simple ration, whole or rolled barley

eorna

was thinking in making my own ration for ewes in lamb, based in barley and soya bean meal at around 18%..will i be better with rolled or whole barley?? and which other ingredients would you use? i need a simple ration nothing too complicated

Corkman11

eorna wrote: »

was thinking in making my own ration for ewes in lamb, based in barley and soya bean meal at around 18%..will i be better with rolled or whole barley?? and which other ingredients would you use? i need a simple ration nothing too complicated

Go whole maize over barley. Unless its your own barley of course

Username John

eorna wrote: »

was thinking in making my own ration for ewes in lamb, based in barley and soya bean meal at around 18%..will i be better with rolled or whole barley?? and which other ingredients would you use? i need a simple ration nothing too complicated

I would use oats rather than barley, the difference in energy is small (I think) with oats being a bit lower. But oats is a safer feed...

I fed some early lambers oats + soya bean meal. i read somewhere that a 1 to 6 ratio of soya bean to oats gives 18% protein - if someon could confirm or disprove this it would be good...

The ewes also had lifeline buckets for minerals, and I was very happy with the results I must say. Am debating using this again for the ewes lambing in march, rather than a nut.

Corkman11

Username John wrote: »

I would use oats rather than barley, the difference in energy is small (I think) with oats being a bit lower. But oats is a safer feed...

I fed some early lambers oats + soya bean meal. i read somewhere that a 1 to 6 ratio of soya bean to oats gives 18% protein - if someon could confirm or disprove this it would be good...

The ewes also had lifeline buckets for minerals, and I was very happy with the results I must say. Am debating using this again for the ewes lambing in march, rather than a nut.

Be somewhere over 15% . Need to be 4: 1. Wouldn't be a fan of oats. It's a fools proof feed. Won't sicken anything with it, animals happy out to eat it however probably use more of it and cost more on the long run. Nutritional it's slightly better energy wise than hulls , lower fibre , similar enough protein.

jomoloney

Corkman11 wrote: »

Be somewhere over 15% . Need to be 4: 1. Wouldn't be a fan of oats. It's a fools proof feed. Won't sicken anything with it, animals happy out to eat it however probably use more of it and cost more on the long run. Nutritional it's slightly better energy wise than hulls , lower fibre , similar enough protein.

4:1 would be about 18% CP I think

there is one point worth remembering here, feeding a fairly high level of straight soya , you are running a risk of loosing efficiency , ie your P is passed out the back door without being utilized ,

I find sheep are in excellent condition this year, loads of milk , lambs good size and hardy

I wouldn't worry about a ewe milking off her back, unlike a dairy cow she has plenty of time before mating

now hopefully the weather will pick up and out to grass

Corkman11

jomoloney wrote: »

4:1 would be about 18% CP I think

there is one point worth remembering here, feeding a fairly high level of straight soya , you are running a risk of loosing efficiency , ie your P is passed out the back door without being utilized ,

I find sheep are in excellent condition this year, loads of milk , lambs good size and hardy

I wouldn't worry about a ewe milking off her back, unlike a dairy cow she has plenty of time before mating

now hopefully the weather will pick up and out to grass

Yeah good point. This is where a you can make money as a farmer or at least try. By keeping the quality of the ingredients up and and the correct protein required based on other forages fed there may be the scope to cut back on levels fed of concentrate.

horsemad

I'm using my own barley this year first time with it useally oats. Read somewhere a sim

horsemad

Sorry about that simple ration I'm using is half rolled barley quarter pulp quarter soya I think about 18 percent

jomoloney

horsemad wrote: »

Sorry about that simple ration I'm using is half rolled barley quarter pulp quarter soya I think about 18 percent

yep that's a good mix, the pulp will help the digestive system to absorb the soya and also prevent acidosis from the barley

Corkman11

jomoloney wrote: »

yep that's a good mix, the pulp will help the digestive system to absorb the soya and also prevent acidosis from the barley[/

Don't get carried away with protein levels of ration. Rule no in any ruminant diet is energy, get the energy right then protein. It's a small bit like throwing petrol on a fire. Where protein is like petrol, unless you have something underneath a fire to sustain a long burn, you ll get a fairly quick burn out. I'm raving on a bit about maize I know but it gives so much more benefits in a diet over barley. Spring grass breaks down rapidly in the stomach, so does barley which can cause sub acute acidosis , maize breaks down much slower. Maize is far higher energy wise than barley and definitely more consistent in quality. Teagasc normally don't give the credit it deserves, but I think this is mainly down to it bring an imported product and we have so much native grain. If you are buying grain this spring, my advice is buy maize!

Lano Lynn

fed whole maize last year to dry hoggets to strech out fodder.
very happy with it .couldn't get much info before trying it so gave it a lash.:rolleyes:
the lambs on maize handled better than store lambs on intensive lamb pellets.
maybe not a fair comparison as the stores were the sh*t at the end of a sh*t season while the hoggets were the cream.;)

use oats to feed texel ewes (keeps lambs small and hardy) otherwise not worth sh*t

has anyone fed whole maize to killing lambs? will did they kill out yellow?

Corkman11

Lano Lynn wrote: »

fed whole maize last year to dry hoggets to strech out fodder.
very happy with it .couldn't get much info before trying it so gave it a lash.:rolleyes:
the lambs on maize handled better than store lambs on intensive lamb pellets.
maybe not a fair comparison as the stores were the sh*t at the end of a sh*t season while the hoggets were the cream.;)

use oats to feed texel ewes (keeps lambs small and hardy) otherwise not worth sh*t

has anyone fed whole maize to killing lambs? will did they kill out yellow?

After a heated debate with a Kerry based senior teagasc advisor some time ago about the merits of maize over barley for fattening lambs I convinced a bunch of Kerry hill farmers to feed a maize based ration. Killed by a local butcher the results were that they were more tender , had more fat cover and yes were a little yellow. It's not a scientific study but the one comment from the butcher was if every lamb slaughtered killed the same, he could sell lamb morning, noon and night.
I get a ration with a high content of maize as appose to all maize. Probably get a better intake of dm by doing so, get a little more protein into them and also vits and minerals