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Attention to Nutrition Pays – SAC Expert’s Message at Northsheep
SAC Sheep Specialist John Vipond at Northsheep (opens in new window)
“Sheep farmers should buy feed on its nutritional value, not price”, according to SAC Sheep Specialist John Vipond.
Addressing a seminar at the 2011 Northsheep event near Hexham he told the audience that the severe winter had caused producers to start feeding earlier and many were now reporting better lambing percentages. With ewe deaths costing over £100 apiece he asked if it was right to allow immunity to be compromised in late pregnancy by incorrect supplementation.
This is a summary of John’s recommendations to his audience.
Most ewe diets are deficient in Undegradable Protein so in the last three weeks of pregnancy feeding around 200g Soya /day is beneficial. Most compound feeds supply much less than half this, but if asked, compounders will make feeds to your requirements. Alternatively spreading Hipro soya on silage or making high DUP buckets available can correct the deficiency, improve colostrum quality and reduce the ewes ability to infect pastures with worms.
Attention should be year round. Whilst better feeding just before mating improves lambing percentage, few farmers seem to realise the responsiveness of the ovary to that feeding may depend on the nutrition the ewe received as an embryo. Lamb mortality has been estimated at 14% of lambs born which is too high at today’s lamb values. Correct nutrition starts with supplying ewes with the trace element cobalt before they ovulate. This can affect how the lamb produced grows, its immunity and how active it is at birth.
Breeders are well used to the idea of selling ‘lifetime productivity’ as they have statistics like EBVS to measure this. They are less aware of the lifetime effects of their feeding regimes. Getting it right has potential benefits for them and their clients. Similarly, while the feed industry is used to breeders using feed to bring animals out for sale looking their best, new research shows how there can be much more permanent and beneficial effects from proper nutrition.
Hill sheep can pay where output is high at 100-120%lambs reared. Farmers should have a strategic plan to lift production:
- Nutritional intervention around tupping period to avoid barren ewes.
- Either high energy block feeding on an area of semi-improved hill ground providing both energy/protein and min/vit
- Or feeding with min/vit only over the tupping period on the improved grazings where nutrition is adequate but trace elements compromised by land improvement
Follow up with scanning and extra feed for twins.
John’s final message was to remind sheep farmers that there are simple to follow messages, together with the science on which they are based in the SAC booklet - “Year Round Feeding the Ewe for Lifetime Production”.
Contact John Vipond SAC (Edinburgh) at 0131 535 3215 or john.vipond@sac.co.uk