Beef and sheep notes December 2007
Sheep
Store Lamb Finishing
To reduce dependency on cereals for the finishing of our Blackface male lambs, Stego rape and Swift was sown in late July at the Greenmount Campus. Current estimates indicate a crop yield in excess of 6 tonnes dry matter per hectare. The lambs were gradually introduced to the crop in early November, also having access to 2 hectares of grass run back. To minimise wastage a heavy initial grazing pressure was exerted which helped train the lambs to ‘clean up.’ Current utilisation rates are approaching 70 percent and assuming daily liveweight gains of 140g/day are achieved the lambs should be finished for a cost of £5.00/hd.
Ewe topics
If ewes are to be housed ensure they have:
- Good ventilation: There should be a free flowof fresh air above sheep level into the house and warm air rising should move freely out through roof outlets. Also make sure that draughts do not occur at sheep level within the house.
- Good hygiene: All sheep housing (including pen divisions) should be thoroughly power washed before housing and lambing areas should be disinfected well in advance of housing and again at the point of lambing.
- Adequate floor space: Ewes on slats require a space of 1.0 - 1.2 m2 /ewe depending on the size of ewe and whether or not they are clipped. Straw bedded sheep will require 1.1-1.3 m2/ewe.
- Adequate feed space: Needs to be adequate for the heavily pregnant ewe 420 - 475 mm should be allowed for feeding space.
- Sufficient lambing pens: Should be about 1.83m x 1.22m and ideally one lambing pen is required for every 10 to 12 ewes in the house.
Blackface lambs utilising rape at Greenmount Campus
Beef
Clean cattle for slaughter
A number of steps can be taken to avoid the build up of dirt on hides.
- Housing: adequate ventilation is essential, cattle will be cleaner and drier in well ventilated sheds.
- Avoid under-stocking on slats. Where cattle are bedded adequate quantities of straw should be used approximately 50 KG per 450 KG animal per week.
- Feeding: avoid low dry matter feeds such as wet silage especially in the period prior to slaughter. Any changes to the diet should be made gradually to avoid digestive upsets.
- Transport: avoid mixing stock from different batches if possible and ensure that cattle are transported in clean, well-maintained vehicles.
Don’t ignore store cattle
The target daily liveweight gain over winter for store steers is 0.6-0.7 KG/day and 0.5 KG/day for heifers. Feeding good quality silage to store cattle can reduce winter feeding costs by £20/head over a 5 month housing period. In comparison, reducing concentrate costs by £20 per tonne will save less than £10/head during the housing period. Rations for store cattle should contain approximately 16-18 percent crude protein, as this will also significantly reduce concentrate requirements.
Finishing cull cows
The most important consideration in selection of cull cows for feeding is that they should be in low condition (condition score 1-2) but healthy. Silage containing 10.6MJ ME/ KG dry matter can support liveweight gains of 1 KG/day. If offering concentrates it is important to note that the protein requirements of a cull cow are not high - 9.5-11 percent crude protein on a dry matter basis. Additional calcium supplementation will be required on a high concentrate diet. Withdrawal periods for any veterinary products administered should be carefully observed when feeding cull cows.
Finishing beef cattle
If finishing animals are offered silage with a digestibility (D) value greater than 67 and a crude protein content greater than 12 percent then a ration of mineralised, rolled barley will be adequate. If silage quality is lower than this, then a 14 percent crude protein supplement should be offered. If animals are finished intensively, that is, on a high concentrate diet, the impact of poor silage quality is reduced and a 12-13 percent crude protein supplement will be adequate.