is rocket fuel for fattening lambs but you can lose an odd one with Red gutt. We planted a field last year about now and it fattened a lot of lambs. The plan is to make high protein silage for ewes.

We had a field about 6 years ago and never made any silage dry enough for sheep. The experts say don't ted or you will lose leaf and quality. How do you dry it out?

The field we have now does not have as much clover so it may make drier silage.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

It is rocket fuel for fattening lambs but you can lose an odd one with Red gutt. We planted a field last year about now and it fattened a lot of lambs. The plan is to make high protein silage for ewes.

We had a field about 6 years ago and never made any silage dry enough for sheep. The experts say don't ted or you will lose leaf and quality. How do you dry it out?

The field we have now does not have as much clover so it may make drier silage.

The only way to dry it is gently turn the rows

 

[Kevtherev]

Don’t move red clover much in the rows and if you do as delicate as you can with the rake.
The leaf is easily lost when it wilts.
Grow with grass as mentioned and don’t cut too low when harvesting.

 

[ISCO]

When you say turn i presume you mean ted slowly or is there a better machine for this job?

 

[neilo]

Only cut it when there’s a 30 degree temperature forecast for a few days?

I’ve no idea how anyone makes it into anything but wet slime in a May 1st cut.

 

[sticky]

I have just planted 8 acres of a red clover/ryegrass mix and I would like to know the answer to the op question ‘can you fatten lambs inside on red clover silage alone’?
Anybody done/do this.

 

[ISCO]

Only cut it when there’s a 30 degree temperature forecast for a few days?

I’ve no idea how anyone makes it into anything but wet slime in a May 1st cut.

Yes, that is what we have made in the past. It can see.dry but there is a lot of moisture in the stalks .
The 30 degrees heat option may be a problem up here.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Yes, that is what we have made in the past. It can see.dry but there is a lot of moisture in the stalks .
The 30 degrees heat option may be a problem up here.

mower conditioner with rollers / crimper conditioner will be better from the start, not the usual finger tines type. and don't drive too fast when doing it.you
Like the old vicon ones ,I think enorossi do a mounted disc mower like it.

 

[Woolless]

I wintered my ewe hoggs inside on red clover silage and I wasn't bowled over by growth rates. It analysed at 12.9% protein but they left a lot of stalk so it should have fed better than that. The ewes got the rest in late pregnancy combined with fodder beet to provide more energy and they seemed to do well enough on that combo.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

When you say turn i presume you mean ted slowly or is there a better machine for this job?

Single rotor rake and flip it over

 

[Sid]

ted our red clover/festioliums straight behind the mower, rake the next day

 

[paul&mandy]

I've fed to ewes before but it can't be left to go stalky as they won't eat it.
Bought some in this year and they wouldn't eat it.

 

[andybk]

It is rocket fuel for fattening lambs but you can lose an odd one with Red gutt. We planted a field last year about now and it fattened a lot of lambs. The plan is to make high protein silage for ewes.

We had a field about 6 years ago and never made any silage dry enough for sheep. The experts say don't ted or you will lose leaf and quality. How do you dry it out?

The field we have now does not have as much clover so it may make drier silage.

ted behind mower (10-20% in flower ), and maybe once more ,dont ted any more if leaves go black rake with dew still on early morn , bale and wrap with at least 6 layers , better with 8 , needs a bit of rye grass for sugar to make in bale , will be black horrible looking stuff when you open it , but feeds well ,but needs an energy source to go with it .

 

[d williams]

I have just planted 8 acres of a red clover/ryegrass mix and I would like to know the answer to the op question ‘can you fatten lambs inside on red clover silage alone’?
Anybody done/do this.

Getting them to eat will be the biggest challenge then if you can time with the clover ryegrass will do the job

 

[Sid]

And off it goes again.

Not too much leaf on the floor.

 

[andybk]

only thing to watch is puncturing the wrap on the clover stubble , stubble from first cut ,can be quite sharp mid summer