Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-f46jp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-11T10:10:25.929Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparison of Grass Silage and Whole Crop Fodder Beet Silage When Fed to Ewes in Late Pregnancy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2017

J.V. O'Doherty ,
P.J. Quinn  and
T.F. Crosby
J.V. O'Doherty
Affiliation:
University College Dublin, Lyons, Newcastle, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
P.J. Quinn
Affiliation:
University College Dublin, Lyons, Newcastle, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
T.F. Crosby
Affiliation:
University College Dublin, Lyons, Newcastle, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
Get access

Extract

The use of fodder beet in rations fed to cattle and sheep has always been valued highly. Recent long-term experiments have shown that the palatability and high feeding value of fodder beet is fully preserved during the ensiling process.The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the performance of ewes in late pregnancy when fed either whole crop fodderbeet silage or grass silage.

Mature (2-7 yrs), oestrous synchronised, twin bearing ewes (n=60) of mixed breeds (mainly Suffolk cross, greyface and halfbred), were selected following winter shearing and pregnancy scanning in December. At ten weeks prior to the predicted mean lambing date, the ewes were allocated to one of two treatment groups which were balanced for breed, age and liveweight. High quality precission chopped silage (DM 194 g/kg; CP 152 g/kg DM; in vivo ME 12.8 MJ/kg DM) and whole crop fodderbeet silage (WCFB)(DM 171 g/kg; CP126 g/kg DM; in vivo ME 11.7 MJ/kg DM) were fed in Tl and T2 respectively.

Type
Silage and Feeding Behaviour
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Production (1972) , Volume 1993: Winter meeting , March 1993 , pp. 148
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)