Grazing Droughted Crops

By Lisa Ognjanovic - Land Management Consultant, and Brian Ashton, Livestock Consultant, Rural Solutions SA.

Key points

* Sheep should not be hungry when put into crops
* Sheep should be fully vaccinated against enterotoxaemia
* Beware of grain poisoning

Farmers in many areas of the State are desperately short of sheep feed and will probably remain that way until stubbles become available.

This is a time when it will be very easy to overgraze paddocks.

Some farmers are choosing to put sheep into droughted crops in order to relieve the feed shortage.

The risks with this are that areas of the paddock become bare and exposed to erosion for the next six months.

If farmers consider the risks of erosion are low and decide to graze the crops there are health factors to consider.

The sheep should not be hungry when put into the crop - fill them up on a good paddock, or on hay, first. They should be fully vaccinated against enterotoxaemia.

Even after they have adjusted to the paddock there may be problems as the crop matures.

The sheep will initially eat the green leaf, but as the crop matures and the grain starts to become "doughy" they will start to eat grain. This can cause grain poisoning.

Run the sheep around daily at this stage and get them out of the paddock at the first sign of scouring. Even better, consider lot feeding now and saving the paddock feed and paddock cover until April or May.

For further information contact Land Management Consultants at Rural Solutions SA.