Feeding Hay

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I have watched that guy some. He came to that party with no clue. He doesn't really run enough head to make it work.

To address your statement, my heart goes out to somebody in a drought. When I was a kid, droughts put us out. It really had an influence on me. It wasn't that far removed from growing up in the great depression (probably an exageration).

Most of my spending habits, and my view of debt is driven by that experience. I remember well lining equipment for the sale. Hauling cows off, and telling the weigh man which bank to put on the check. It was an odd mix of both embaresment and sadness.
 
Some guys started here in June no rain ment no grass. They were hoping hay would buy time until the rain came. But by the time rain fell it was too late to make much of a difference in the pastures. Its a double edged sword as our hay yields were 40% of normal.

Only reason I made it thru was I bought a farm last year without fence. So I thrashed and got fence put up but didn't increase my stocking numbers as originally planned. I just hauled cattle around all summer.
 
Some started feeding hay here in July... Makes for a really long winter.
Came up this week, it's pretty bad up here as you know. Not much for hay stacks etc. around. It is greener than I thought it would be, I guess the recent few rains have helped, pastures look better suited to golfing than grazing though. The lake here and most around are down at least a foot maybe 18". Some nice color on the leaves .
 
Been pretty dry here as well lately.
I've fed a bit of hay to stretch what grass I have. Or had, I should say. Hoping for rain to help out, but it's pretty much too late now.
Your right. Its gonna make for a long winter!

Whaddya do? Plan accordingly I guess. Save money back from good years to help with rough years? The alternative is selling off your good cows and hope you can buy back something worth having later. I hate the thought of that. Starting over it seems like.

I tend to hoard as much hay as I can. Pretty tight this year tho.
We will see how it goes.
 
Came up this week, it's pretty bad up here as you know. Not much for hay stacks etc. around. It is greener than I thought it would be, I guess the recent few rains have helped, pastures look better suited to golfing than grazing though.
Many don't destock soon enough and grub pastures down to the roots. Then when it does rain there are very few solar collector leaves left and limited regrowth. The sod does green up but there is very little production. I don't understand why folks damage pastures to "save" cows that are going to lose them money eating high priced hay this winter.

Drought is not over yet. Fall rain only went 3 to 4 " down into the soil. I am looking at some forage sorghum or sorghum sudan mixes for next year.
 
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We're aggressive with our stocking rate, we've made some changes, and are going to make more. But, we run into a late summer drought every year. It will rain, it always has.
 
Over on the coast I figured I would start feeding by November 1. Some years a couple weeks early. And they never went to grass until April 10 give or take 2 weeks depending on the weather. So fed 5 - 5 1/2 months every year. The earliest I started feeding was in August. By December I could see the hand writing on the wall (or the lack of hay in the stack) and bought a couple semi loads of hay. By February that year there was no hay to be had no matter how much money you had. I had people begging me for hay but if I sold any I would be shorting myself.
 
A drought of this magnitude is rare here (worst since records have been kept). My cattle are literally 1/2 mile from the largest body of freshwater on the planet which usually provides us plenty of weather, humidity, dew, etc.

I usually graze until the snow gets too deep, some years thats December other years thats October.
 
A drought of this magnitude is rare here (worst since records have been kept). My cattle are literally 1/2 mile from the largest body of freshwater on the planet which usually provides us plenty of weather, humidity, dew, etc.

I usually graze until the snow gets too deep, some years thats December other years thats October.
Right now, we have more rain than normal, and provided it doesn't frost too soon, we should have fescue growing longer than is normal here. A couple of years ago I was feeding hay at this time of year because of drought-like conditions.
 
I feel very blessed to have the grass we have. I've fed a couple rolls this summer, half a dozen or so to slow my rotation down.

This picture is on an old hay field that was rarely fertilized. Was in hay for 40 or 50 years. This is the 2nd year grazing it. Seems to be doing well. Lots of diversity.

Nearby farms look like golf courses already. It would do them well to put animals in a lot and feed hay thru November.

After I finish going around this field I am going to put them on a 4 acre field for about 4 weeks and feed some hay. Let grow what will.

It was dry enough this year for neighbors to start asking questions. I wondered if they had noticed. They don't see much of our pasture from the road.

Wishing everyone a bountiful Fall.
 

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I feel very blessed to have the grass we have. I've fed a couple rolls this summer, half a dozen or so to slow my rotation down.

This picture is on an old hay field that was rarely fertilized. Was in hay for 40 or 50 years. This is the 2nd year grazing it. Seems to be doing well. Lots of diversity.

Nearby farms look like golf courses already. It would do them well to put animals in a lot and feed hay thru November.

After I finish going around this field I am going to put them on a 4 acre field for about 4 weeks and feed some hay. Let grow what will.

It was dry enough this year for neighbors to start asking questions. I wondered if they had noticed. They don't see much of our pasture from the road.

Wishing everyone a bountiful Fall.
I will send you some fescue pictures later today. My stockpile is way better than the best hayfield in my area. Great weather for fescue.
 
Haven't fed hay yet this year but opened up our stockpiled fescue field last week, was not planning on having to do that until we were done with Fall calving. Ended up with 9 bales leftover last Spring, hope we have enough for this year but we're also lucky because my father in laws pearl millet did very well so we'll be able to get some of that. Rough year.
 
Ha yup… been feeding here since June. Usually won't get any sort of grass back until feb/March. It's been very bad here the last several years. I'm in Northern Ca. Pastures are BARE. Here's a pic to give you an idea :(
 

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