alfalfa hay

[rjbovine]

I have been feeding alfalfa hay as a creep feed . They seem to eat it well. Haven't found any info on feeding alfalfa as creep. Good or bad . What do you think.

 

[Banjo]

Sounds like a good idea to me. Another thing I have heard of is creep grazing too. Planting something like ryegrass in area with a creep gate to keep the cows out. Of course that would suggest that rest of the pasture isn't maybe too good.
Since I started IRG my pastures are much better quality grass IMO than the overgrazed fields I had before, with still room for improvement so I haven't felt the need for the creep grazing.

 

[redcowsrule33]

As long as the price is right, the quality is good and your pasture is poor, it's not a bad deal. We have small pasture that we set up for creep when it's dry and we run out of pasture, works really well. Unfortunately this year there isn't a blade of grass to be found anywhere, so our creep pasture has been used heavily and that's gone too. Apparently you need rain for grass to grow. Hay is becoming very dear up here, with some guys asking for $125 per 5x6 bale.

 

[Dave]

Alfalfa would work fine as a creep feed. It is probably cheaper than grain this year.

Some time back I saw a article published by the Noble Foundation where they were creep grazing in their rotational grazing. It wasn't that the calves were going to a special pasture. They just had the fence set up so the calves could get to the pasture a day or two ahead of the cows. The theory was that they would eat the best stuff before the cows got a chance to.

 

[dun]

Some time back I saw a article published by the Noble Foundation where they were creep grazing in their rotational grazing. It wasn't that the calves were going to a special pasture. They just had the fence set up so the calves could get to the pasture a day or two ahead of the cows. The theory was that they would eat the best stuff before the cows got a chance to.

We just refer to that as forward grazing, our calves do it all the time. Since the grass is the same it doesn;t really change anything. We figure the calves do it just to drive the mommas nuts

 

[Dave]

Some time back I saw a article published by the Noble Foundation where they were creep grazing in their rotational grazing. It wasn't that the calves were going to a special pasture. They just had the fence set up so the calves could get to the pasture a day or two ahead of the cows. The theory was that they would eat the best stuff before the cows got a chance to.

We just refer to that as forward grazing, our calves do it all the time. Since the grass is the same it doesn;t really change anything. We figure the calves do it just to drive the mommas nuts

There is that too. Mine do it all the time. But at Noble they were doing it on purpose. They took step in posts and added an extension on the bottom so the wire was higher. Then they put those posts at a zig zag in the fence so a calf walking the fence would just walk under the wire. I kind of wondered how much the creep grazing helped preformance and how much it taught them to go through the fence.....

 

[dun]

But at Noble they were doing it on purpose. They took step in posts and added an extension on the bottom so the wire was higher. Then they put those posts at a zig zag in the fence so a calf walking the fence would just walk under the wire. I kind of wondered how much the creep grazing helped preformance and how much it taught them to go through the fence.....

Since the forward grazing could be a positive and the going through fences is a negative, I think I know which is more likely!

 

[rockridgecattle]

If alfalfa hay is all you have great
If however you have some grass hay or wild (slough) hay consider feeding this at this point. Why you ask...
glad you asked
Now this all depends on your gestation for your cows. Lets say you calve March April
The highest nutritional needs for your cows would be the last trimester...so from January onwards
The lowest nutritional needs would be from weaning time say October to end of December. At this time your hay should be the lowest on the nutritional needs so that the cows maintain but not lose weight.
The second highest nutritional needs area would be just post calving in prep for breed back on time.

Now the cavet to this would be how conditioned your cows come off pasture. If they come of in a bit poorer shape, your optimal time for gaining ground would be post weaning. But remember, winter will soon set in and offset those costs.

The best time for them to gain condition is out on summer pasture. Some look at it as freee grass. However in my experience no pasture is truely free. That said, alot of areas have been hit with drought and the gain just was not there on the none existent grass.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have been feeding alfalfa hay as a creep feed . They seem to eat it well. Haven't found any info on feeding alfalfa as creep. Good or bad . What do you think.

+ Here hay is a fraction of the cost of grain. If you want to calculate work up a $/lb of TDN number. Last time I checked Land o Lakes pellets were $275 a ton and alfalfa mix hay was $100 a ton.

- Grain would have more energy than hay so creep would be a more balanced ration. I wintered weaned calves on 100% alfalfa hay and was surprised at how low the ADG was.

 

[rjbovine]

I bought this hay at 165.00 a ton. Just thought the calves would grow better without getting to fleashy. Plan on weaning in about a month.