Feeding bailed corn stalks
- Thread starter kbhblazer
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
TexasBred
Well-known member
It'll fill'em up and give'em something to chew on but get the cubes as soon as you can. To add alfalfa to that would be a bit of "overkill".kbhblazer":fevmoh5y said:
TexasBred
Well-known member
Isom I really don't know but if it's nothing but stalk and leaves I doubt TDN will be 25% and not much protein either unless they never combined it and then it'll have a little bit of corn in it but not much. I'd about as soon let mine stay about half empty in this heat as feed'em stalks. Should keep'em warm this winter tho. Add some cubes and they'll winter well. Haven't done the numbers but figure you could feed 10 lbs. of cubes for same money as 20 lbs. of anykind of hay right now and make'em scrounge for whatever roughage they can round up.
hurleyjd
Well-known member
My figures suggest you would have about possibly 270 days of feeding if there is no rain this gets you to April 2011. Winter pasture was pretty much a bust last year. So this is how much you could possibily have in the each cow by then. $828.90. I figured cubes at the rate I paid today which was $17.50 cwt feede man said that they are having problems getting the commodities necessary and at a price that will work. I expect cubes to be over twenty dollars cwt within a month.. Hay of any kind here is at $75 a roll and up. That makes the hay .075 cents a pound. Cow I would think might need about 20 lbs a day. There is no fuel figured into this. The only roughage my cows could rustle would be dried cow piles. They already have rustled all that is availbe. I am selling at the rate of 6 pairs a week Only have 36 more to go.. And then will be selling 20 head of breeding age red angus the 12 of august. Then there are 27 head of good heifers that would start calving in Jan and Feb. I am planning on their sale around the first of Sept if no relieve in sight. That is my plan good or bad. Will I buy in next spring problly not.
The advise I have been getting has been very helpful, this is my first year to have cows and I don't have that many, 8 cows 7 calves 1 bull. I have adjusted my feed habits as I posted and get advise and I'm getting lots of that, all good. Maybe if I discribe in finer detail, I'll fine tune what I am doing. I was told about scoring cows, I looked it up and all the cows score 5+ or low 6, if that makes sense. I have cut back on the alfalfa to about 1 bale(60 lbs bales) every 2 days, instead of every other.I started cutting back to two 5 gallon buckets of cubes every other day to about 1 every other day. At this time they do have lots of burnt up grass to eat with some short green grass scattered about. I am going to get corn stalks early next week ( round bales). Just like I was told , it has been overkill what I am doing, they did get loose digestivly :lol: for sure, and havent quite cleared up. Do I stop the cubes and hay till they do or cut back even more. I'm going to hang on to them. I do enjoy them, even if the summer does suck,
I have lots more respect for the ones who have done this for years and hate to read they have to cut way back or give this up. I hate it for them. Again thanks for all the advise
I have lots more respect for the ones who have done this for years and hate to read they have to cut way back or give this up. I hate it for them. Again thanks for all the advise
TexasBred
Well-known member
I'd cut the alfalfa out completely. Cows don't have to always be "full"...The cubes and small amount of grazing should meet their nutritional needs.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Should be ok. That's about 5 lbs. per feeding and a few for the calves if they want them.
angusdave63
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2010
- Messages
- 286
- Reaction score
- 4
something else you might look into is bean meal, to add some protein. i am not sure what it cost a ton down there but it could be cheaper in the long run. they would need about a pound per day per cow to go with the stalks. David
1982vett
Well-known member
For those who choose to "feed their way out of a drought"... you do need to understand that just maybe....the drought might last longer than your money and the ability to feed.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Vet you know it always rains right at the end of the drought. :mrgreen:1982vett":19tpbzwl said:
spinandslide
Well-known member
Now now..we all know there are different "breaking points" for each individual..some have already reached that point, some will in the future and some won't at all. Deciding what to feed and how long to "hold on" isnt the same across the board. 
jedstivers
Well-known member
You are very right. I would hate to sell a herd I had put years and years into breeding and having them where I wanted. The herd I have now is just a herd I bought to resale and didn't. Wouldn't be hard to ship them or most of them. That's what I should have done this spring when they were real high and it stil wouldn't be a bad idea as our prices are still good and at what hay is selling for I'm sitting on about 40-50,000 in hay alone. Makes selling look good and I'm not even in a bad spot (yet). But don't worry, if I do sell I'll be buying back on the next bargain.spinandslide":3bmuy2an said:Now now..we all know there are different "breaking points" for each individual..some have already reached that point, some will in the future and some won't at all. Deciding what to feed and how long to "hold on" isnt the same across the board.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
Isomade":1s02y4ch said:
Mine should have plenty of grass if I could get a rain have went from 28 to 9 momma cows over the last couple of years.
I could have ran 12 more pair. If it doesn't rain in the next couple of weeks I'm going to 5.
spinandslide
Well-known member
Just MO on the matter..Some may call it foolish..some may not..my money, time and effort..my herd is quite small (7)..Im more of a hobby rancher..I took the great last year, now Ill take the bad this year..it sucks, I hate having to buy some much hay, so early..but on the same token, I will be prepared for winter through my effort..I drove 3 hours east yesterday to buy a load of corn stalk hay..8% protein and tested safe for all livestock. Hot Damn I felt like I accomplished something...and Big Red (my '99 Ford F350) pulled it like a champ..
TexasBred
Well-known member
Well...I sold mine and we did get a half inch a couple weeks latter. :lol2: Old dairyman told me yesterday his cows were giving two squirts of milk and a puff of dust. :nod:Isomade":1r2wucki said:
mridgecattleco
Well-known member
Can you inject liquid protien into the stalk bales?? I've heard of guys around hear doing it a few years ago but I've never fed em.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Grass hay is sometimes covered with poly, sealed off and then anhydrous ammonia pumped under the poly, allowed to stand several weeks and then fed. A lot of these corn stalks are alread sky high in nitrates so I'd be afraid to feed any of it as it is without a test, let alone treated with anything. Best thing is to just realize it's low quality roughage and supplement accordingly.mridgecattleco":cyd7kme4 said:
