Keelan Hale (Chippenham)

For those who have smaller lambs they want to fatten over the winter and sell at market over the Christmas period when demand is low, grazing them on GS4 is an advantageous method for quite a few reasons.  After a couple of cuts through the summer there will be enough regrowth to fatten lambs from the Autumn onwards.  The shorter, thicker plants such as vetch and triticale are high in protein and grow well through the winter months, giving the lambs a real growth boost and maintaining quality through the colder months where other plants either don’t grow or lose nutritional value.  Herbal plants that can be part of GS4 such as chicory and plantain will bring more cobalt and other minerals up for sheep as well as naturally helping to reduce worm burdens, in turn minimising costs on wormers and reducing resistant worms which go hand in hand with overuse.  Due to sheep actively selecting the more palatable plant species I would recommend grazing the lambs on a rotation system to ensure certain plants don’t get grazed too hard.

Obviously, another common overwinter method for fattening lambs are turnips, however due to the lack of ground covering, especially once the greenery is eaten the lambs tend to get dirty.  Dirty lambs incur a penalty at abattoirs and markets, so the sheep tend to have to be housed a night or two before or be cleaned up.  Either option increases labour, but due to the thicker ground cover produced by the GS4 the level of muckiness and amount of labour will be reduced significantly.

Fattening the lambs on the GS4 allows for the high-quality grassland to be left for the important ewes who need it over gestation and into lambing.  Freeing these areas of grazing up for just the ewes means the ground isn’t over stocked or taken up with the store lambs, meaning come spring the pasture will be well rested and have less chance of holding disease.  Whether you lamb inside or outside this is a significant benefit because nutrient rich and clean grass is what builds the strong foundations for that year’s lamb crop.

Not only does the addition of GS4 help free up grass for breeding ewes it can also help cut down on concentrate costs.  GS4 can be made into silage and fed to twin and triplet bearing ewes over the winter months when the nutrient level decreases instead of the costly concentrate.  The silage contains the nutrients and energy needed to reduce the number of ewes in the flock suffering from the dreaded twin lamb disease.

To discuss further, or for guidance on how to use GS4 within your sheep system, please contact Keelan at keelanhale@fcgagric.com or your local FCG Office.