Outwintering Steers - Forage Rape/Stubble turnips as winter fe

[carole]

Does anybody outwinter there stock all year round and use forage rape/stubble turnips as part of the feed for the winter.

It may seem an odd topic for this time of year, but having just bought another 80 bales of straw for the stock I am keeping in the barn. I am looking at ways of outwintering the steers next year, but I am concerned about the feed value of forage rape/stubble turnips and the acerage required for 20 steers.

Can somebody tell me the relative feed value of this crop, compared with good quality haylage and how many weeks/ months a 3 acre field will last 20 steers. Incidentally I was also going to add haylage bales in the field at the time of sowing, to supplement the feed.

Thanks in advance for the replies

Carole

[Broomcroft]

We outwinter 40-50 steers/heifers on 25 acres of hard ground but we don't use any winter crops. We put out 2 ring feeders and a few high protein licks and that's all. They have haylage and hay ad-lib in the ring feeders at the rate of 1 big round bale per 30 dexters per day.

This regime would be no good for finishing stock, they just maintain condition on it but we only do summer dexter beef now off grass so that's not a problem. This year I put youngsters out as well, say from 10 months old and weaned. They had the hardest time but still did OK.

The previous year we had just 6 out all winter on the same regime, just haylage etc, and they maintained tip-top condition, far better than the 100 or so we had inside. Outside for us every time if we can manage it.

Our haylage this year was total rubbish. Getting the haylage out to them is our big problem, ruts everywhere! Need a solution to that.



Edited By Broomcroft on 1270244297

[Denise]

Hi Clive, how about "flying foxes" down to the feeders??? they would have to be verry heavy duty, but it could work.
specially in that big paddock.

[Broomcroft]

You've got me there Denise. I've heard of flying pink elephants, I see them all the time, but what's a flying fox?

[domsmith]

a friend of mine laid out the round bale silage, in a field on its end. then moved the ring feeder over the bales as he needed them. he kept an electric fence to keep the rest of the bales safe.
he was feeding maybe 20-30 beasts had a good 40 bales in the field.

a flying fox is a zip line for sliding down.

dom

[Broomcroft]

That's an interesting idea dom. I'd have about 200 round bales though but it could still work, or something like it.

[Broomcroft]

Carole, I just remembered I spoke to my seed-man a few weeks ago regarding possible winter crops. We spoke about forage rape especially because I thought it looked good as you could sow it in the summer and get a good crop in 10 weeks. I can't remember why, but it wasn't his favourite, I think because it grew so well you'd need to sow the field a number of times later and later to get an even crop to strip graze and then it only went up to around Christmas time if I recall. His favourite for me was kale as probably the best option. I'd then need to strip graze it with a good electric wire. But I won't be doing it this year, going to stick to haylage and butcher finishers will have to be inside.

Ann (Wheeley Moor) does it every year and feeds hay as well. I don't know anything about how to do it, but I do know that the feed value is excellent and also because it's a brassica that it counts as grass-fed. It is better to winter feed living kale than it is to feed grass-based forage in fact. Some people say kale taints the meat taste, but I've never met anyone yet who has actually experienced this yet.

We may not go for kale though because we have loads of deer and they LOVE brassicas I have been told. Mind you, I like venison so maybe I will sow some



Edited By Broomcroft on 1270370344

[domsmith]

without any doubt we will be sowing 4 acres of maris kestrel kael this summer.
silage use use has exceeded what its possible for me to grow here at sunnyside.
this winter i have bought in nearly 200 bales already and we need to cut that back.
so kale feeding for 3-4 months will hopefully be my salvation

dom

[Broomcroft]

How many cattle will be grazed on the 4 acres dom, for how long? I'm buying haylage as well. Not good.



Edited By Broomcroft on 1270370767

[carole]

Thanks for the reply Clive, one of my other reasons for using forage rape is that I understand that it will tolerate a poor soil, I can broadcast it in off a spinner and I can use it to get a field back into use. This particular field really needs to be ploughed,cultivated and reseeded.

So by using a forage rape/stubble turnip mix I can outwinter the steers and also manure the ground ready to reseed the following year, Well thats the theory anyway, The trouble is I am not sure of the feed value and how long it will last.

I do like the idea of running in some round bale haylage end on and then placing it behind some electric, that will helps things along.

Thanks for the replies.

Carole

[Broomcroft]

I've just asked about forage rape/stubble turnips on a professional farming forum because I'm interesting myself Carole. I've got 25 acres that needs starting over again because it just isn't producing grass, so a winter crop might be a good idea on part of it, then a complete reseed back to grass. I'll post the essence of the replies if I get any.



Edited By Broomcroft on 1270394425

[domsmith]

Spring Calving Cows at SAC Demonstrations
Kale: 10 cows to 1 hectare (2.47 acres) for 100 days
Stubble Turnips: 4 cows to 1 hectare (2.47acres) for 100 days
The results in the case studies also show their stocking rates based on “Cow grazing days per acre”.
Example of calculating stocking rate from “Cow grazing days per acre”:
Field 1 = 2ha (5 acres)
Cow Grazing days per acre = 480
If there is 24 cows in the field then 480/24 = 20 days per acre for 24 cows
2ha (5 acres) = 100 days for the 24 cows

might help

i thought around 20-30 cows for 100 days off my 4-5 acre site. bearing in mind we have cows that are half size!!!

dom



Edited By domsmith on 1270397660

[Broomcroft]

One guy added that he thought forage-rape isn't winter hardy and wouldn't go through to the new year depending where you are. But in Cornwall Carole, probably not a problem?

Are those calculations strip-grazing the kale dom?

I think that comes to 7+ sq metres of kale per dexter per day. My field is 250 metres wide so for 50 dexters they'd have a 5 metre segment each. So I would move the wire about 1.4 metres a day. For 100 days I would need a 140 metre deep field i.e. 8-9 acres.

Has anyone done this with kale and had problems with deer eating it?

[domsmith]

put in a bird scarer or 2 and that would surely keep the deer off.
.........and the neighbours up!!

dom

[Broomcroft]

The only neighbour near that end of the farm is the guy who keeps cutting my fences to allow the hunt to jump, so that could be a really good idea