Creep Feeding, Windrowing Pasture and Parasites
#bfrdpwy #aginternship #RightRisk
Over this past week of the GrowinG-WY internship I have continued to raise and creep feed bum lambs in hopes of weaning in the next few weeks. I have also continued to move and wire-up new electric fence around the property to change the locations of the sheep. [Also,] As well I have learned how to properly manage feed from pasture to feeder via swather and baler.
The reasons why we have decided to windrow the pasture is to better manage feed consumption. Since we started managing intensive grazing on irrigated pasture, we found that the sheep tend to push or knockdown around 20-30% of the garrison and alfalfa field, which drastically reduces the amount of feed the sheep will eat. Instead, we have decided to windrow and bale the feed and use it in bale feeders to reduce the waste from feed. This technique does not completely take away waste of feed but does lower the wasted portion to about 10%. And 10-20% more feed consumption opens a significantly larger portion of feed available throughout the year.
Another reason we have decided to bale the pasture is to reduce and break-up the parasitism cycle in the ewes. Since the worms pass their eggs via fecal matter it makes the worm cycle much easier to continue if the ewes are eating from the contaminated pasture. Also, we have moved the creep feeder from the ditch bank to the corral with the bale feeders to keep the lambs closer to their mothers, creating [fewer]less issues in terms of a lamb deciding to feed from a different ewe other than its mother.
With weaning a few weeks out, it is important to watch for mastitis due to the lower volume of milk the ewes will start to put out and the more nutrition the lambs will seek since they are growing. If the lamb gets separated from its mother, it will try and find the weaker ewes or ewes with twins. Putting more stress and wear on these ewes can cause mastitis and make it easier to pass mastitis from ewe to ewe if the lambs go back and forth.
As I have learned and talked about in past summaries, parasitism can be extremely detrimental to a sheep flock and doing whatever is necessary to minimize the worm load is extremely important to the overall health of the ewes and lambs. Along with the prices of everything going up due to inflation, managing feed and pasture is vital to get the most out of your property and feed.
Some questions I have raised is what if you set up smaller paddocks to minimize the amount of feed being trampled, and more intensely graze the sheep, moving fence every day. Also, what is the optimal weight and portions of creep feed the lambs are eating that signals it’s time to start weening?
As this week has come to an end, I have learned so much more in terms of equipment used to windrow and bale. I have also got some quality time around the equipment and seen what some common issue that can arise when using the equipment and how to fix it.
With the knowledge I have learned this week I can better assist family and friends back home with their farms and even pass on some solid information in terms of different methods of feeding livestock and how to better manage feed.
