Sheep (lambs) & barley stubble

Wink

Member
Location
Hampshire
Hi.

Every year I get offered the access to barley stubble to put sheep on from a good farmer friend of mine. He used to have someone bring lorry loads he says to run over it and seems keen for me to do the same. We have not met to discuss details yet so may re erect this thread in new year.

I have no experience of this so looking for any advice and experience please as I can't find much info on this. I spoke to my vet and he says it can be quite good depending on how much grain is left etc. but have to be extremely careful to get them going on it - limited access or get them used to hard feed prior.

Basic questions - is it useful/worth it? What sort of growth rates can be achieved? Stocking rates? Tips on getting them going? Any other supplementary feeding? Run back?

At the moment I lamb a small flock as a sideline if you like but own no land so lots of running round for small numbers. I have the opportunity to retail a much greater number of lambs next year so wondering whether buying store lambs off farm and run as one group would be a better option for me and finish anything else on my local spring grass taking onto hoggets.

In a predominantly arable area and dairy grass already used locally over winter by other people with bigger numbers of sheep so looking at any other options to simplify what I do and get me going quickly with greater numbers for retail. We retail ourselves and I rear about 6-700 pigs a year for this and I want to be doing 150-200 lambs next year to go alongside.

Cheers.
 

yellowbelly

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
N.Lincs
In theory,barley stubbles should have zero feed value. In practice, there is always some feed value from shed corn either pre-combining or losses from the machine. Feed value would depend on how much your mate 'shovels' over the back of his combine and how much weed growth there is to go with it.
The main danger with grazing stubbles would be the amount of whole grains(that haven't chitted) being picked up by the sheep leading to barley poisoning(acidosis). There was a thread on here some time ago about it.
https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/acidosis-off-their-legs.139058/
https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/acidosis-off-their-legs.139058/

It's obviously too late now, but could you get your mate to put some stubble turnips in for you another year?
 
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Wink

Member
Location
Hampshire
Thanks for the reply. That was what I was thinking originally something like that just intrigued as he said he had someone before to go over it with sheep but don't know how they did. Some people have said there is little in it and some said it could be quite good. Maybe it's not something I should risk and have a good chat to see if there are better alternatives.
 

andybk

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Mendips Somerset
every year different with stubble turnips , very weather dependant at sowing , then there are slugs to worry about , if it all goes well very useful feed especially with a grass run back , can be a very cheap feed .
 

ajcc

Member
Livestock Farmer
This year about as good as it gets for autumn catch crops. IF only establishment and grazing and price to date could be the norm rather than the exception.
If plain stubble is green and for very little money might be worth fencing but expecting any appreciable feed value from spilt grain is silly unless really problematic combining then whole heads more likely to kill than fatten your sheep. My opinion....sorry.
 
I run my yowe lambs on barley stubble after they come off summer grazing (late October).

I basically leave them on until the field is cleaned up - ie they have eaten any grass weeds in the stubbles and grazed down around the hedge backs etc.

I doubt there is any value in the stubble itself and they don't see interested in it.

A dirty field is needed, don't think there would be any point 'grazing ' field which had dose of roundup pre harvest.

Essentially I ju use stubbles as a stop gap to delay turning sheep on to winter grazing for as long as possible.

I don't think there would be any real potential for finishing lambs on stubbles, but it could be a tool for creating a store period.

TSS
 
I have keep sheep here at the moment grazing barley stubbles. The feed value is in the volunteers which have chitted post harvest, it's fairly lush this year as heavy rain caused problems with lodging, from my point of view it's a very cheap cover crop that'll earn a few quid. I have also tried to replicate this in the past by broadcasting s.barley off the heap back onto stubbles with varying degrees of success.

When I had more sheep of my own I'd usually graze stubbles with any amount of green cover as it's clean ground and essentially free keep, I've never had any problems with acidosis and would often find that Romney/lleyn type ewes would put on too much condition if not properly managed. The biggest worry I had was pregnant ewes getting cast when they lay in the tramlines.

