Clover Baleage

[Howdyjabo]

Has anyone fed Red clover Baleage free choice (with some hand fed grain)?
My concerns:

The Potassium is high
Is there enough mechanical scratch fiber
Bloat
Molds and toxins (as there won't be much of anything else fed, to dilute if there)

Anything else I should be aware of?

 

[dun]

The main things about red clover, not sure if it applys to baleage, is the presence of compounds that act similar to estrogen and another that causes slobbering.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I fed red clover/grass balage w/o any problems. Cattle really liked it. Fiber depends on how mature it is. Could also offer a straw bale if it is really young stuff.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Thanks Steve--

I'd feel better if there were some grass with it-- its straight young clover.
I guess I need to build a pen around it(shut them out part of the day) and force them to eat something else along with it.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I fed red clover/grass balage w/o any problems. Cattle really liked it. Fiber depends on how mature it is. Could also offer a straw bale if it is really young stuff.

Steve
do you feed a Hi Mag mineral with your grass or clover baleage
I have heard of several guys having grass tetany caused by the baleage around here especially if they are only feeding baleage
I don't think this would be a problem if a person was feeding the baleage on a 1/3 ratio
1 baleage bale 2 dry grass bales of hay
what is your opinion

 

[Howdyjabo]

Do you put the grass hay out with the balage or do you have to force them to eat the hay?

The high potassium would definitely cause grass tetaney
best advice for dealing with it that I could find was upping the salt and the Mag. But with high Potassium they don't crave salt so you have to find a way to force feed it to them.

 

[Angus Cowman]

Do you put the grass hay out with the balage or do you have to force them to eat the hay?

The high potassium would definitely cause grass tetaney
best advice for dealing with it that I could find was upping the salt and the Mag. But with high Potassium they don't crave salt so you have to find a way to force feed it to them.

i feed my cows daily so if they want to eat they are going to have to eat the grass along with the sileage
I have been told where you have smaller # of cows that you can limit feed them sileage say for 1or2 hrs then shut them out of it and have hay available the rest of the time in the pasture

 

[fargus]

You said you were feeding small amounts of grain. Put the salt in the grain, problem solved. If you're concerned about grass tetany get a hay test taken, it's pretty cheap insurance.

You're eNDF should be fine in the clover baleage to stimulate cud-chewing.