Feeding Baleage by Itself

[lucky7chief]

Due to the poor drying conditions last spring, I have some baleage to feed cows this winter. It is mostly fescue. I would like to feed it first before it starts to spoil. Can I feed that by itself to beef cows? Do I need to mix or alternate with dry hay? Thanks for any help

 

[snake67]

While I have never fed fescue, I feed wrapped bales all the time.

Straight up to cows and sheep - in fact I did it this morning while we were getting more than 11 inches of snow.

So if there is no problem with fescue then I would say go for it - they will love you for it.

Our wrapped bales are often stored for as long as 10 - 12 months before being fed out so I wondered why you thought it would spoil?

Bez

 

[lucky7chief]

They tend to get more holes the longer they sit. That's why I want to feed them first.

 

[bigbull338]

if it was me id put out 1 bale of baleage an 1 bale of dry hay at the sametime.

 

[turklilley]

That is the way I do it. One dry, and one wet.

 

[TexasBred]

They will just eat all of the baleage first and leave the dry hay waiting on another bale of the baleage. I'd feed the baleage first as it will begin to rot everywhere you have a hole in the wrapper. The cattle will love it but since it is such high moisture you'll have to feed much more of it for them to get all the dry matter they need.

 

[lucky7chief]

I agree TexasBred. Cows will not mix on their own. Boss cows will get first crack at baleage. When we fed silage to dairy cows, dad always made sure we fed dry hay too. Do I need to worry about that?

 

[TexasBred]

I agree TexasBred. Cows will not mix on their own. Boss cows will get first crack at baleage. When we fed silage to dairy cows, dad always made sure we fed dry hay too. Do I need to worry about that?

We sometimes made it available but they usually got enough of the other to satisfy their hunger. You'll always have a few go nibble on it but as long as you put out adequate baleage they won't be very agressive toward the dry hay.