Hay price

[smcgrath76]

We haven't had an issue with deer,
although I am concerned as there are Elk
not too far south of us now.
GF- I guess it depends on what the plan
is for your operation and how often
people feel they need to run out and
check cows. It does save a lot of
tractor time for us. The bales are
trucked in (off site nutrients coming
in) and are dumped around the area we
plan to bale graze. Total set our time
last year was 6 1/2 hours for 180 cows
and 150 backgrounders. That saves us a
lot of time and risk of an older tractor
not starting. We move fence with our
mini-truck so fuel and truck investment
is pretty small. I do agree though that
there are a lot of approaches and some
may not always save $$$.

[ASRG]

Sean: How do you keep them out bale grazing in the wind? My cows will starve before they'll stand out in the wind when it is very cold.

[tweaker101]

Kato, this will be the first year for us trying the bale grazing system. I have high hopes that it wil work and like grassfarmer thoughts it can be more work/money...depends on your situation. For us I hope that it works as I think it would be less work/money and a better fit into our work/home schedules for my family. As far as the wind issues our ladies are no different than any one elses so I have 3- 30' wind pannels that I plan on moving around as a shelter system for them, the only thing that I am kinda wondering about is bedding?...I know that they will use some of the hay as bedding and I will most likely put out straw to help them...what does everyone else do for there cows in the bale grazing situation for bedding?

[grassfarmer]

tweaker you just identified another couple of things
that often don't get mentioned with bale grazing -
shelter and bedding.
When we are done grazing banked grass we winter
feed for @100 days on silage diluted with straw. I
feed daily or every second day depending how many
are in each group related to the silage wagon
capacity. We use windbreaks and try to always feed
out on the open fields as that is where the nutrients
are most needed. We don't bed per-se as clean snow
is the ideal way to keep cows clean and warm.
Because i'm there with the tractor i'll move the
windbreaks every time just to get better manure
distribution and every time I move a ring of straw I
pick up the waste and drop it off in little heaps the
size a cow would sit on. These sound like a lot of
extra jobs but they take a couple of minutes and can
be done very efficiently while you are feeding anyway.
Picking up the waste straw in the grapple and
dropping it in heaps whilst driving away from where
you just fed the cows only costs you a few wrist
movements on the loader controls.
If I was bale grazing I'd like to not be going to the
field at all with the tractor so going specially to move
windbreaks would be a pain. I suspect what many do
is let them make more use of bush/tree shelter which
deposits a lot of nutrients where I don't want them. I
guess everybody has to decide on their priorities and
how much every action costs them and is worth to
them. My main objective with winter feeding is to do
the maximum amount of land improvement I can at a
time of year when I have plenty spare time so using a
tractor works for me. Saying that I bought a bunch of
cheap hay which i'll try bale grazing this winter on a
piece of land I can't access easily on a regular basis
with a vehicle.

[Happytrails]

I don't know how I would handle your deer problem Kato but so far they have shunned the country I winter cows in.

I have gone to hay swath and bale grazing mostly to leave the nutrients in the field that produced them. Last year was my first big bale grazing season and it worked great but with the weather we had what didn't? I'm baling half or better of my hay as a hedge against excessive moisture damage and also to allow carry over to the next winter.

[ASRG]

A question about bale grazing?
Do you leave the strings/net on them, cut and remove just before you let them into that paddock?
ALLFARMER: I was talking to a guy from your area yesterday and he says it is brutally dry up there. He also told me the government is going to sell off a large block of land near High Level next year? He heard it will be auctioned by the quarter with a minimum price per quarter (60K)?He said it is all in trees but good land, not muskeg.

[tweaker101]

I would cut the strings off in the fall before everything is frozen and snow covered, but thats my .02 but then this will be our first winter of bale grazing. I hear that some guys just turn out the cows into a group of bales and don't use a electric wire to try and control them?...any thoughts on that from our bale grazing people, my only worry would be that the cows would open up a bale and then move on and then waste it?.

[tweaker101]

I do know of one ranch for sure that does not use any controls for the bale grazing and they have little or no waste...so I guess that it does work..or like grassfarmer says you could spin it anyway you want to satisfy your self to meet your needs. Well on another note atleast it stopped raining here today, since the begining of the month we have had in excess of 30mm or rain...and most of it in the last few days. Off to the lake with my family and hopefully tonight I can start cutting again! have a great day alll

[ALLFARMER]

ASRG ya virtually no rain and 200 animals
makes things interesting. Dugout's dry up and
creeks stop flowing. Couple days ago we got 2-
3/4 inches big change. Put the cattle on half
section that only had a mile of completed fence.
Quickly got wire on another 1.25 mile now 3/4
mile with a ditch as border. The cattle if they
leave my property always come back but
definitely wanting that fence done. In the old days
guys here never fenced beside bush, the cattle
never wandered too far in.

The land is good here absolutely no question
about that. My mom was from Provost area the
first time I was in that area I couldn't believe the
rocks, hills, and light soil. This land is flat, no
rocks, and in my area heavy clay. Slightly acidic
but still grows over 40 bpa canola.