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Cattle Boards
Grasses, Pastures & Hay
Feeding cows when you don't have enough hay
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<blockquote data-quote="Rafter S" data-source="post: 1760492" data-attributes="member: 21194"><p>Another discussion made me think of this, so I thought I'd start a new discussion instead of derailing that one. Here in southeast Texas we had the worst drought in my lifetime in 2011. I made 8 rolls of hay that summer, and I calculated that between the baling cost and fertilizer they cost me $300.00 each. Fortunately I had quite a bit of hay left from the year before, but not nearly enough to make it through the winter. I talked to a man who was shipping in rice straw hay from Louisiana for $100.00 per roll, and the quality was so poor that the cows got all of it they wanted and were still losing weight. I didn't want to do that.</p><p></p><p>Here's what I did. I bought some troughs, and found a feed mill about 30 miles from my house that mixed and sold a 12% protein feed that was reasonably priced. That whole winter I fed half the amount of hay I would in normal years, along with 10 pounds per adult animal of the mixed feed on alternate days. The cows came through the winter just fine.</p><p></p><p>It's looking like this year will be similar, though most people at least got a first cutting, which wasn't the case back then. However, I'm 11 years older now than I was then. This year I will sell cows so that I have enough hay. Or maybe sell all of the cows and the hay, and start over next spring.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rafter S, post: 1760492, member: 21194"] Another discussion made me think of this, so I thought I'd start a new discussion instead of derailing that one. Here in southeast Texas we had the worst drought in my lifetime in 2011. I made 8 rolls of hay that summer, and I calculated that between the baling cost and fertilizer they cost me $300.00 each. Fortunately I had quite a bit of hay left from the year before, but not nearly enough to make it through the winter. I talked to a man who was shipping in rice straw hay from Louisiana for $100.00 per roll, and the quality was so poor that the cows got all of it they wanted and were still losing weight. I didn't want to do that. Here's what I did. I bought some troughs, and found a feed mill about 30 miles from my house that mixed and sold a 12% protein feed that was reasonably priced. That whole winter I fed half the amount of hay I would in normal years, along with 10 pounds per adult animal of the mixed feed on alternate days. The cows came through the winter just fine. It's looking like this year will be similar, though most people at least got a first cutting, which wasn't the case back then. However, I'm 11 years older now than I was then. This year I will sell cows so that I have enough hay. Or maybe sell all of the cows and the hay, and start over next spring. [/QUOTE]
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Feeding cows when you don't have enough hay
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