Turnips

[James169]

There’s probably already a thread relating to turnips. But Iv been back and can’t find what I’m looking for.
Been offered 20 acres of turnips this winter. Plan is to graze in lamb ewes on them. We lamb in February and keep bringing more in as we get the shed space. 3 questions really
1 can I fetch them in straight from the turnips into the lambing shed.
2 are turnips good enough to knock concentrates back until we house or will the need a dribble whilst on them?
3 we are blood testing on Wednesday to see if lacking anything do you treat with anything before going on to them?

 

[neilo]

1. Yes, I did that for many years when lambing indoors, and do the same into lambing paddocks now.
2. Depends on the sheep and it's ability to thrive on forage, and whether you intend diluting the nutritional quality of the turnips by feeding bales alongside. If you are going to house for lambing, necessitating a concentrate ration, you should trickle a bit in for several weeks regardless, to transition the rumen to digesting concentrates. Not an issue with outdoor lambing, where change is less drastic.
3. See what your blood tests come back at, but brassicas will mean they are likely to be low in Iodine, regardless of blood results now. Also remember that, if you are reducing/cutting out concentrates, ou are also reducing/cutting out on the bag of minerals in each ton of concs. They will likely need replacing in some other way.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

There’s probably already a thread relating to turnips. But Iv been back and can’t find what I’m looking for.
Been offered 20 acres of turnips this winter. Plan is to graze in lamb ewes on them. We lamb in February and keep bringing more in as we get the shed space. 3 questions really
1 can I fetch them in straight from the turnips into the lambing shed.
2 are turnips good enough to knock concentrates back until we house or will the need a dribble whilst on them?
3 we are blood testing on Wednesday to see if lacking anything do you treat with anything before going on to them?

Are they stubble turnips,. By Feb they will be going woody unless,they are planted late .Best meal is turnips before xmas and Swede after

 

[michael N123]

What type of turnips

 

[Al R]

I don’t start grazing turnips until January as graze post scanning. No concentrates just silage ad lib for the twins and triplets.
I did put mineral blocks out for the triplets 6 weeks pre lambing and started feeding them a bit of corn 7 days before they were due to leave the turnips and come into the shed, twins went onto grass post turnips with no hard feed but mineral blocks.

 

[James169]

1. Yes, I did that for many years when lambing indoors, and do the same into lambing paddocks now.
2. Depends on the sheep and it's ability to thrive on forage, and whether you intend diluting the nutritional quality of the turnips by feeding bales alongside. If you are going to house for lambing, necessitating a concentrate ration, you should trickle a bit in for several weeks regardless, to transition the rumen to digesting concentrates. Not an issue with outdoor lambing, where change is less drastic.
3. See what your blood tests come back at, but brassicas will mean they are likely to be low in Iodine, regardless of blood results now. Also remember that, if you are reducing/cutting out concentrates, ou are also reducing/cutting out on the bag of minerals in each ton of concs. They will likely need replacing in some other way.

They are all NCM. We are breeding our own ewe lambs this time. Which will still need concentrate. But hoping to knock it down. I will feed them a bit this year as never grazed turnips. It’s all new to us so need to break them in. We have 400 ewes. When they are house they only have barely straw in ring feeders and rolls thrown on the floor. Would you recommend straw outside for them? Will 20 acres be too much to get through if it’s an average to good crop?
We will bolus because of the lodine. Just wanted bloods doing to see if grass is lacking

 

[Al R]

I work on the basis of 4acre will keep 100 twin ewes going for 6 weeks, that’s where silage is good as you can restrict the movements by a day or 2 to get another few days or weeks out of a field so they eat more bulbs but still have silage ad lib so the fussy ones that don’t eat bulbs will eat silage instead before the next break.
Be wary if the ewes have never seen turnips before as some would rather starve than eat stalk and bulbs. Most of my ewes are on their third year of turnips pre lambing and now they go straight for the bulbs before the leaf, the ones that do go for the leaf pull the bulb out of the ground ready. First year utilisation for me was 65-75%, second year 75-85%, 3rd year close to 95%. I turned the rams in after the ewes had finished and they went for the hedges as there was nothing left on the ground.

 

[neilo]

They are all NCM. We are breeding our own ewe lambs this time. Which will still need concentrate. But hoping to knock it down. I will feed them a bit this year as never grazed turnips. It’s all new to us so need to break them in. We have 400 ewes. When they are house they only have barely straw in ring feeders and rolls thrown on the floor. Would you recommend straw outside for them? Will 20 acres be too much to get through if it’s an average to good crop?
We will bolus because of the lodine. Just wanted bloods doing to see if grass is lacking

If they are coming in to straw and nuts, i’d Certainly make sure they know what both are before housing.
I would expect NC Mules to need a bit more than just turnips, seeing them as the Holstein of the sheep world. Treat them well and they will treat you well, but.....

They won’t need a whole winter to ‘break them in’, but will obviously need a transition period to get them started on it. Get that right and they’ll be fine after a week or two.

 

[Chae1]

Neeps.

 

[sheepman1]

I work on the basis of 4acre will keep 100 twin ewes going for 6 weeks,

Last year I thought I had an average enough crop of swedes and found that 4 acres kept 125 ewes for 12 weeks!!
(First year growing them)

 

[Top Tip.]

Last year I thought I had an average enough crop of swedes and found that 4 acres kept 125 ewes for 12 weeks!!
(First year growing them)

Last year was exceptional,if they grew they were a great crop.

 

[Al R]

Last year I thought I had an average enough crop of swedes and found that 4 acres kept 125 ewes for 12 weeks!!
(First year growing them)

If I grew swedes i’d Expect that to, especially conventional!