straw fed sheep

[will6910]

hi we were short on silage this year and beein feeding the strongest ewes scanned twins on wheat straw, there just under 2 weeks to lambing and see there abit leaner than id like, is it to late to get them back up or what could i do to improve the situation for less lambing problems ( if they hav any that is )

TIA

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Sell the straw and buy hay

 

[will6910]

that was my first tohught before even bought straw but my dad made the choice while i was away

 

[KNconsulting]

What are you feeding them in the way of concentrates and what condition would you say they are in. Ideally they want to be score 3 and minimum 2.5.

 

[will6910]

there getting slightly over 1kgs a day of concentrates, there is odd one below a 2 but most id say score 2

 

[KNconsulting]

I don't think you'll get them back up much before lambing if you start in a couple of weeks although the later lambing ones will have a bit more time. I've done a lot of condition scoring on different farms in Wales this year and many ewes are about 0.5 to 1 condition score leaner than they really should be. The trouble is in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy most of the feed goes to the lambs so it's hard to put much condition on. You could look at adding feed buckets (lifeline/crystalix/supalix) as every little bit will help. Do you have an idea of how good the concentrate is? Does it contain wheat as the main ingredient and is soya listed before or after molasses on the ingredients list (if at all).

 

[will6910]

im not sure what ingredients are cause its bought thru a group, but could search tomorrow, my dad decided that we wont use crystalix ths year to save money, wev used them since we started sheep and each lambing bar 1 wev had good condition and plenty of milk, i think its mix between being fed straw and no licks

 

[KNconsulting]

With some of the silages I've seen this year straw would probably have been a better option! The way to make straw feeding work is with top quality ewe cake - 20% protein (including good quality protein like soya at least 10%) and an ME of 13. Obviously that's not much help with the situation at the moment so my next best advice in the meantime would be too make sure you have plenty of good quality artificial colostrum avaialable at lambing in case you do have less milk in the ewes, be prepared to take a twin off any ewes less than condition score 2 and hope for an early spring! I would also make a careful note of lamb losses - although this can be depressing, if you can record how many are lost at lambing and if there is a particular trend (e.g. lack of colostrum, poor lamb weights) then at least you will have the financial evidence next year for being able to invest more in ewe nutrition next year.

 

[will6910]

thanks, we fed silage once they were housed but quickly seen silage wasnt going to last, so switched them to straw, if we stopped straw dn fed what silage is left to them would that affect them to much being this close ?

 

[will6910]

oh and i know the meal is 20% protein

 

[KNconsulting]

thanks, we fed silage once they were housed but quickly seen silage wasnt going to last, so switched them to straw, if we stopped straw dn fed what silage is left to them would that affect them to much being this close ?

Assuming the silage is good quality I would of thought that they would take to the silage quite well but I would be a bit concerned that the rumen microbes would take a while to adjust so this could lead to twin lamb. This would be less of a problem if feeding dry silage which is more like haylage or even hay. Is it possible to mix straw and silage for about a week to make a more gradual transition?

 

[KNconsulting]

oh and i know the meal is 20% protein

That's good and 20% protein feeds also tend to be at least 12.5ME which will also help.

 

[will6910]

i was thinking about mixing the 2, we fed out of a bale chopper this year twice aday, we didnt get time to get silage tested but looks ok and nice and dry

 

[will6910]

usualy feed lifeline buckets to but only hav few left so saving them for triplets

 

[KNconsulting]

usualy feed lifeline buckets to but only hav few left so saving them for triplets

Sounds sensible and hope it all goes well with lambing.....

 

[sherg]

lifeline bocks or similar now may help a little with colostrum quality, it sounds like they're getting plenty of concerntrates, what about getting a fec done to see if theres anything else going on

 

[will6910]

thanks for all ur help il keep u posted

 

[will6910]

wev found lifeline buckets very good but agin dad trying save money but not sure that thats best way to save money

 

[KNconsulting]

lifeline bocks or similar now may help a little with colostrum quality, it sounds like they're getting plenty of concerntrates, what about getting a fec done to see if theres anything else going on

Good point. The rise in egg counts normally start about 2 weeks pre-lambing and triplet, twin and thin/young singles are most at risk. Fluke is harder to detect using a faecal egg count but your vet can best advise on both based on previous treatments and risk factors for fluke.

 

[will6910]

thanks for ur advice