feeding hay vs. winter grass planting

[plbcattle]

I have a 20 acre field that I have not been running any cattle on. I was wondering if it is more benificial to plant a winter grass or to feed hay. I have plenty of hay but I wondered if there was an advntage to a winter wheat or a rye grass. thanks

 

[txag]

we do both. we plant oats/rye & graze the cows for a couple of hours/day in the afternoon (that's really all they need.....any more than that & they'll just trample it down & lay around in it). they usually head to the hay right after coming out of the oats/rye & will spend the night near the hay bales. sometime late-morning they'll head up & stand in front of the gap waiting to go back into the oats/rye patch. having oats/rye will cut down on the number of bales you feed. we always have enough that we could do without the oats/rye but i really like seeing the cows eating green grass in the wintertime.

 

[TheBullLady]

The advantage in planting wheat or oats would be the protein content of the grazing would be higher than the hay. But there are a lot of things to consider.. primarily the cost of planting vs. hay / supplement costs.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Winter wheat/ oats are very hard on your land requiring higher fertilize cost in the spring.

 

[WORANCH]

And you will need some rain . Last rain here was Aug. 22 :help:

 

[Tod Dague]

We plant about 1-1.5 acres of ryegrass per head. We broadcast the seed as early in Sept. as we can to insure that the seed has time to work down to the soil then shred down the weeds right after broad cast. We might or might not fertilize once with about 40 lbs of N per acre in Nov. We usually (not always) get away with out feeding any hay. Hay runs around $25 per 1500 lbs bail. It cost me a less than $20 per acre to plant and I get a much better tonnage per $. May not work for everybody but works for me.

 

[txshowmom]

we do both. we plant oats/rye & graze the cows for a couple of hours/day in the afternoon (that's really all they need.....any more than that & they'll just trample it down & lay around in it). they usually head to the hay right after coming out of the oats/rye & will spend the night near the hay bales. sometime late-morning they'll head up & stand in front of the gap waiting to go back into the oats/rye patch. having oats/rye will cut down on the number of bales you feed. we always have enough that we could do without the oats/rye but i really like seeing the cows eating green grass in the wintertime.

I agree with txag on this one. Plus if you leave them out there all day they will get the scours and then it really dosen't matter what you feed them because they are not getting anything out of it anyway.

 

[Tod Dague]

we do both. we plant oats/rye & graze the cows for a couple of hours/day in the afternoon (that's really all they need.....any more than that & they'll just trample it down & lay around in it). they usually head to the hay right after coming out of the oats/rye & will spend the night near the hay bales. sometime late-morning they'll head up & stand in front of the gap waiting to go back into the oats/rye patch. having oats/rye will cut down on the number of bales you feed. we always have enough that we could do without the oats/rye but i really like seeing the cows eating green grass in the wintertime.

I agree with txag on this one. Plus if you leave them out there all day they will get the scours and then it really dosen't matter what you feed them because they are not getting anything out of it anyway.

I leave my cattle on ryegrass all winter and spring. I know not to stand behind them ;-) . I've never had one scour or not get very fat.

 

[txag]

I leave my cattle on ryegrass all winter and spring. I know not to stand behind them ;-) . I've never had one scour or not get very fat.

i think we're talking about two different things. our rye/oats is not overseeded but is planted on land that is specifically set aside for this purpose. it is disked up in the spring after the rye is done & then left plowed up all summer with no cows on it. it's plowed, fertilized & replanted in the fall.

 

[Tod Dague]

I leave my cattle on ryegrass all winter and spring. I know not to stand behind them ;-) . I've never had one scour or not get very fat.

i think we're talking about two different things. our rye/oats is not overseeded but is planted on land that is specifically set aside for this purpose. it is disked up in the spring after the rye is done & then left plowed up all summer with no cows on it. it's plowed, fertilized & replanted in the fall.

No problem. My brother does the same thing as you. Just didn't want anyone to confuse extreamly runny poop and sours. Everyone has to do what works for them. 8)

 

[txag]

Just didn't want anyone to confuse extreamly runny poop and sours.

even w/just a couple of hours/day grazing, it's still pretty messy trying to a.i. them :shock: :shock:

 

[dun]

Just didn't want anyone to confuse extreamly runny poop and sours.

even w/just a couple of hours/day grazing, it's still pretty messy trying to a.i. them :shock: :shock:

That's why you don't tuck your pants inside your boots.

dun

 

[Tod Dague]

Just didn't want anyone to confuse extreamly runny poop and sours.

even w/just a couple of hours/day grazing, it's still pretty messy trying to a.i. them :shock: :shock:

You've got that right!! I'm looking at dry lotting them with hay during the cider synchronization process next year. We'll see just how green I get next year. I was pretty green this year.

 

[ollie]

Don't mind it on me . I don't like it in me. Mouth Shut when breeding.