sheep lu v cow

roosky

hi there
just getting it hard to get a good answer to this question i am wondering how many sheep are equal to a cow as in livestock units as well as that what "LU" is a lamb......and finally any advice on stocking rates of 20 acres of reseeded ground heavy enough ground but good drainage in place (ewes wont be housed apart from lambing ) but hay will be fed over winter and some ground held for when they lamb

opinions greatly appreciated !!!

cattle man

roosky wrote: »

hi there
just getting it hard to get a good answer to this question i am wondering how many sheep are equal to a cow as in livestock units as well as that what "LU" is a lamb......and finally any advice on stocking rates of 20 acres of reseeded ground heavy enough ground but good drainage in place (ewes wont be housed apart from lambing ) but hay will be fed over winter and some ground held for when they lamb

opinions greatly appreciated !!!

i think one cow is equal to six ewes

20 acres could hold 80 - 100 ewes at best id say if your not housing them. but u would need to have paddocks and spread fertilizer fairly regular id say.

sure i suppose it all depends what part of the country u are farming in etc.:)

roosky

ya im north midlands so ground is middling heavy , the groung is split into 7/8 fields so prity much paddocked !!!

cattle man

roosky wrote: »

ya im north midlands so ground is middling heavy , the groung is split into 7/8 fields so prity much paddocked !!!

sure i suppose best thing to do is start with 60 and increase stocking rates as growth allows trial and error to suit ur farm.

ya id say 8 paddocks would be idea 2 paddocks a week a four week rotation would be ideal

roosky

ya sound ideal but with with the ground split into 3 blocks rotation isnt just simple but may have to be done had 30 ewes last yr and 3 cows on the ground and ended up rearing 3 calves 50 lambs and making 820 sq bales of hay so could do with more sheep

rancher

roosky wrote: »

ya sound ideal but with with the ground split into 3 blocks rotation isnt just simple but may have to be done had 30 ewes last yr and 3 cows on the ground and ended up rearing 3 calves 50 lambs and making 820 sq bales of hay so could do with more sheep

My stocking rate is 5 ewes to the acre,50kg CAN in march and again in sept, housed mid jan, march lambing, on grass otherwise

blue5000

When in ag college the A husbandry lecturer tried to convince us that 1 cow (1 LU) = 10 ewes and that you could graze 10 ewes to the acre. I wonder how many would the neighbours have?

I reckon max of 80 ewes on 20 acres, bit more if they were housed and some hay bought in. Poly tunnels seem to work fairly well, feed them round the outside of it, put them out to grass as they lamb.

funny man

one ewe = .15livestock unit v cow= 1 livestock unit. Reseeded ground, managed intensively 6ewes/acre allowing for 1.75lambs/ewe. i'm a long time out of sheep and the biggest problem then was margin was too small, from the size of your enterprise i think i'd stock at a lower rate 5ewes/acre and use less inputs but would need to be housed for 100 days approx, if you as said don't want to house about 3.7-4.2ewes/acre will be the limit.

razor8

6.6 ewes = 1 cow

80 ewes would be a lot on 20 acres. you would be better with 60 and little or no meal and alot less fertiliser. if you increased to 80-100 you wouldn't gain anything because inputs are so costly at the moment. a bag of ewe nuts costs nearly €10 at the moment. with 60 you would have good grass supply in the summer and good make some fodder and you should be able to keep them out in the winter provided you get rid of all your lambs by the end of september

flatout11

ewes equate to 0.2 of a LU, hoggets 0.15 lambs as far a s i know arent included until post weaning, but after weaning the ewes can be tightened up so the differance in demand kinda equals out,
its a difficult one to work out, national average is around 3 ewes per ha - 5 getting to the limit - can work if there is cattle though - personally i wouldnt be leaving them out all winter - no grass in spring!!!!
outwintering in a mixed syatem 4 per ac at best and you would need a certain ammount of grass built up