How do most people feed hay to their cows in winter?

[poorboy]

I live in an area that grows great grain crops, but poor (1/2 ton/ac average) hay crops. I found that it made more sense to put up silage and feed my cows barley, silage, supplement and barley straw than it did to feed hay.

However, this year I think it will pencil out way better to sell my $4 barley and buy hay with the big crops and surplus of hay in the prairies.

I have had a few bales of hay in the past and have a Jiffy 900 processor for my straw bales. I have tried unrolling my hay bales and letting the cows eat them, which works well except that the strings or net wrap is frozen on so tight for most of the winter it is a real pain to remove. I have run some bales throught the Jiffy 900 procesor, and it works well, but is slow, noisy and seems to blow a lot of leaves off.

What do most people do? Are other brands of processors much better than the Jiffy 900? Can you take the string off the bales in storage before the first snow and keep the bales together for winter feeding?

I do not have winter protection or watering facilities any where but in my yard, so all hay will be yard fed for the Feb-Apr period.

[gregpet]

If producers take this advice of holding crop into the new crop year for a higher price would this this not be similar to the barley situation? How dare he suggest it, orderly ,marketing and all.

[DiamondSCattleCo]

About the only time that feeding hay with a processor pays is when the hay is low quality, or if its greenfeed. Its more palatable to the animal chewed up.

But if you have high quality hay, you simply want to feed in hay saver feeders. The ones that hold the bale off the ground.

Following a couple studies quoted in Canadian Cattlemen, this is the least waste way to feed out round bales. Unrolling was only marginally worse than processing, while bale grazing is the worst waster (but the best at spreading manure around and other side benefits).

I'm doing bale grazing this year, simply because I want to fertilize a couple paddocks, but normally I use hay saver feeders.

Rod

[grassfarmer]

I would venture to guess that bale grazing using hay saver feeders would provide a more economically beneficial effect. You don't have to waste good hay to make manure, much the same result can be had by using feeders and even feeding some straw versus hay. The only cost you don't save on is that of running a tractor in winter.

[rkaiser]

Light 1 inch square tubing bale feeders at Real Indutries are under $200.00 bucks and can be moved by hand by almost anyone in the family. Maybe not the easiest way for 400 head but for 150 cows or less, they are just fine. Set the bales where you want them in the fall and get ready for the electric fence between the bales.

We did a bit of bale grazing without the feeders this spring and found that having some old grwoth grass under the bales helped with clean up. However - weather was a big factor and a few little light bale feeders would have helped.

[poorboy]

How does everyone using feeders handle the strings or net wrap frozen solid to the bales? I am in the chinook belt and it seems every time I get snow the chinook makes sure that it just melts enought to freeze the whole top layer of the bales.

[whiteface]

There's no getting around frozen strings/netwrap in the Chinook belt, poorboy, unless you cover them somehow and covering is way more work than it's worth. Cut the wrap, yank it off, yell at your cows trying to eat the bale while you're doing it, then haul the wrap with all the hay still attatched to it to your warm shop (ha! ha!), a place to wait for it to melt off or the burn pit (that'll REALLY melt the ice off good!). Or just leave it out like a lot of people do and let the cows injest a string or two then drop dead and have no idea why like I seem to see so many people do. No, don't do that, consequences of just leaving string out are too much like work also, less work just takeing the time to rip it off in the first place. Hey, think of it as fun...
What the hell else were you going to do all winter, vacation in Mexico with two pina coladas looking at bikinis?????
Sheez! That's no fun!!!!
Have a good day all and thanks for reading!

[grassfarmer]

"...unless you cover them somehow and covering is way more work than it's worth." No wonder you couldn't afford to farm any longer whiteface!
I think it is hilarious that while there is still a debate going on whether folks can afford to harvest feed mechanically rather than swath graze the majority of those taking the more expensive option (baling hay) then proceed to waste up to 30% of what they have baled by not covering the feed to protect it from rain. Economics of the mad house!

[whiteface]

I needed to meet you a long time ago grassfarmer... to show me how it's done.
Times change, ideas change, more things change the more they stay the same. This is what I evolved into, so far it's working for me. Still read all y'all's ideas batted around here and still appreciate learning all the time. Keep tossing em at me grassfarmer, I'm a lousy catch but eventually it has to average out and just hit me smack dab in the head doncha thunk? Have a good day all and thanks for reading!

[DiamondSCattleCo]

"I would venture to guess that bale grazing using hay saver feeders would provide a more economically beneficial effect."

I guess it would depend on the kind you have. It would work well with single bale cone style round feeders. I have the 4 bale rectangular ones that I moved around each feeding last year. I found the grass got badly torn up around the 4 bale feeder. It was just too much traffic. Wherever I used round bale feeders, the grass came back great.

Rod

[grassfarmer]

Rod, I was just assuming everyone bale grazing would be doing it when the ground was either frozen or hard. Most folks I know that bale graze pull the cows off onto a tough old pasture for the few weeks around break up. We only feed straw in ring feeders - to complement the silage in their ration. Our feeders are whatever is cheap and easy to move, I'm not into designer name feed rings lol!

[PureCountry]

We bale graze, no feeders, just cut the twines off and give them a week's worth of feed, because I work Monday to Friday. Yes they do leave some behind, but don't call it waste. If you could come and see how much grass, clover, and alfalfa we have growing right now where we bale-grazed, compared to the pastures of the neighbour's that are burning up(and our native grass), you would call it pretty darn good. That "waste" holds the moisture and feeds the soil. It's great for rebuilding our sandy soils. I look at it as another tool in the old grazier's toolbox.

[jensend]

we don't use feeders to bale graze and find that with high quality feed there is no waste and the lower quality they are going to pick through to some degree anyway. i can see using feeders for the straw portion of a ration but we generally figure what they don't eat they can lay on. this morning when we moved cattle my son pointed out where we had bedded near a bush in some bitterly cold weather and the grass production was probably up 30%. always looks like double but a one third increase is a lot in one year.

[whiteface]

I bale grazed last winter for the first time and am of the exact same opinion as Purecountry and jensend.
I got "shit" for "wasting" the perfect hay I was putting out for the cows but whatever. I have "too much money" and work Monday to Friday and "let them waste it." But (I know you're not supposed to start a sentence with but) they didn't waste it, picked it just about clean other than the stuff they made bed out of, grass is in better shape than before I practiced this and the cattle were a ton happier as was I running my truck less days per week and having more time to just stand there looking at them with my coffee in the mornings, not using gas. (yeah, I know its a run-on sentence.)
Anyway, you evolve or you get out which I suppose is the same as evolving.
Like I said grassfarmer, I probably needed to implement some of these ideas a long time ago but now I suppose is better than never.
I almost even like my cows again and figure it's so damn easy now since I just tweaked a couple of things, I could just about throw myself right back in again and "farm" full time!!!!! Ha! Ha!
Thanks for the inputs and for reading! Have a great day all!

[DiamondSCattleCo]

"Rod, I was just assuming everyone bale grazing would be doing it when the ground was either frozen or hard. "

Yep, thats when I bale grazed. Right up until January when the snow got too deep out in the pastures and I couldn't get out with a tractor. You can see where each feeder was by a 3 foot wide rectangle of missing grass. I won't be using the bale savers this year, but will rather be putting them out on the fall grass with no feeders at all.

Rod