Wintering animals?

[Back to Nature]

Sorry; this is not a specific species question so I wasn't sure where to post it. Anyways, how many pounds of silage would equal one pound of fresh forage? The majority of my meat animals would be in the freezer by winter but the breeders and some of the meat animals will still be with me over the winter. I don't want to feed any commercial food, so would silage, hay, and a limited amount of homegrown grains sustain the animals? What species can eat silage? Thanks!

 

[BrownSheep]

We feed alfalfa hay pretty much exclusively when they are off of pasture. The showlambs get show chow but besides that we don't ever purchase grain for our sheep. Some do how ever feed grain for the last bit of pregnancy.

We have fed silage before and our sheep loved it. I cant remember what exactly we fed because this was way back in the days of only three ewes. My only concern with silage would be purchasing/ making it. Silage corn and everything connected with it is a pretty big business here due to our dairy industries. People make it and sell it in bulk. I might be able to buy some if I bought several dump truck loads. As for home production I haven't a clue.

Here are a couple articles I found.
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G2061
http://www.farminfo.org/beef/silage-m.htm

Don't know how helpful it will be.

 

[Back to Nature]

So they could live off of just alfalfa hay in the winter? How much is a one-ton bale of that where you live? (I understand it differs in price due to many factors.)

 

[SheepGirl]

My sheep are on pasture all the time. Now that there is no more grass (they've done grazed it to about an inch tall now) I am setting up a pen this Thurs (my next day off--I just have to put up the wire part of the fence; I have the posts all put in) and my ram will move out into his own pen (finally got a shelter built for him) and everybody gets grass hay (it's really just 75% weeds and 25% grass but they LOVE it....a lot better than the timothy and timothy/grass mix I fed them before). Starting in less than a week my ewes will start getting 1/2 lb of grain per day each until they lamb, to give them extra nutrients for their fetuses to grow. They will stay in the pen until the grass is 4-5" tall, which will probably be mid- to late March, depending on the weather.

The only other thing I have to deal with is their water--bred ewes drink a lot of water and they need to stay hydrated and they can't drink solid ice! So I have four 2 and 5 gallon buckets out there and then I bring in two at night to thaw, and set them out there in the day, and bring the other two in to thaw and take them back out at night. So basically I'm rotating them because I don't have a stock tank heater (mainly because my main waterer is a cheap plastic 9 gallon bucket you get at Lowe's for like $10 and I don't want the heater to melt the plastic).

As for silage--we've never fed it and I'm not too familiar with it. I just know that it smells REALLY bad! (The samples of silage I've been in contact with for a judging contest, anyway.) Basically it's fermenting, so it's rotting. But the cows love it. My neighbor's cows, anyway. He has a dairy farm and he feeds silage; he has it stored outside under huge white tarps with tires on top. Some days when I'm out feeding my sheep I can see him with a CAT getting silage and bringing it into the barn. But generally, as far as I know, about one pound of hay = two pounds of corn silage.

This is how my neighbor stores his silage: http://industryupdate.com.au/sites/default/public/Products/winter feed1.jpg

 

[Back to Nature]

My sheep are on pasture all the time.

I intend to keep my animals on pasture, but in the winter they won't get enough forage to stay alive. (I live in Michigan.) I've heard of solar-heated tanks, where the color or material absorbs sunlight and warms the tank. I also heard that those tanks grow bacteria easily... Any thoughts on that?

 

[purplequeenvt]

We feed plain old grass hay during the winter and start with grain 4-6 weeks before lambing. We don't use heaters in any of our water tanks. Some groups drink most of their water in between feedings so that they don't have much ice to knock out and other groups have smaller tanks that are easy to dump ice out of.

I wouldn't worry about solar-heated tanks growing too much bacteria during the winter, especially in MI. I can see how it might be a problem during warm weather. If you are concerned about, clean the tank more frequently.

I don't know much about silage. I know that cows eat it, but it seems like I've heard that it isn't very good for sheep and goats, just can't remember where/why.....

 

[Back to Nature]

Do pregnant/lactating animals need grain? Or can they survive and maintain condition on quality forage? Are there any other plants that would work for that?

 

[SheepGirl]

It would really need to be high quality forage; very nutrient dense. If you have a sheep carrying a large set of twins or triplets, there isn't enough room for babies AND three pounds of hay. A half a pound of grain takes up a LOT less space in a ewe's body than does one pound of hay (the approximate equivalent).

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

I think they do need grain or something more then just browse/forage. My goats are doing great on really good quality grass hay and lots of good browse but I plan on starting noble goat dairy pellets the last month of pregnancy and during lactation.

 

[Back to Nature]

It would really need to be high quality forage; very nutrient dense. If you have a sheep carrying a large set of twins or triplets, there isn't enough room for babies AND three pounds of hay. A half a pound of grain takes up a LOT less space in a ewe's body than does one pound of hay (the approximate equivalent).

Thank you for telling me that. I was never convinced about the need for grain, but I totally understand now about the not being enough space for enough hay. What grains do you feed? I want to grow my own grains, if possible, or at least some of them.