Barb Lee
Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:53:07 -0800
Nate, You already got the inside story from a practicing farmer, but for reading material,you can get all this info from the same place I have, the grazing gurus. "Grassfed to Finish" by Allan Nation, "Management-intensive Grazing," by Jim Gerrish, and "Quality Pasture" by Allan Nation are all books that are rich in information not only about grazing, but the physiology in lay terms of how it all ties into ruminant digestion, with the aim of getting all ruminants permanently off the corn wagon. Barb (Long on book learnin', short on practical experience...) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nate Teig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info> Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 6:36 PM Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] Feeding Trivia - More What Ifs... > Barb > > I would have to agree - we flush out sheep and goats > and then cut out the grain and make sure we have good > quality grass hay - they comsume more hay - but get > more energy out of the hay. A few years ago we had > high grain bill, low conseption, and fat sheep. A > rancher told us to cut the grain after flushing and > they will do better, keep warmer and be better > condition for lambing. It seems to work - when we do > flush we combine corn and oats. I read about the hay > giving them more energy and have been looking for that > info. I am seeing the same thing with my St Croix > sheep - they do better on good quality grass hay. I > am in MN / WI and it get cold -but they do fine. The > rancher also said if you feed grain - they will stop > eating hay and wait for the grain and not eat hay > until they are really hungry - they gap in eating hay > changes the rumen - it all makes sense to me. > > Nate > --- Barb Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Could be I'm just seeing things, but the lambs are >> cleaning up more hay >> since I started backing off the grain (which was not >> a huge quantity in >> the first place.) But things are beginning to fall >> into place. Like, >> for instance, their gains have fallen off from last >> year's lambs. >> What's the difference? Mainly, I creep fed these >> lambs. The creep was >> ground grain and soybean meal. Prepared creep feeds >> are about 20% >> protein, contain a coccidiostat and are expected to >> be the lamb's only >> feed. They always contain a warning to vaccinate >> for overeater's >> disease... >> >> The more I follow prescribed protocols, it seems the >> worse results I am >> getting. >> >> Could it be corn? Well, there has to be an energy >> component. But the >> grazing books say over 0.3% of body weight in corn >> (starch) actually >> reduces the animal's capacity for dry matter by >> shifting the rumen >> microbes away from cellulose and over to starch. >> Well naturally, the >> Corn industry is going to say, well, corn is more >> concentrated. Feed >> them more corn, less forage, because they can pack >> more corn in. Top up >> the protein with a little soybean meal or broiler >> litter. Oh, but >> vaccinate for overeater's disease (enter chemical >> rescue) and prepare >> for acidosis (enter chemical rescue) and rectal >> prolapse. >> >> Okay, so feed less corn...get the energy component >> from a fiber source. >> The rate of hay consumption goes up...the digestion >> actually improves >> instead of declining into acidosis. And in this day >> of outrageous feed >> prices, what does that do to the bottom line? Beet >> pulp and corn are >> around $.020 per pound. Top notch 3rd cutting, 18% >> protein, 64% TDN >> alfalfa is $0.125 per pound. The capacity for >> forage intake is >> enhanced. The animals need less concentrate, eat >> more quality hay. >> Getting the grain out of the diet altogether and >> using a small amount of >> fiber energy feed is making some serious sense. >> >> The grain feeding and the creep feeding are >> beginning to look like a >> failing proposition for a blackbelly lamb to me. I >> think creep feeding >> is still a good idea, but it will probably be an >> area where the lambs >> can take in alfalfa leaves and beet pulp shreds >> without competing with >> the ewes, plus pasture. >> >> The big wild card is what beet pulp does in the >> finishing lamb though, >> since lamb is notorious for picking up off flavors, >> especially as the >> emphasis shifts away from protein, onto energy. It >> is taking some >> effort to get the lambs to accept B.P. Once they're >> consuming it >> readily, I'll give it about 30 days, then we have a >> runt we'll butcher >> and give it the taste test. Something tells me >> we're definitely on the >> fast track to 100% grassfed now. >> >> Regards, >> Barb Lee >> Blacklocust Farm >> Registered American Blackbelly Sheep >> http://www.blacklocustfarm.net >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list >> Visit the list's homepage at >> %http://www.blackbellysheep.info >> > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Be a better friend, newshound, and > know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. > http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ > > _______________________________________________ > This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list > Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info > > _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info