Whether weaned or un-weaned, there is no time like spring-time to get lambs off to a great start by grazing lush green pastures.
Costing around 5 to 10 cents/kg, it is widely know that the cheapest feed available is growing in your paddock, and, with 10 to 12 MJME/kg DM, 22 to 26% Crude Protein (CP) and an NDF of around 38%, there’s not much better quality than lush spring pasture.
On the back of an extended period of feeding livestock throughout summer, autumn and winter, lush green pasture can provide much needed reprieve to the hip pocket. However, we also know that green feed doesn’t last forever, so we need to make the most of it while it lasts.
Below are a few considerations that can help find the middle ground between maximising production and minimising costs:
Balancing Energy and Protein
Although protein is an essential building block for lamb growth and development, young lambs only require 16 to 18% CP. Diets with protein higher than this can be inefficient, with the body expending energy in order to expel excess protein.
- Feeding a high energy grain when grazing lush green feed can dilute the protein and boost the energy of the diet driving improved liveweight gain.
Lush Green Feed is Low in Essential Minerals and Trace Elements
Although a great energy and protein source for growing lambs, lush green feed is generally deficient in minerals and trace elements.
Minerals and trace elements have essential roles in energy metabolism, rumen function, bone, nerve and amino acid development and immunity. When the animals internal processes are functioning correctly the lamb can maximise production.
- Supplementing growing lambs with StockMins-Crop Grazer Plus: Green Feed Supplement for Sheep resulted in 14% higher average liveweight gain compared to supplementing with Causmag, lime and salt. StockMins-Crop Grazer Plus Trial Flyer
High Feed Conversion Efficiency (FCE) of Young Lambs
Lambs are the most efficient feed converters when they are young, as the body prioritises rapid muscle and bone development to support survival.
- Balancing and supporting a full diet including minerals, vitamins and trace elements can maximise the efficiency of feed consumed getting lambs off to the best start during spring.
Manage Maturing Feed Effectively
As green feed matures and enters its reproductive phase the quality of the feed changes, seeing energy, protein and digestibility decrease. A green feed that once supported rapid gains in growing lambs now supports lamb growth at a decreasing rate.
- Increasing the grain component of the diet when green feed begins to mature helps to correct the decreasing energy and digestibility of pastures. This not only continues to support rapid growth, but can also boost the longevity of the green feed at a time when quantity can be limiting.
- As the feed matures further, protein may become limiting – this is when a supplementary protein source like lupins, or beans can be utilised. It may also be the perfect time to finish lambs in a feedlot.
StockMins-CropGrazer Plus: Green Feed Supplement for Sheep is a weatherproof granular supplement designed to correct essential mineral, vitamin and trace element deficiencies in sheep grazing green feed. StockMins-Crop Grazer Plus provides animals with 4 types of magnesium with differing levels of solubility to target different sites of absorption within the animals gastrointestinal tract.
StockMins-Crop grazer Plus is built with Bovatec, an effective ionophore that assists in supporting improved rumen function leading to increased feed conversion efficiency. Supplements offering effective levels of Bovatec have been shown to increase liveweight gain by up to 14% in livestock grazing green feed.
