Grazing Sheep

[roly]

Hello

Roly from UK just mooved to Sask
the farm i got has little grass and i have 100 sheep can i sow rye in the spring for grazing

[WoolyBear]

Merry Christmas Roly.......

We thought you had fallen off the edge of the earth! Good to see that you had a soft landing! Rye over here is generally planted in the fall, grazed, overwinters and then grazed again in the following year. Most other things can be planted and grazed, or cut for green feed (fodder). Barley and oats are best in my opinion. Grazing Turnip will work well but wouldnt be ready until August anyway for the sheep. Nothing really would be ready to put the ewes out on until atleast late June or July.

Don't eat too much turkey........

[roly]

Hello Woolly Bear, thanks for the reply, yes I was off the air for a bit, I had to throw my computer awasy in England as it was a 240 volt and buy a new one when we got moved into the farm. We are about 40 minutes west of Yorkton and the farm is ideal what we want, the White Sands river runs through the land, we bought 2 batches of sheep 50 and 48 the 50 lambs in February and the rest I put my own suffolk tups on to lamb the beginning of April. Are oats and barley as grazing the same as fall rye? It will come back if you don't let it go to head - is that right? And is there any risk of bloat like there is with alfalfa? Thanks Roland.

[WoolyBear]

Hi Roly......

My Email is the same..... bshaw2@mts.net

You should checkout the thread that cowman started on BEEF. Its about grazing rye. We've got something over here called tritical which is a rye/wheat cross. Lots of good forage barley that give lots of silage, so why not for grazing? You'd want something to get growing fast and not dryout too much in July.

Take care