Conversion Chart

[Caustic Burno]

Curious has anyone ever seen a conversion chart
like it is 40 degs and raining = 28 degs dry for cattle feed requirements.
What I am asking is kinda like a wind chill factor.
Hay requirements soar through the roof in weather like we are having now 42 and rain.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Yes, I have seen many charts relating to the weather & feed consumption. Couldn't tell you where to look, but I do know they all say consumption goes up with lower temps, goes up with wind, goes up when hair coat is wet, goes up when hair coat is muddy. The worse the condition, the higher the consumption. And cattle know when a storm is coming - consumption goes up BEFORE the storm!
Edit - CB - I know you know all this - just posted for others.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Yes, I have seen many charts relating to the weather & feed consumption. Couldn't tell you where to look, but I do know they all say consumption goes up with lower temps, goes up with wind, goes up when hair coat is wet, goes up when hair coat is muddy. The worse the condition, the higher the consumption. And cattle know when a storm is coming - consumption goes up BEFORE the storm!
Edit - CB - I know you know all this - just posted for others.

The reason I ask and this has never hit me before is for hay planning purposes.
I have always planned for 3 round bales per cow for winter.
This was way under last year as it rained here all winter and stayed 35 to 45 degrees.

This year has been relatively dry with very little hay consumption.

I know its a crap shoot on the long range forecast.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Boy, that's an eye opener :shock: :shock: 3 bales/cow/winter. We suppliment with hay 180 days for winter. I'll convert to 1000# dry bales. Let's see, my cows eat about 60# dry (I'm guessing since I feed mostly baleage - real hard to put up dry 1st cutting) - so that's about 10.8 bales/hd/winter.
And don't say I should stockpile our grasses for winter - that's a laugh - snow too deep - gets too crusted for cattle to forage. Of course, last week it was 67 degrees outside :shock:

 

[dyates]

Boy, that's an eye opener :shock: :shock: 3 bales/cow/winter. We suppliment with hay 180 days for winter. I'll convert to 1000# dry bales. Let's see, my cows eat about 60# dry (I'm guessing since I feed mostly baleage - real hard to put up dry 1st cutting) - so that's about 10.8 bales/hd/winter.
And don't say I should stockpile our grasses for winter - that's a laugh - snow too deep - gets too crusted for cattle to forage. Of course, last week it was 67 degrees outside :shock:

Man am I glad I don't have to feed like that. Most winters, two 5x5 rolls per cow will suffice. This year will probably be three. At this years hay prices, 10 rolls here would be $600/cow. I hear a vaccuum from someones bank account.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

That's another difference. Dry round bales around here run about 800# for good ones - and they USUALLY sell for about $15 - $25 depending on quality - and also depends on the year. This year, I'll be lucky to find any at the higher price. And I do need some. Been looking.

 

[cypressfarms]

Boy, that's an eye opener :shock: :shock: 3 bales/cow/winter. We suppliment with hay 180 days for winter. I'll convert to 1000# dry bales. Let's see, my cows eat about 60# dry (I'm guessing since I feed mostly baleage - real hard to put up dry 1st cutting) - so that's about 10.8 bales/hd/winter.
And don't say I should stockpile our grasses for winter - that's a laugh - snow too deep - gets too crusted for cattle to forage. Of course, last week it was 67 degrees outside :shock:

No problem - from what ND angus posts his average weaning weights are around 870 (I think that's what he posted), which is way higher than mine. You can take all that extra profit to feed hay.

 

[Victoria]

I was sure that I had seen a calculator like that before on our AB website but the only thing I'm finding now is this:
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$Department ... ll/faq7955

 

[dun]

Not a chart but stuff I've had that talkes about weather related stress. Every year a number of publications have articles that talk about the feed requirements based on temp and wet or dry coat etc.. Problem is they're printed in the fall and I can;t find where I may have saved them.

LOW CRITICAL TEMPERATURES (temperature at which there is weight loss on a maintenance diet).

Summer coat or wet:59º F
Fall coat: 45º F
Winter coat:32º F
Heavy winter coat:18º F

http://www.hpj.com/archives/2007/dec07/ ... iremen.cfm
http://agweather.mesonet.org/models/cat ... ption.html

 

[Roadapple]

During the cold winter months, stockmen need to figure in the wind chill factor when figuring the number of degrees below a cows critical temp.point- the point at which maintenance requirements increase and cows need more feed. The critical temp. will will vary according to hair coat, moisture conditions, age, size of animal, fatness, length of time exposed to , and amount of wind. Lower critical temp. is defined as lower limit of the "comfort zone" a temp. below which an animal must increase its rate of heat production and at which the rate of performance begins to decline as temp. becomes colder. If a cow has good winter hair, she does fine until temps. go lower than 20 degs. Below that, the animal compensates for heat loss by increasing energy intake. A rough rule of thumb to compensate for cold is to increase the amount of feed(energy source) by 1% for each deg. of cold stress.For thin cows with poor hair coats or wet coats, figure a 2% increase for each deg. of temp. drop. For example, a 10 mph wind at 20 deg. has same effect as a temp. of 9 deg. with no wind. If the temp. drops to zero or the equivalent of zero,with wind chill the energy requirement of a cow increases between 20 and 30%-about 1% for each deg. of coldness below her critical temp. For example, a 1100-lb. cow needs 11.2 lbs. of "tdn" per day when temps. are above freezing. If the temp. drops 20 degs. below her critical temp., she needs 20% more "tdn", or 2.2 more lbs. of digestible nutrients. To supply that, you can feed her 3 lbs. of grain or 5 lbs. of hay containing 50% TDN.Cows of British breeds with normal winter hair coats need about one-third more feed when exposed to wind chill temps. at or near zero than they do at temp. warmer than o degs. Cattle will not be able to eat enough feed to compensate for heat production loss at -50 degs.F. with wind chill. Must have wind breaks and bedding to insulate them from the frozen ground.

 

[sidney411]

I would not like to be anywhere that even gets close to -50 degrees.

We also figure 3 bales per cow per year, these are 5x6 bales.

 

[Brute 23]

Last winter we didn't even feed 1bale/ head. Thats more than good...

We usually plan for 3 or 4/ head max but that is just in case of dry years or some thing... not just winter time feeding.

 

[milesvb]

I try to keep 3 bales per AU going into fall and hope conditions aren't so bad I have to cut deep into that supply. In a normal year we feed 1-1.5 bales per AU. When it's cold/wet/windy they'll clump around the bale rings and burn through hay at a prodigious rate. When the sun comes out they'll snuffle around for some green under the frost kill and the hay goes a long way. No way I could realistically quantify that or make predictions on it.