Forage is the key driver for any ruminant ration and will – in almost all cases – be the majority component of the diet.
The better the quality of the forage, the higher the intakes and the more of the ewes’ requirements that can be met with forage alone. This reduces the reliance on additional supplementation and therefore cuts input costs.
Based on 2024 reseeding, fertiliser, contractors’ charges, fuel, net and wrap, the estimated cost of producing baled hay is £35.97/t compared to £42.37/t for baled silage. Please note these are estimated costs of production rather than trading prices.
The table below demonstrates the difference in ration costs for a 60kg in-lamb ewe carrying twins three weeks pre lambing for varying quality hay and silage.
Due to the increased fuel usage to work a wet forage over dry forage as well as the need to net and wrap, the most expensive ration is working out to be average quality silage at 9.5ME costing on average £0.36 per ewe per day to balance with concentrate pre lambing.
The most cost effective feed is a good-quality silage costing just £0.23 per ewe per day. This difference of £0.13 per ewe per day would equate to a saving of £2730 feeding a 500-ewe flock for six weeks pre-lambing.
Even with an increased concentrate requirement, a good hay-based ration with hay more than 9.5ME will come in at similar cost to very good quality silage, highlighting further the cost benefits of making the best quality forage possible, not even accounting for the performance benefits that will follow.
Reducing the level of concentrate feed in the ration will also contribute to ensure the ration is rumen friendly and reduce the risk of acidosis.
Care must also be taken to balance protein in the ration particularly when a forage is high in energy, meaning low levels of concentrate are required. If the forage is less than 12% crude protein it is advisable to check with a nutritionist to ensure both protein and energy requirements are correctly met in the ration.
Silage-based diet considerations:
• Due to the increased moisture content, silage is more prone to spoilage and nutritional degradation compared to hay. Always keep fresh and try to avoid leaving a bale out for more than 48 hours.
• Listeriosis risk can be higher in a silage-based diet – always analyse and avoid feeding any silages to sheep with an ash level of more than 90mg/kg DM which indicates possible soil contamination.
• Intakes can be variable depending on dry matter – too wet a silage can be an issue during late pregnancy due to intake restrictions.
• Nutritional quality can be highly variable in silage and hay – always analyse to ensure rations are balanced correctly for the needs of livestock.
• Where possible use precision chopped silage to optimise intakes.
• Black wrap and netting must be recycled at a cost.
There is still time to ensure there are sufficient stocks of good-quality forage for the coming winter. Ensure to label bales from different fields for analysis to allow for best allocation on farm.
Visit www.sac.co.uk/livestock for more information on how SAC Consulting’s livestock team can support you.
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