Been unrolling hay

[callmefence]

Some yaw that unroll, care to make a guess how many pounds each cow gets? My best guess is mine are getting 10-12 pounds. I'm about to abandon unrolling, and switch back to free choice. They're acting mighty hungry.

I have mine split into two groups right now, each group is approx 30 mama's with 2 to 3 month old calves on them. I roll out a bale a day for each. bales are 8 to 900 lbs. That's about 28 lbs each per day, but I'm gonna say only 25 ish gets eaten.

Sounds good..... let's see em...

 

[gcreekrch]

Depending on which group is getting fed, bred heifers to mature cows, 25 to 35 lbs per day rolled out. We feed on the poorer spots of our hay meadows until calving is near. Less hay per head if we are feeding pellets to supplement.

 

[Lucky]

My hay supplier spot weighs the bales so I have an idea of what they weigh. This year the bales were around 1150 so I unroll enough to get each cow 25-30#. I'd guess the waste at less than 5% but who really knows. I feed The bulls in rings and would guess the waste at 15% if I really make them eat it. On really cold or wet days I supplement the cows with 3# of feed just to keep them happy. Might not work for everyone but it works good for me. I don't know the quality of your hay but cows will waste sorry hay no matter how you feed. Not at all saying this is the case but I've seen it allot in my area. I'm really having to stretch the hay this year , was dry as I've ever seen it this year.

 

[collegeboundgal]

If worried about trampling to the point you'd try anything, I've seen where some unroll a bale then, right down the middle, string up one hot poly wire. Keeps the cows from walking back and forth over the hay. I can find a pic on the internet if some can't visualize it.

 

[Dave]

Feeding on the ground vs in a feeder of some sort depends greatly on your climate and soil. When I was on the Washington coast very few fed on the ground. There was just too much waste. The hay got stomped into the mud. The few who did feed on the ground had that real rocky out wash prairie soil which just doesn't mud up. The weather there in the winter was upper 30's and regular rain. Moved here to Eastern Oregon and everyone feeds on the ground. The 10 inch annual rainfall and ground frozen like a rock takes care of the mud issue. Most feed big square bales. By driving slowly across the field kicking a flake off the truck every 15 -20 feet it reduces the trampling. I have seen guys feeding round bales with both a spinner and a hydra bed where they paused the spinner or lifted the bale to leave a gap between hay piles. Again this reduced the trampling. I have yet to see anyone just straight unroll a bale.

 

[gizmom]

The boss sets the bale down thin kicks it with the front end loader. When he does it it works like a charm when I try to do it not so good lol. I guess that is why he is the boss!

Gizmom

 

[OzssieDave19]

Hay is expensive. I like to make 1 paddock a sacrifice paddock. Feed in bale rings. Concentrate all the manure and pasture damage to one area then hopefully the fresh paddocks recover and grow. Then oversaw or renovate the sacrifice paddock. Turn the negative of say a drought into a positive. Works well for me.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Last winter I switched to unrolling hay on pasture. Come summer that pasture had the best grass and I had no manure scrape up and spread.

This winter I'm unrolling on a different pasture hopefully with the same results.

Our ground is muddy in fall and spring but snow covered and froze usually Nov thru March ~ish. But even in mud you move the cows daily so it isn't much of an issue.

 

[jltrent]

I am located bout midway (north/south) in the east and it has taken a pile of hay so far. A bad winter is predicted and late March maybe a long ways away on feeding hay. My dad and I built a hay unroller in the 80's and I have used it every years since, wouldn't feed hay without it. I stocked piled bout 90 acres of grass also, but when cold weather sets in I don't care what they say that grass goes fast and doesn't seem to have the spunk of summer grass.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Chris - I was reading thru this and was going to mention limit feeding. Here's a decent article:
https://www.dakotafarmer.com/story-best ... ay-9-54526
I put an article in my newsletter several years ago, but can't find it.
ALL research claims you save hay by placing in a feeder (different hay loss for different types). But, limiting the amount of time that they can eat works best for saving hay. You simply place your feeders in an area that you fence off. Open fence for X number of hours. Labor time, but if you are around, can save a lot of hay.
One thing all the articles say, is to feed an ionophore (Rumensin or Bovetec) to save on hay.

 

[ddd75]

the research is flawed and wrong.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

the research is flawed and wrong.

Please explain.

 

[ddd75]

the research is flawed and wrong.

Please explain.

i do my own research, and saying feeding hay in feeders saves hay vs. unrolling it.. is wrong.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I agree that there are places and times feeding on the ground will work. Limit feeding on frozen/dry ground will work just fine, with very little waste. Absolutely would not work for my area "most" of the time. And I do not plan to feed daily. Always trade-offs in our business.

 

[ddd75]

i'm mud here with no bottom but i still unroll and limit feed in my building.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Lets see, post some pics of your mud feeding.

 

[ddd75]

Lets see, post some pics of your mud feeding.

try reading a little harder..

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Only trouble I have with mud unrolling hay is the gate where I have to go in and out with the tractor. Once in the field I go to a new spot each day so the sod underneith will hold me up for one trip. If things get too bad I move them to a new pasture and do it all again. Because they don't spent days in one spot around a ring things don't get churned to knee deep mud.

Overall I put less tractor hours on last winter with daily feeding as compared to previous years where I fed in feeders every few days, then spent days in the spring scraping hay and manure up into a pile, then a few days loading and spreading it all.

Maybe it's just my cattle but when I fed in feeders I put out enough hay to spread them around, but for whatever reason they would all fight over the hay in one feeder until it was gone. Then go to the next and fight over it and so on. So when given free choice of multiple bales they would fight over hay, not to mention the stupid things trying to get in the feeders, or calves laying down next to the feeders and getting stepped on, etc.

At the end of the day I'm not one to tell anyone how they should do things on their farm. If your happy with rings then use them, happy unrolling do it, happy grinding hay do that. We each have different management objectives and goals, and different routes we take to get there.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Lets see, post some pics of your mud feeding.

try reading a little harder..

That makes it sound like you still unroll hay (outside).

AND (or to

Limit feed inside a building.

 

[ddd75]

i unroll hay on a concrete lane, the cows are inside on concrete. I unroll what they need to eat.