[Blackbelly] Balancing Rations

[Barb Lee]

I know you're all thinking I'm a complete nutcase over this ration 
balancing thing.  I think I can vindicate myself.

First of all, I have made many grevious errors in ration calculations in 
the past, primarily from giving too much credit to my pasture's ability 
to grow sheep.  The place is worn out.  We're fixing that, but in the 
mean time, I have finally, hopefully, figured out how to plug the holes. 
It is never been a matter of enough feed, it's been a matter of the 
right feed at the right time.

Consider this:
Last night, I discovered that the sheep took to those rock hard beet 
pulp pellets as readily as grain.  They quickly cleaned up the small 
quantity I offered.

So this morning, I took out my little worksheets to see what I could do 
with beet pulp.  I think I reported that I needed 1/2 lb corn to make up 
the energy deficiency for the lambs.  My math was flawed, the amount is 
actualy 1/4 lb.  In crunching the numbers, I determined that I can 
substitute beet pulp for corn virtually pound for pound for the energy 
component.  The cost of each in our area is about the same. But here's 
the rub...
In using 18% protein alfalfa as the base for the protein and beet pulp 
for the energy component, I came up with a drastic overabundance of 
calcium and a slight deficiency in phosphorus. Bad bad bad.

So I dropped a half pound of alfalfa and added an ounce of soybean meal 
and a little modest quality grass hay.  The result was bringing the 
excessive calcium down to a much better level, and eliminating the 
phosphorus deficiency.

Now...if I was to chase this out for, say 120 days, supposedly feeding 
the same thing throughout the period, I would save over a half ton of 
this very scarce alfalfa, and gone through just over a bag of soy.  I 
also end up saving about $10 per lamb, and fed them a balanced ration in 
the process

This is a growing ration, which is not balanced for finishing, where the 
energy component rises and the protein declines.

The dry, non-pregnant ewes don't need anything but the grass hay (which 
has been analyzed, so I know it is adequate) except for a small amount 
of protein, made up by an ounce per day of soy for the whole group of 13 
ewes.  And here I was feeding $9, 20% protein blocks that they were 
devouring  like candy.

I figured out why my little morgan mare is so fat on plain native meadow 
hay with no grain.  Western Oregon hay is notoriously low quality, but 
for an idle horse on maintenance, there is too much sugar in it and not 
quite enough protein.  So I can take steps to adjust her feed and 
hopefully give her more to chew on (probably using some straw for bulk, 
but it is surprisingly nutritious too!), hopefully reduce her risk of 
laminitis and slim her down without depriving her insatiable need to 
chew.

So, maybe it's too fiddly for some, but I think I can justify the little 
bit of time to puzzle things out.  It's time better spent than working 
Sudoku puzzles, anyway.

Barb, who's going to see if I can get shredded beet pulp today. 


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