Back to Basics
I’m stating the obvious, but it’s bloody dry in some parts. I am doing lots of pre-lambing and pre-calving planning. Do you have enough grain and hay? Do you want to feed for that long? Some people are making the choice to sell some stock now - prices are good. Just a reminder that the stock aren’t fit to load when they are heavily pregnant, so my advice is truck at least 6 weeks pre lambing or calving.
An ewe that is at scanning now, will eat over 100kg of grain between now and lamb marking, and over 200kg of grain between now and weaning. That is $43.00/head between now and lamb marking, or $82.00 between now and weaning. A cow is currently eating around $20/week. A feedlot lamb will eat $60 between 40kg and 55kg, and a 230kg weaner steer will eat $577 to get to be 450kg.
I’m all for feeding stock, it’s what we help people do here at AHN. But do it after making a business decision. Commit, budget, feed and do it well. Or sell early. There’s no half doing it.
To feed stock effectively, whether you’re drought feeding or feedlotting, you need to centre the diet around energy. Starchy grains are my favourite because they create the best levels of blood glucose for pregnant stock, and weight gains for production feeding. They’re risky though, so introduce slowly and sensibly!
Scours, hot footed stock, an odd dead one or animals that hang on their own mean you might have overdone it with the grain. Reduce the amount fed, provide more roughage, and put out some buffers like lime and salt or bicarb. Give it a few days and increase the amount again. Even if you think everything is stable, the weather is messing up their appetites, so keep an eye on the barometric pressure and try to ride the ups and downs.
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