The grazier I have this year has a mixture of Cull ewes and store lambs on which look to be doing well. I don't bother with run backs, straw lying areas etc it's just extra work. I prefer to keep stocking density low and move sheep on frequently as it avoids leaving a poached mess and sheep stay cleaner.
 

andybk

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Mendips Somerset
ewes would put on too much condition if not properly managed. The biggest worry I had was pregnant ewes getting cast when they lay in the tramlines.

The grazier I have this year has a mixture of Cull ewes and store lambs on which look to be doing well. I don't bother with run backs, straw lying areas etc it's just extra work. I prefer to keep stocking density low and move sheep on frequently as it avoids leaving a poached mess and sheep stay cleaner.

yes i wouldnt bother with run backs on dirty stubbles , just meant for stubble turnips , saves lambs getting in a sty mess in a wet time ,
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
yes i wouldnt bother with run backs on dirty stubbles , just meant for stubble turnips , saves lambs getting in a sty mess in a wet time ,

IME, they get a lot dirtier when they run back through a gate way to their 'grass runback'. Far cleaner if they stay in the field, as long as they've got somewhere reasonably dry to lie, of course.

Last winter was as wet as the get for grazing roots. The one lot that had a 10ac grass field as a runback (next to town, so thought I'd be seen to do the right thing:rolleyes:) and were brown from head to toe. Much bigger mobs stayed fenced on swede fields and the scanner couldn't believe they'd been on roots for 8 weeks before he came.

On the OP, I'd think there'd be very little value in volunteer barley/weeds but it will keep the sheep. It would be a way of storing lambs before finishing them in the summer, or an area to put feeders out, but it won't provide much more than maintenance.

Spilt grain/heads could be an issue if grazing straight after combining, but that danger, along with any feed value from them, will go when they rot or chit.
 

hindmaist

Member
If there are a lot of cut off heads lying on the ground after harvest its best to wait til theyve had some wet weather before you graze with sheep.
 

Wink

Member
Location
Hampshire
Thanks for all of these replies - very useful. Will look at it in more detail post Christmas and probably post back with more questions.

Sounds like it could be an opportunity to maintain store lambs over winter and put feeders out with hay/silage if needs be and then finish off grass spring and summer. My main aim is to make the most of what is available to me, keep it really simple and to finish greater numbers. Have being toying and still am finding a system that will work for me over the last few years and doing lots of costings. I have found doing direct sales that a lot of people actually like the older hogget meat, myself included, as I see many people on here say they home kill hogget/mutton for the freezer out of preference. So storing the lambs and then taking them on to good heavy weights 22-30kg dead would give me more saleable meat through the shop and so if I can get the costings right it could pay.

Thoughts most welcome....
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Thanks for all of these replies - very useful. Will look at it in more detail post Christmas and probably post back with more questions.

Sounds like it could be an opportunity to maintain store lambs over winter and put feeders out with hay/silage if needs be and then finish off grass spring and summer. My main aim is to make the most of what is available to me, keep it really simple and to finish greater numbers. Have being toying and still am finding a system that will work for me over the last few years and doing lots of costings. I have found doing direct sales that a lot of people actually like the older hogget meat, myself included, as I see many people on here say they home kill hogget/mutton for the freezer out of preference. So storing the lambs and then taking them on to good heavy weights 22-30kg dead would give me more saleable meat through the shop and so if I can get the costings right it could pay.

Thoughts most welcome....

Don't forget there are extra costs on slaughtering older lambs/young mutton over 12 months old, from splitting carcasses & disposal of material.

The volunteer cereals would need to be free if you were looking to put feeders out and just using it to hold the sheep. A weekly headage payment and then putting all the nutritional inputs in yourself could work out very expensive, but would add nutrients to the farmer's field nicely. You might want to check the farmer is happy for you to be running across his arable land with a tractor to fill those feeders all winter too. I know I try to avoid doing so if at all possible.
 

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