CrystalX versus 16/18% nut.

Packrat

So I'm hearing that a lot of lads with mountain sheep or crosses are changing from feeding nuts to CrystalX buckets to save time and indeed money.

Thing is there's usually no such thing as a free lunch.

I've no experience of these blocks, but I tried other cheaper softer ones and they were way more expensive than feeding nuts.

CrystalX claim that a ewe only eats 50gms of it per day, - anyone know how much energy and protein this has by comparison with nuts..

MayoAreMagic

Hill sheep dont need much feeding is the short answer.

The buckets are dear because you can just leave them there, whereas there is labour involved in feeding them. That is the reality of why people use them. However, anyone suggesting they are in fact better and cheaper is being disingenuous as far as im concerned. It just isnt possible. As for 50 grams a day - nonsense. That is most probably an averaged figure, where a small number of ewes stand and eat the bucket all day while others never see it. Also, what good is 50 grams going to do them? There is amore than a whiff of snake oil about a lot of the stuff they peddle about buckets. They can be useful but there is a lot of waffle going on too.

wrangler

If they're only eating 50gms of it they're expending more energy coming for it than they're getting from eating it.

It's worth nearly as much per kg to the sheep as a kilo of ration is, I say nearly because there isn't enough protein in the crystalyx

I let a bucket,similar to the crstalyx, with triplets full time to supplement the meal feeding and haylage aswell,as i do be gone all day with work....

Found a marked improvement in size/quality of lambs and felt it helped the ewes since began doing so

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118554850#Comment_118554850

I'd probably agree with that, we feed the triplets three times a day from three weeks out from lambing as it seems to be easy sicken them if given enough in two feeds,

Fed ration for years, have used Crystalyx for this year and previous two. Though ideally I'd prefer to use neither.

Buckets are expensive. Or at least they used to be very expensive compared to ration, maybe ration will catch up this year. As said above, you'll be paying for convenience and much, much less labour.

What I like about Crystalyx and hay was when I'd go to walk through the sheep, nothing would bleat, there was no association between me and food. There's no stampede or the bullshít you get around troughs or leaving lambs after them etc.

I'm thinking I won't use them next year, still undecided what that means completely......

Packrat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118585032#Comment_118585032

I thought you were organic?

No organic bucket for sheep...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118588713#Comment_118588713

No, I'm not organic.

AFAIK there is an organic Crystalyx bucket.