SHEEP ON DAIRY FARMS

Opotiki News, Volume X, Issue 1041, 28 October 1947, Page 2

SHEEP ON DAIRY FARMS

ADVANTAGES OUTLINED One of the ways whereby there may be brought about a balance between feed produced and the demands of the dairy herd is in the timely selling of cull cows and the use of sheep on the dairy farm. Cows to be culled should be quitted just when the summer feed shortage commences, so that they do not compete with the higher producers for the limited feed supplies. In this way most of iheir butterfat can be obtained while plenty of feed is available. Apart from this there _is not much latitude for the varying of stock numbers on a dairy farm, except in respect of the use of sheep by the purchase of cull lambs, production of fat lambs, or the grazing of ram hoggets. Unless a mixed farm is being run and the sheep are regarded more or less as a separate venture, the number of sheep grazed should never be so great that they seriously compete with the milking cows for feed. A small mob of cull lambs purchased :'n the late summer, and following the cows in rotational feeding will do very weh and return a good profit- when sold fat in the winter, or even earlier. Old ewes in lamb to a Southdown ram do not have a big winter appetite. Tlieir requirements increase rapidly after lambing, while the lambs also eat a fair amount of grass, but this period is one of maximum growth. Both ewes and lambs can be sold fat by mid-summer. The running of ram hoggets for a stud breeder at a fixed charge per head is an arrangement of mutual advantage. N ot- only do the hoggets do very well on dairy pastures, but the greatest demands of these sheep come when grass growth is most active. Normally they go back to their owners about November. A further advantage of running sheep on a dairy farm is that they assist in keeping in check such weeds as docks and ragwort.