Lamb creep feed lifts wean weight for early sales
By Jonathan Long
CREEP FEEDING lambs can be expensive and is often seen as unworthwhile by many producers, but, according to Irish research, it is cost effective.
Eugene Grennan of Teagasc”s Athenry research centre told delegates at the Irish Grassland Association”s sheep conference that creep feeding mid-season flocks increased the number of lambs sold by weaning and lifted weaning weights of creep-fed lambs.
“High weaning weights are essential when early lamb sales are needed. A twin weighing 4kg at birth, 32kg at weaning and 42kg at sale will have achieved 75% of its liveweight gain by weaning,” he said.
Typical growth rates on grass alone post-weaning are 1kg a week, so every reduction in weaning weight of 1kg will delay average sale date by one week.
But with grazed grass costing just 5 cents/kg (3.5p/kg) of dry matter, compared with 25 cents/kg of DM (17.3p/kg) for creep feed, the first priority is to achieve high lamb growth rates before and after weaning on grass without creep feeding.
“Early grass growth, control of sward height and high growth rates in the month before weaning are key factors in achieving high weaning weight,” said Mr Grennan.
Mixed grazing and creep grazing – allowing lambs to graze ahead of their mothers – can also give an added lift to weaning weight, while leafy grass, aftergrass and clover are the key factors in achieving high growth rates in weaned lambs.
In trials lambs offered creep feed at 300g a day both before and after weaning were sold an average of 28 days earlier than those not fed creep and they consumed about 30kg of creep, costing
“This early sale means 28 days of grazing are saved, worth about
Also, up to 40% extra lambs could be sold by late July meaning they will achieve a higher sale price than when they are sold at later dates, added Mr Grennan.