Tmr for sheep?

[Milkcow365]

What’s everyone’s thoughts on it my neighbour and friend has 1400 mules and lambs inside, always a high scanning % 230s 240s,
His sheep are all in straw courts with feed Barriers and he feeds the silage with a mixer wagon just now and then feeds cake at the barrier and puts extra troughs out for cake as well as you all know putting troughs out is a pain and he wants to lesson his work load so was thinking tmr for them?
Would it work and what are people putting in a mix?

 

[beaconsboy]

Its had helped us eith twin lamb and prolapses. It takes abit of time to do a mix. We put crimp wheat and barley. Soya pit silage minerals high energy mollasses. And lime stone flour. We re still learning. I think idealy they need to be on it 4 weeks before lambing. But it works for us

 

[tr250]

Its had helped us eith twin lamb and prolapses. It takes abit of time to do a mix. We put crimp wheat and barley. Soya pit silage minerals high energy mollasses. And lime stone flour. We re still learning. I think idealy they need to be on it 4 weeks before lambing. But it works for us

Roughly same here we just find it works best with nicely chopped silage that isn't too high in dm

 

[Pasty]

Has anyone done a serious study on costs for a system like this. I mean things like labour / depreciation of buildings and machinery, harvesting/ hauling/ mixing feed in and dung out etc. ?

Would be interesting to see compared to a very extensive / all winter system.

 

[Bob the beef]

What’s everyone’s thoughts on it my neighbour and friend has 1400 mules and lambs inside, always a high scanning % 230s 240s,
His sheep are all in straw courts with feed Barriers and he feeds the silage with a mixer wagon just now and then feeds cake at the barrier and puts extra troughs out for cake as well as you all know putting troughs out is a pain and he wants to lesson his work load so was thinking tmr for them?
Would it work and what are people putting in a mix?

Been feeding tmr to sheep for several years, works great so far can't see a down side.
Good pit pit silage 15/16 % cp and 10.5/11 me. House at scanning and feed silage alone til about 3 weeks pre lambing then add soya and barley as necessary depending on bcs and scanning %
Watch out for type of sheep, mules will need a bit extra, tex x and chevmule could probably get by without any barley or soya

 

[Pistonbroke]

Been TMR for sheep 32years.Decide how much concentrate you want them to have and keep it consistent but vary the amount of silage so they clear up by next feeding time.You avoid crowding, overeating and the silage heating.There will always be an amount of "sorting" but feeding 24 hour intervals will get better results than trying to put two or three day's feed out at once

 

[kfpben]

Has anyone done a serious study on costs for a system like this. I mean things like labour / depreciation of buildings and machinery, harvesting/ hauling/ mixing feed in and dung out etc. ?

Would be interesting to see compared to a very extensive / all winter system.

I would imagine it the costs would work out fine if the wagon was there for beef or dairy cattle anyway. Surely buying a mixer wagon just to feed sheep for a month or two would be madness?

 

[danpwll]

im going for it this year, been doing tmr for beef with keenan for years , just hope to save on concentrate bill and less twin lamb and prolapses, as got good silage and just had some soya for twins and trips and just silage for singles

 

[Collie lovers 2]

We have been doing it for several years and def less twin lamb and prolapses. Silage, barley and some soya. Ewes milk better too. Not much bother with it heating.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Has anyone done a serious study on costs for a system like this. I mean things like labour / depreciation of buildings and machinery, harvesting/ hauling/ mixing feed in and dung out etc. ?

Would be interesting to see compared to a very extensive / all winter system.

Depends on your circumstances. It's a way of "buying acres" if land is your limiting factor.
IMHO it needs the high scanning % to add up, but is a way of maximising output per acre.

I've gone the other way and aim for all grass wintering btw. Every system has it's strengths and weaknesses.

 

[GSB]

How does everyone that lambs earlier before grass starts to grow that feed Tmr feed once the ewes are lambed and back outside. We used to feed homemix in bags but when we moved onto a snacker it made life so much easier so just fed nuts inside to. I did think about getting the feed as a meal as it's a wee bit cheaper and mix it tmr with the silage before lambing and then nuts outside. Ideally I should feed tmr then nuts outside but I was never keen to change the ration suddenly when the ewes are milking. One thing I like about feeding the nuts inside is I see the ewes come into feed twice a day although it would save time and money doing then all Tmr

 

[Hummin-Cummins]

How much feed space per head do u ideally need? Im sure that’s a big factor

 

[irish dom]

Depends on your circumstances. It's a way of "buying acres" if land is your limiting factor.
IMHO it needs the high scanning % to add up, but is a way of maximising output per acre.

I've gone the other way and aim for also bluegrass f wintering btw. Every system has it's strengths and weaknesses.

How are you managing at the all grass wintering. I am aiming to drop tack land and feed most my sheep on saved grass on 4 day breaks. Any thoughts

 

[Pasty]

Just a random thought. Is putting your sheep on other land that has had other sheep on it or indeed bringing other sheep onto your land asking for trouble in some way? Increased risk of disease? Maybe not a big factor but I wouldn't want any other sheep on my land. That said, I have just sent my ram off for a month and am about to put him in with my ewes for late lambing. I didn't even think about it to be honest but is it too much of a risk that he might bring something back with him (chap he went with is an excellent farmer).

 

[Poorbuthappy]

How are you managing at the all grass wintering. I am aiming to drop tack land and feed most my sheep on saved grass on 4 day breaks. Any thoughts

I can only do it by taking dairy (& beef) keep through the autumn to allow me to build a wedge for February and March at home. But some of my summer grazing is summer only so not sure how it would work out if I owned / tenanted all of it thus making it all available year round. Suspect would have to drop stocking rates without the cows (that are housed for a budgeted 6 month winter)

If I lost my winter keep I would aim to house at least some then turn out for lambing.

 

[Collie lovers 2]

Our feed barrier space is 60 feet and we have 120 suff and texel cross ewes and as long as they always have feed in front of them it works fine, when the Keenan comes a lot of the older ewes just continue lying in the shed as know there is plenty

 

[pauld]

Taken the plunge and acquired a tub mixer. Planning on mix of bale silage, bought in blend, molasses and mins. Have not got a feed fence so at present planning to drop on concrete and bucket it into circular bale feeders which we have plenty of. Interested in how others feed TMR to sheep and any pros and cons.

 

[ISCO]

Taken the plunge and acquired a tub mixer. Planning on mix of bale silage, bought in blend, molasses and mins. Have not got a feed fence so at present planning to drop on concrete and bucket it into circular bale feeders which we have plenty of. Interested in how others feed TMR to sheep and any pros and cons.

How have young or on withnthe TMR as we thinking of giving it a go next year?

 

[Collie lovers 2]

You'll never look back, just make sure always feed in front of them. Not one with twin lamb this year.

 

[ISCO]

Thanks.
We are concentrating on sheep buildings this year but will have one eye on TMR feeding in their design.
Out of interest what make of feeder did you buy.
I assume feeding in the rings worked well