Transactions of RHASS Volume 1940 - Page 023
Image details
| Year | 1940 |
|---|---|
| Transcription |
|
| OCR Text |
34 STOCK-FEEDING UNDER WAR CONDITIONS. October to lamb in March. But it will generally be unwise to adopt the corresponding step with, say, a regular breeding flock of half—brcds. The point is that the first heat of the ewe produces, in a big proportion of cases, a double ovulation (two eggs), whereas the later heats often give only a single egg. If the early heats are missed the proportion of twins will almost Certainly be less. Until grass comes the ewes must be kept in milk by the use of other foods, and it is well known that an increased ration of turnips or swedes is no satisfactory substitute for the ordinary allowance of dry food. It is, in fact, a common observation that a superabundant root crop often produces crops of big but ‘ soft ’ lambs, and causes trouble from shortage of milk in the ewes. The explanation seems to be that roots are, by themselves, an ill-balanced food for the purpose of nourishing the lamb, either before or after birth. If we must make shift with more roots and less dry food, something may perhaps be done to adjust the balance by changing the com— position of the latter—by putting in more of the high-protein foods such as cotton and earthnut cake, and reducing the proportion of the starchy ingredients such as maize and oats. On some farms known to the writer very good results are being got from grass silage as a food for ewes at this season. The grass is mown some three weeks before it would have been ready for hay, and is ensiled, with molasses, either in trenches (like wide potato pits) or in some cheap form of silo. This subject was discussed by Crichton in the ‘Trans- actions’ for 1935, and is fully dealt with by Dr S. J. Watson in his book ‘ Silage and Crop Preservation ’ (Macmillan, 1938). Naturally, if only a limited amount of silage is provided, it should be kept until close on lambing time. Any surplus can be held over till the following year. To turn to the second problem, the demand for lamb food falls at a season of the year when the needs of other classes of livestock are at their lowest, and it might be argued that the need for economy will not be so urgent. But from the broad point of view the summer should undoubtedly be used to build up a reserve supply of feeding-stuffs as an insurance against a scarcity in winter. On farms that are not very heavily stocked with sheep, the lack of lamb food will mean only that the lambs will fatten more slowly and that bigger numbers will have to be finished after weaning. Where numbers of sheep are large, and have been large for some time, there is the difficulty that lambs will not only fail to get fat in the absence of box- feeding, but may fail to make thriving stores. In many cases the explanation of this fact is to be found in the level of worm infestation—the lamb that is eating half a pound of concentrate is somehow able to fight down the parasites, sroor-FEEDING UNDER WAR CONDITIONS. 35 while the other lamb, dependent on milk and grass, fails to do so. Worm treatment is, in this sense, some sort of substitute for. box-feeding, and should be kept in mind. On many farms in the south of England, where stomach worm is extremely prevalent, routine drenching or ‘pilling’ of both ewes and lambs has become the normal thing. The commonest medicine is the mixture of copper Sulphate and nicotine sulphate, which can be obtained, in convenient form, from veterinary chemists. In other cases, where the type of worm is different, arsenical pills give better results. (flareful management of the lambs, with frequent chances to clean ground, is, of course, quite as important, as a measiire of worm control, as the use of drugs. Where grass silave has been made, the supply of clean aftermath, several weeks before the hay aftermaths are ready, has been found a valuable ILSSS I. _ In fattening out lambs in late summer and autumn it is important to make full use of aftermaths and stubbles and it may well be worth while to grow areas of rape and ’kale. Both these last crops do very well on ploughed up grass-land, and may well be more profitable than oats, especially where grub or Wireworm attack is to be feared. I It is a rather unusual thing to set up the south-of—Eno‘land l armer as an example to be copied by his opposite numbjer in beotland, but the writer has found reason to admire the south-country practice in making use of autumn forao‘e crops for sheep. It is a common thing in Scotland to see?> a mob of lambs scattered throughout a field of aftermath or rape and it is usually obvious that a considerable quantity of useful food is being wasted. Moreover, the value of the keep orets less and less as time goes on, and the sheep therefore fail to make full progress. The ordinary south-country practice wlnle it has the disadvantage that it entails a good deal of labour, makes better use of the keep. A heavy crop of after— math or rape for feeding lambs is best used by a system of double—folding. The lambs are drawn into two lots—the lorward and the backward—and these move over the ground in successron. A piece of the field, large enough to last the lorward group for two days, is netted off. When these have taken the best of the keep they are given a fresh fold and the second group follows to clean up. It is important ’that the keep should be cleaned up in four or five days in all otherwise tlLlSOWPrIn eggs an by the first lot of lambs will’infect the s1 me. On the winter fattening of hoggs it seems that suggest nothing better than a return to the type ognfatigrli that was used in the days before large supplies of cheap feedmg-stuffs were available. The following table gives the results obtained in experiments from rations which include |
| Title | Transactions of RHASS Volume 1940 - Page 023 |
