This year I planted about a ½ acre of purple top turnips with the intention of using it to flush our ewes before breeding in December. This would be stored turnip since we often have over a foot of snow, or snow and Ice, on the ground and planning to graze them would be risky. My idea is to replace the corn that we typically use for flushing with an on farm produced feed. Turnips are something that we can grow very easily up here in Maine, not that we can’t grow corn but there are several reasons, that I won’t get into here, that I don’t think corn will work for me as easily – but I am figuring this out so maybe I am mistaken and corn is the way to go, time will tell.
My question:
Does anyone have experience feeding turnips to stock? The information I have been able to get it that feeding them whole can be risky because of choking and traditionally they were fed chopped. This year, since it is an experiment, I am ok chopping them by hand but would not want to always do this. Also concerning storage I can make due this year by storing them in our basement but that is a lot of space dictated to turnips and I would rather have them closer to the sheep, I am curious if anyone has had experience with cold storage of a lot of root crops. I have seen pictures of potato's buried in mounds for temp storage, it would seem that this would be an option.
Thanks
Billy

When I was a boy we store ours in the ground year round until we got bin built into the cellar. We built clamps by digging two intersecting trenches that slope out from the center, then cover them with straw or dry leaves. Then we mounded the turnips up on the straw and covered the turnips with more straw. Once the straw was in place we dug another trench around the mound and through this dirt up onto the straw covering the turnips. Sometimes we would put a tin can in the top with holes in the side to allow it to breath a bit but since this wasn't always done it may have been more for temporary storage. But these clamps were used for permanent storage of turnips,potatoes and cabbage. The only thing with cabbages is that they need to be clamped with the heads down and the roots up. I would think cold storage would work but it would need to be dry as well or the crop would rot. I have also heard of storing them buried into a bank in a barrel. But depending on how cold it gets in your area you may have a cool dark place in your barn that would work well enough.

If you can find a food processor at a flea market you can chop them into chunks and make turnip chips from there. A real root cutter would be better but they aren't cheap anymore. Maybe something like one of those DR type branch and limb chippers would work. I know there's a guy uses one to chop apples prior to making cider.

I've used purple tops for ewe feed for years .Grazed the top till all gone then disk up the bulbs and left the sheep have at them. Never had any problem with choking . 120 ewes over at least 10 year time .They would come in from the field with their front feet and noses covered in dirt from digging out the ones that didn't get disc out.

Used to be a machine called a root cutter ot root pulper.....coys up the turnip or mangel ect... into something like a french fry ......used alot say in England basically a drum grater under a hopper....they made them from hand turned to pto power.....I've been on the look out for one for a few years....I want a cut up Rutebagas to feed my stock.....but not with a knife!
I've grazed goats on turnips...they eat the leaves and hollow out the turnip....just don't eat what touches the dirt...used purple tops, white eggs, and rootybeggars

All good info. Sounds like it will work, now to see if it will work for us. I will most likely chop what we have here this year by hand since it is only 5-6 hundred pounds. The wood chipper may be a good option in the future, one can find the small ones for cheap money.
Billy

Why do you need to chop them? As long as they are big enough that they need to be bitten before they can swallow them, they won't choke on them. It is the little ones you need to watch as they can choke on them.
I'd leave a few in the ground over the winter. I think they would still eat them come spring.

Chopping turnips is like a host of other jobs...it's a preventative..especially with cows and horses....and more for big old roots fed in the trough than for grazing I'd think