[Ladygrey]

sorry I wasnt saying that you did push them!

although 125kilo at 6 months has surely got to take some good feeding? I knew suffolks grew on fast but I didnt know that fast! how much does the suffolk ewe weigh?

I know of many people who really do push the lambs/rams hard, feeding them things they shouldnt in huge amounts  just to get the top prizes at the show, which is sad

[Me]

Ok so, I must admit I don't show or feed (more than the barest of bare minimums anyway) or have a lot of Suffolk experience recently, but, if they can do 125 kg not pushed, what would they do pushed??
 

[lou13]

Right well I think i'm just going to put him on a coarse mix from farmway (about 16% protein) and some sugar beet shreds. Do you soak the sugar beet like you would for horses or just feed it dry? Also if I split his food between two feeds a day how much should he be getting per feed? Thanks!

[shep53]

 Beet pulp is more palatable soaked and fills them up , don't know the coarse mix you mention if its says ok for rams then fine but it won't have the quality of a specialist ram feed , quantaties are up to you but start small and build up  to what ever he will eat , as you progress then 4 feeds a day may be needed .    If say you give 2 feeds of only beet pulp and 2 feeds of  mix this will lessen the chances of acidosis , and rock salt would be good to make him drink and thus keep flushing his bladder , to reduce the chance of stones .

[Hellybee]

Probably a given, but make sure he's vaccinated, ignore me if you have done so.

[Marches Farmer]

Beet pulp is more palatable soaked and fills them up , don't know the coarse mix you mention if its says ok for rams then fine but it won't have the quality of a specialist ram feed , quantaties are up to you but start small and build up  to what ever he will eat , as you progress then 4 feeds a day may be needed .    If say you give 2 feeds of only beet pulp and 2 feeds of  mix this will lessen the chances of acidosis , and rock salt would be good to make him drink and thus keep flushing his bladder , to reduce the chance of stones .

You see how much easier it is to just feed grass or hay ....?

[Tim W]

You see how much easier it is to just feed grass or hay ....?

Easier, cheaper and healthier for rumen development ---the animal  also rarely gets overweight on a grass diet

[beagh-suffolks]

sorry I wasnt saying that you did push them!

although 125kilo at 6 months has surely got to take some good feeding? I knew suffolks grew on fast but I didnt know that fast! how much does the suffolk ewe weigh?

I know of many people who really do push the lambs/rams hard, feeding them things they shouldnt in huge amounts  just to get the top prizes at the show, which is sad

not sure how much the ewe weighs but shes a 3rd crop ewe..the lamb weighed near 15kg at birth..so he was a brut to begin with...ano ones who wont sell ram lambs if they arent up to the weight..i find the sugar beet shreds the best for what im doing anyway...i mix the coarse meal in with it an they go mad for it

[Tim W]

15 kg !!!!

That's massive---average weight for single Suffolk lambs from mature ewes is 5.6kg (BASCO performance data) & 21 week weights vary from 47 to 88.1 kg
Did you scan him for muscle /fat depth? 21 week muscle depth varies from 29 to 46.7 mm in Suffolks

Would you want lambs that big?---Would they not give a few lambing problems now and then?

[shep53]

GUINNESS world record is 10.8 kg born in 2013

[MarvinH]

maybe its supposed to be in ibs

[beagh-suffolks]

GUINNESS world record is 10.8 kg born in 2013

go to the suffolk society basco records an it will tell ye thats not true..i didnt breed it purposely to be that big, she give no problems at all..they are lambs born far far bigger than him

[Me]

Far bigger then 15kg? My sheepdog weighs about that, I think she would retire the day she met a 15kg new born!

[Tim W]

go to the suffolk society basco records an it will tell ye thats not true..i didnt breed it purposely to be that big, she give no problems at all..they are lambs born far far bigger than him

hardly worth arguing about but 15 kg does seem a whooper ---I can only find BASCO info. on average sizes on the Suffolk site ---do they show record sizes too? Can you post a link, it would be interesting to see largest/smallest viable lamb sizes etc

[beagh-suffolks]

go to the suffolk society basco records an it will tell ye thats not true..i didnt breed it purposely to be that big, she give no problems at all..they are lambs born far far bigger than him

hardly worth arguing about but 15 kg does seem a whooper ---I can only find BASCO info. on average sizes on the Suffolk site ---do they show record sizes too? Can you post a link, it would be interesting to see largest/smallest viable lamb sizes etc

the only sizes i can give personally are the ones from my lambing book that has to be kept when registering..birth,8 week and 12 week is recorded on it an they are marked on a score from 1 to 5 for lambing, vigour an suckling assistance..i can send you a copy of my lambing book from last year..on my personal online basco i can look up lamb weights tho..