The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Pasture Farm on November 22, 2012, 09:17:14 am
-
Ive got the chance of buying a couple of tonne of Sugar Beet and wondered if anyone has or does feed this to their sheep during the winter months ? we have around 40 In lamb ewes and around 10 of this years lambs and was considering feeding them some of the beet.
Would any one have any advise on how much to feed and when to start.
Also is it ok to give the Tups some
Thanks in anticipation
-
Are you talking about sugar beet or sugar beet pulp?
-
Farmers round here feed beets to their sheep whole, just scattered around the field so everyone gets a share, i feed them shredded to my pigs, not sure what feed value or how they affect sheep but somebody who knows will be along soon :thumbsup:
feed beets are usually beets the sugar factory won't take or mangolds, you'll e able to tell by the colour, beets are cream in colour mangolds are yellow/gold/orangy.
hth
mandy :pig:
-
Dried sugar beet pulp can swell so some people soak it before feeding; although we used to mix it with chaff and feed nuts and feed it dry to sheep in winter.
Sugar beet roots can be fed but the tops with leaves can cause scouring. We always used to put the lambs on the sugar beet field after harvesting to eat the tops and crowns and leftover beet.
see
http://www.fao.org/ag/AGA/AGAP/FRG/AFRIS/DATA/524.htm (http://www.fao.org/ag/AGA/AGAP/FRG/AFRIS/DATA/524.htm)
-
If you're talking whole beets, they'll love 'em :yum: Ask a local farmer for guidance on whether you should chop / halve them, and whether you need to take the tops off (some of the beet family have excess oxalic acid in the tops, which is not good for some livestock.)
As a rule of thumb, we feed whole beets (fodder beet here but they're similar), chopped, at a rate of 4lbs beet in place of 1lb concentrate. Some people winter sheep on turnips alone, no other forage, but it's a hard regime for them. Best to feed hay or silage as you would normally and feed up to 4lbs beet per head per day as a winter fillip, I'd say.
Do work out how long it'll last - you won't want your in-lamb ewes' rations to drop at any point. Better to hold off starting to feed the beets, or feed at a lower rate and top up with cake as required, than to have to stop feeding them 6 weeks before lambing... ;)
-
Thanks for the replies
It is Raw beet off the farm no tops on. My thinking is when the Ewes start coming down to the barn for hay i will start to introduce the beet. I will however as you advise work out how long it will last and introduce their normal rations during the 6 weeks before Lambing :thumbsup: