Producers who normally buy store cattle Consider either ploughing up rotational grass and sowing spring cereals or putting into set aside if possible. Eke out existing feed supplies to take lambs through to the grass and hope to find a market for them once they are finished, probably some time after May or June. The following diets will store crossbred lambs, maintaining their current body condition score outside. 2 kg of silage per day or 1-2 kg of draff will double the stay. The following diets are minimum amounts to maintain the health of 40 Kg crossbred lambs, relying on the utilisation of some body condition, eg taking a lamb at fat class 3L to 2L over a period of six weeks until grass is available.
Ad lib good quality hay, allowing one kilo per lamb per day.
For housed sheep fed on straw-based diets it is imperative that the straw is available in a rack. Do not rely on intake from bedding. Condition scoring On all diets it is important to check, and make a note of, average condition score at the start of the feeding period and at three-week intervals to ensure feeding levels are not too low. 1 hoggets can be grazed free for every dairy cow provided they are grazed on a daily shift behind the cattle. Where the winterer has extra grass available, graze hoggets to a sward height of 4 cm.