LIVESTOCK
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palatable grasses during the following season . You need to divide your camps so that there is sufficient rest time allowed . If your grass and other forage sources are inadequate ( and that ' s the case on most smallholdings ) you will have to buy in hay , as the animals must have sufficient roughage throughout the year . Another source of winter feed is crop residues . Although almost any crop residue can be fed to livestock , the residues of maize and vegetables are usually involved in animal feeding in Gauteng . Maize crop residues have been used for feeding livestock , both cattle and sheep , for many generations and remains one of the cheapest and best ways for winter feeding . Because of the cost involved in collecting the residues or baling it , the usual practice is to graze the residues in situ . Some animal feed scientists actually recommend whole
maize as an excellent proposition as winter grazing , particularly for sheep . Maize fills the winter gap effectively in a fodder flow from autumn until the first spring rains and can be used on its own or in combination with other winter pastures or crop residues or even saved for bridging the difficult August- September period . It is a lowrisk , high-potential winter pasture produced with summer rain and kept until winter as forage . Good supervision , especially during the first two to three weeks of grazing is very important to quickly identify and treat sick animals in a bid to prevent diseases . Acidosis due to the high energy content of grazing maize is a real danger , but correct adaptation prior to grazing will help . No matter how well you manage forage and veld , you will still need to supplement with concentrates in the form of pellets , cubes or meal . Concentrates provide the essential extra energy , minerals , vitamins and protein animals need on top of forages . Concentrates must be carefully selected to balance the specific nutrients provided by the forages available . Lick blocks are also an important form of supplementation . There are different types of licks to meet varying needs of different species of livestock , including protein licks and trace mineral licks . You can buy early winter licks and late winter licks . Another form of feed is green feed in the form of mats of sprouted barley . As barley grass has the highest nutritional value of all green grasses , the general health improvement of livestock on this feed will be noticed , as well as higher energy and vitality levels , stimulation of immune systems and great antioxidant levels . There is a surprising amount of moisture in this feed as well . Finally , you need to make sure that the animals have access to sufficient fresh clean water . Water troughs should be monitored in very cold weather , when they will freeze .
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