sheep

Silver 1234

What is the best ration to give to sheep 6 weeks from lambing? At the moment am mixing oats with ewe and lamb ration. Was wondering about mixing my own ration. Help appreciated thanks.

same 130

Silver 1234 wrote: »

What is the best ration to give to sheep 6 weeks from lambing? At the moment am mixing oats with ewe and lamb ration. Was wondering about mixing my own ration. Help appreciated thanks.

i lamb down around 100plus ewe i give no ration at all only liveline lick tubs and haylage or good hay

Silver 1234

What price range are those? Are they minerals? Do the sheep be in or out? Mine are eating silage?

johngalway

Dad feeds ewe & lamb ration, but it's dear (I think) at €7.50 per 25kg bag.

Half thinking of using some tubs myself this year, but I'm worried that not all the sheep may take to them. They haven't shown great interest in them in the past.

Silver 1234

I left a mineral an all round mineral bucket with mine . Large bucket and they are all licking it I think but it is going really fast. Still I like to give them something besides the bucket. Ever think of mixing your own. I am using really good rolled oats with the ration but would like to mix them with my own ration. What would you think.

johngalway

I've no experience of mixing feeds myself, always used the bagged ration as they're supposed to have the correct balance of vits and minerals etc.

Silver 1234

Thanks anyway

same 130

Silver 1234 wrote: »

What is the best ration to give to sheep 6 weeks from lambing? At the moment am mixing oats with ewe and lamb ration. Was wondering about mixing my own ration. Help appreciated thanks.

Silver 1234 wrote: »

What price range are those? Are they minerals? Do the sheep be in or out? Mine are eating silage?

80kg tub at 80euro sheep are house one tub well last 2weeks the sheep are mad for them.

Highland

Twin bearing ewes will need additional energy & Protein - which the tub will not provide. particulalry in the last 2 - 3 weeks pre lambing. SO if you have ewes with multiple births I would go with concentrate feed and aim to feed a rate of 0.6kg - 0.9kg per head per day for the last two weeks depending on ewe condtion and forage quality. saving on feed prelambing is a false economy - small, weak lambs and ewes with no milk.

On the other hand if you talking about hill sheep with low littersizes that are bwing outwintered and supplemented with forage then tubs would probably do the job ok. I dont think that tub work out any cheaper, in actual fact they are generally more expensive than concentrate feed.

Mixing your own feed is ok but you will need to balance it for starch, protein, fibre and also vits & minerals, plus its extra work. By the way i wouldnt roll the oats for sheep - feed it whole, they can handle it.

Username John

Highland wrote: »

Twin bearing ewes will need additional energy & Protein - which the tub will not provide. particulalry in the last 2 - 3 weeks pre lambing. SO if you have ewes with multiple births I would go with concentrate feed and aim to feed a rate of 0.6kg - 0.9kg per head per day for the last two weeks depending on ewe condtion and forage quality. saving on feed prelambing is a false economy - small, weak lambs and ewes with no milk.

On the other hand if you talking about hill sheep with low littersizes that are bwing outwintered and supplemented with forage then tubs would probably do the job ok. I dont think that tub work out any cheaper, in actual fact they are generally more expensive than concentrate feed.

Mixing your own feed is ok but you will need to balance it for starch, protein, fibre and also vits & minerals, plus its extra work. By the way i wouldnt roll the oats for sheep - feed it whole, they can handle it.

Fed whole oats to the sheep this year, and had no issues. Fed just oats to singles, and oats + nuts to doubles.

First year I didnt put out tubs and I regretted it. Had a few issues with milk (sheep didnt have milk at lambing, but came into milk within a few hours all right)

Would agree with Highland - saving on feed pre-lambing is a false economy...
Last year I fed about 0.5kg / head in the last 2 weeks, and I felt some of the sheep were a bit too fat. This year, I reduced it a bit, but I think I reduced it a bit too much... as some are a bit too thin...