Round Bale Silage Feedout Losses when Fed to Sheep

Abstract

\"Three hundred store lambs (43.3 kg) were used to evaluate the quantity of round bale silage loss and feed efficiency of a covered bale feeder compared with feeding intact bales on the ground. Seventy five lambs were allocated by breed and liveweight to one of 4 yards each with a grain lick feeder and two with a bale feeder. Grain was placed in the lick feeder every 2 days at the rate of 800 g/lamb.day. The silage was round bale lucerne with 6.4% sterile barley grass seed heads and leaf contaminant, fed every 4 days. Data collected included silage refusals, wastage, intake and lamb growth rates. Silage wastage was 7 and 45% (P<0.01) for the bale feeder and ground feeding respectively. Lamb growth rates were 204 g/day using the feeder compared with 161 g/d (P<0.001) when silage was fed on the ground. Efficiency measured as kg liveweight/t DM eaten as grain and silage was 146 for the feeder and 131 (P<0.05) when silage was fed on the ground. When efficiency included measures for wastage there were highly significant (P<0.001) differences. \"