Re beet pulp and sheep

[alsea1]

I found this on a e how site.
http://www.ehow.com/how_8647640_feed-beet-pulp-sheep.html

I keep my animals on a small acreage. I mean small.
So I am always int. in a way to get fiber into them without breaking the bank.

 

[alsea1]

ABOUT THE PRODUCT
Show Lamb Complete is a texturized, highly palatable ration for all growing show sheep. Show Lamb Complete contains optimal levels of vitamins, minerals, and protein to ensure maximum muscle development. Cottonseed hulls and shredded beet pulp are included in Show Lamb Completeas a source of fiber. Calcium to phosphorus ratios have been carefully calculated and ammonium chloridehas been added to decrease the incidence of urinary calculi.

 

[goodhors]

Unfortunately, when you have to buy feed, your profit margin goes down. Especially if
this complete feed is all the grain ration the sheep and lambs get. It can be an especially
good feed, but it is not something you get cheaply. So probably not what you want
to feed the meat lambs. Show sheep, who sell by the head, not pound, might be a
good way to use this feed product.

You will want to be careful feeding straight beet pulp wetted, in warm times of year. It
can ferment when you let it set wet in heat. Not a good idea to feed fermenting feed
to any animals.

We let our PELLETED beet pulp sit with water on for about 3 hours, and it is ready to feed.
Sitting for 10-12 hours in 70F heat or even warmer temps, is asking for trouble with
fermentation of the wet beet pulp.

If you should get the shredded beet pulp, it gets totally wet in an even shorter time,
so even waiting an hour is almost too long before feeding. Shredded has no hard
coating like the cooked pellets, to break down before it can absorb the water. Lots
of people love the shredded beet pulp as a feed because it is ready so quickly. In our
area, the pellets are usually cheaper to buy, so pellets are what we use to feed. Saves
us money. We use the plain beet pulp, don't want the molasses kind. Stuff with
molassas gets moldy FAST around here. Humidity in hot weather can even increase
the mold time, to only a day or two before feed is "bad". Sheep don't NEED molassas,
so why pay to feed it, take a chance on giving them moldy feed? I save my money
not buying molasses anything to feed.

 

[alsea1]

Trying to feed animals cheaply but yet not have sick and dying animals can be hard.

 

[goodhors]

Have you got a local Elevator that will make up a ration from plain grains for you?
You can find a number of good ration recipes for sheep of various kinds, Rams, Ewes
expecting, feeder lambs, dry ewes. These specific rations could do what you want,
at a lower price than a Brand-Name feed mix. They always have options too, fed
alone, with pasture, with hay or other roughage like the wet beet pulp. Beet Pulp
is a great roughage, but sure not as cheap to feed as it used to be.

A good place to start ration checking would be your local State College, where they
do this kind of research to help local AG people of all kinds. They know YOUR area,
what local conditions you have to deal with, so they are the best place to start. My
State College is probably dealing with a different kind of local conditons, so they
wouldn't be as helpful to you. I am sure there is a website for your State College you
can get into for searching and a place to ask questions from the Experts on Staff.

You can then take the percentages of feed values from the recipe feed, compare it
to the Brand Name percentages on the baf, and compare the costs of each with what they
are going to provide in feeding your flock. I do this with our various feeds, so I
can see what I get for my money. So far using the recipes of feed mixes, I have
come out with better value in cost and feed percentages, over buying Brand Name
feeds. NEVER have any "mystery" contents in the recipe feed, like you get with "Misc."
on the bagged feed tags. No unwanted items like the molassas, in my recipe feeds.

Our local Elevator folks have been real helpful, can offer good insight on your feeds
or substitute items that are costly certain times of the year. Locally barley is MUCH
higher priced than oats, so I do some tweaking with one recipe by trading grains. I
HAD tried the barley for a year, couldn't see it did any better for the lambs. If you
can learn the feed values of various grains, you can do the grain trading in a recipe, get
equally good results on the animals by adjusting the amount fed. I do grain recipes
for our horses, cattle when we had them, lambs when we have them.

One local lamb producer had to learn about various grains when her Mid-Eastern customers
asked if she could feed them a different ration, so lambs would taste more like what
was sold in Mid-Eastern markets. Her grain recipe changed to a lot of Millet, other grains
common there, and did make the lambs taste "like home" to the customers. She sells for
premium prices, never has any lambs left over! She raised hundreds of lambs each year,
paid all her bills from the sales with plenty of profit left over to run the farm with.

Learning these things helps you make wise choices, save what you can in costs to
get your lambs or sheep to the selling stage. So a better cash return on what you
invest in your flock, AND keeping them as healthy, growing well, as possible. Use
the College as a resource, they are there to HELP YOU. It is their reason for being
in business! They probably have some good seminars, lots of research results that
could help you in other parts of your Sheep Keeping practices. I attend things put on at
my College related to animals, learn plenty!