Adjusting sheep to creep feed achieves the grades

Sheep farmers attempting to intensively finish lambs indoors for the first time should start feeding creep outside to help adjust the rumen to the change in diet, rather than expecting them to finish indoors in limited time.

That’s the message from sheep farmer and Welsh Country Foods’ Asda Lamblink co-ordinator Pearce Hughes, who says many farmers are under the misconception that two weeks of intensive creep feed will turn O2 lambs into U3Ls.

“Just because lambs have been in two weeks and eaten £2 worth of creep each doesn’t mean they are finished.”

The transition from autumn grazing to being housed indoors is a huge shock to the system. “As a general rule, lambs coming straight off grass having not been introduced to creep prior to housing, will require a minimum of three weeks before grading for slaughter should commence,” he adds.

This will also be dependent on size and condition of lambs at time of housing, but he reckons lambs are capable of liveweight gains of 200-275g a day as opposed to 100-120g a day off grass.

“Even feeding 0.25kg a day concentrate prior to housing will help lamb performance once indoors, as the rumen will have begun to adapt to the change in diet.” And Mr Hughes adds, feeding silage is not advisable, as lambs require a high-fibre, high dry-matter feed to complement creep and stabilise the rumen.

 “Feeding good-quality straw or hay will settle the rumen and help prevent lambs from scouring.”

Stress

To take some of the stress out of housing lambs in to finish, Gloucestershire-based Brian Robinson, who finishes 1000 lambs a year, says even feeding 0.5kg in troughs while still grazing for as little as a week helps Middle Farm lambs adjust.

“When an adjustment period hasn’t been achievable in the past, we’ve found lambs have settled quicker and maintained better growth rates when feeding nuts, rather than pellets, coupled with a good quality haylage.”

Lamb performance will also be dictated by previous worming history, comments independent sheep consultant Lesley Stubbings. To get the best in terms of lamb performance she advises feeding whatever diet will be fed inside for two to three weeks outside.

“Farmers should consider feeding in batches according to weight and size, as some store lambs will be shy to feed.” Some of the more efficient store lambs are likely to show impressive growth rates, but Ms Stubbings says this is likely to be as a result of compensatory growth.

Farmers are likely to see a difference in killing-out percentage of up to 10% between lambs housed for two weeks or four to five weeks. “I’ve seen Mule lambs having spent four weeks on a well-managed intensive creep system killing out at almost 50%,” says Mr Hughes.

And in terms of technical performance Ms Stubbings says shearing will have an effect in terms of feed conversion rates. “Although farmers may be penalised by a couple of pounds at the processing end for shearing, the benefits in terms of slowing feed conversion rates will outweigh those penalties.”

As a starting point she advises clipping round the belly and tail, particularly when building ventilation is sub-standard.