[Jacob-list] Hay woes

[Linda]

Is there any advantage to supplementing with the livestock blend over supplementing with corn?  I do, of course, have free choice minerals available and use a Blue Seal nutritional tub at some times of the year.  

Straw here is higher than hay for some reason.  I guess mine would eat it if they didn't have anything else, but they tend to leave the heavier stalks in the hay, so not sure they'd go for straw.  I've never heard of feeding wood chips, but did use wood chips one year for bedding.  I don't know if they ate any, but all the fleeces had to be thrown away --- wood chips might as well be glued into the fleeces, as they don't come out.

Does anyone use beet pulp?  The alfalfa pellets have done very well for me.  Thanks everyone for the replies.  It sounds like I can limit my hay if I need to.  What I really need is to get some more land cleared and planted, but that's not an overnight project.

Linda
 
www.patchworkfibers.com
Registered Jacob Sheep, Angora Rabbits, Handspun Yarn


> =============

> We mostly feed grass hay (which has almost doubled in price this

> year).  We lamb in March and start feeding the ewes alfalfa in

> January and continue until the pasture is ready in late March.  I

> also feed leafy alfalfa to the lambs.  If I needed a hay substitute

> for the adult sheep, I would buy Livestock Blend (a complete pellet

> feed with some corn kernels in it), made by Land O'Lakes Company.

> It is fairly inexpensive, $7.50 for a 50-lb bag, but there is a

> discount if you buy a ton.  A few years ago, it was only $5.25 a

> bag.  For additional roughage, I would feed either wheat or barley

> straw.  I can buy tons of it here for $2.00 a bale.  I would

> include a mineral mix, maybe add some additional vitamins to the

> feed.  I would check with a sheep specialist first about all this.

> My sheep eat straw anyway because they eat about half of their

> straw bedding.  They seem to like it. Someone told me it is because

> there are residual grain chemicals on the straw.  Maybe straw is

> hard to get in Georgia.

>

> And for something really 'off the wall', I think some folks feed

> wood chips to cattle, but I would definitely check that with an

> expert.  Not much nutrition there, just fiber and carbohydrates.

> Maybe used as a last resort, check it out.  There are plenty of

> trees in Georgia.  Don't use wood chips from cherry trees!

>

> Good luck,

> Cathy

> Moscow, Idaho


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