During recent years the use of TMR (total mixed rations) has increased in Swedish lamb production. For many years TMR has been used for cattle and hence the information and knowledge is vast, while the knowledge concerning sheep and TMR is more limited. The aim of this thesis is to present an overview of the scientific knowledge on the subject, and also to compile practical experience from sheep farmers using TMR. The thesis begins with a literature review where different aspects relevant to the usage of TMR are dealt with. It is concluded that there are differences between sheep and cattle that must be taken into account. While using TMR it is possible to extend the interval between feedings compared to conventional feeding regimes, and thus save labour. In the reviewed literature no evidence for detrimental effects on the animals’ feed consumption due to prolonged feeding intervals has been found. However, one problem associated with long feeding intervals is the durability of the feed. How the feed’s durability differs between TMR and silages was investigated in a small comparative study conducted by the author. Studies reporting that both the feed efficiency and the voluntary feed intake of the animals increase when fed TMR compared to when being conventionally fed are cited. The consumption is also affected by the chopping length, which in turn plays a major role for the animals’ possibilities to assort the feed. Different views on the importance of the chop length on the feed’s function in the rumen are presented. Different technical solutions are shortly presented along with a review on effects of different ratios between concentrate and forage in the feed.
Practical experiences from sheep farmers using TMR were gathered by a poll answered by twenty-two farmers. From the answers, five farmers were chosen to be interviewed in order to obtain more qualitative answers. An argument given by many farmers to invest in a TMR system is to rationalize the labour. The routines are planned differently on the different farms in the survey but there are also many similarities. For example, it is most common to feed the sheep once daily, but feeding every fifth day is also occurring. Grass silage is most often stored in round bales and the mixer wagons present in the study are almost exclusively towed. In the feedstuff section ideas about designing the rations are given. It is concluded that the TMR concept constitutes an alternative predominantly for larger herds, for which it is possible to financially motivate the investment cost, which ...
