Feeding hay

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I always try and feed hay late in the afternoon so they have something to chew on and keep them warm all night. Give them feed in the morning. Give enough hay to clean up by morning. They can digest the feed soak up some sun to stay warm during the day.
 
I always try and feed hay late in the afternoon so they have something to chew on and keep them warm all night. Give them feed in the morning. Give enough hay to clean up by morning. They can digest the feed soak up some sun to stay warm during the day.
I fed in the evening because it made it more likely they would calve during the day.
 
Anyone tried this? He calls it a Thermal Sweep. They cost about $90


Functions exactly the same as mine, just does it automatically, instead of having to open that needle valve. He's opening it at 41° or colder... which is OK..., but it'll be running water when it isn't necessary. I might want to find one of those myself honestly. Don't know how much water it's letting through, so it might run more than you need, which is controllable obviously with the "needle valve".

He's got a fair amount of plumbing fairly high up off the floor of his tank... if calves get into the tank, they can break stuff... could be good to have some form of protection over all the plumbing. I've had them bust my Jobe valve, etc...... And I've left my tire tanks freeze over without the continuous flow if there's no cattle on them, instead of pumping that water... they won't freeze deep enough to get to the plumbing in the bottom if you've got 2' deep or more of water over them. He has his plumbing up off the floor quite a ways the way it looks, so he might not have THAT much water over the top of it... Closer to the top = more chance of freezing deep enough to get to the plumbing. But if you've got the water running as "continuous flow", at least enough of it coming in... they won't freeze... unless your well pump quits or something.

Also, he doesn't have any sort of "screen" on his overflow (could easily add a vent stack, they're available for the 2" PVC pipe that he's using too). I prefer a screen, because they'll leave hay, etc. in the tank, and I don't want that going into my drain pipe unrestricted. Don't want a plugged drain pipe. Also, when I've had calved get into the tank, they've broken my 4" PVC drain pipe off too... which of course drains the tank... I've now gone to making that pipe "double thick" at the point where it slips into the receiver on the floor of the tank... takes a bit to explain how I've done that, but it makes it easier to remove, ...and to replace if they DO break it... and also makes it alot stronger so that they won't break it nearly as easily. But this "calves in the tank" situation IS a concern you should be taking seriously... has happened a couple of times, usually like a 400 pounder... they don't seem to care what they're stepping on or breaking!
 
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I always try and feed hay late in the afternoon so they have something to chew on and keep them warm all night. Give them feed in the morning. Give enough hay to clean up by morning. They can digest the feed soak up some sun to stay warm during the day.
I like to feed enough in the morning that they will leave the feed and come back to clean it up in the afternoon.
 
One herd only 30 head , 8 of which are calves . Put out four rolls every 4-5 days . They have a little grass to graze on 50 acres . Big pasture has 41 counting bull. 10 small calves and 8 that need to be weaned. Stocked piled grass in this pasture plus it's our largest pasture; around 90 acres . They still eat 4 rolls every 3 days . Now comes my eaters . 30 cows , bull and 8 small calves on about 45 acres . 0 grazing. 4 bales every other day. With lows in teens and highs not above freezing I'll feed more this next week.
 
How are folks providing winter water? I always found that missing feed for a day was less of an issue than missing out on ample drinking water.
Wells with stock tanks in 2 of the pastures, one with a Ritchie waterer at the barn. Have to keep heaters in the well houses, heating tape on the pipes and deicers in the tanks. Even then, if it's in the negative temps, I still may have to chop some ice. There are ponds in each pasture and if something goes wrong with the wells/tanks, I can break ice in the ponds. Fortunately, this year the creek by the main bale area is running, so doesn't freeze much. And they don't go all the way to the watershed lake this time of year.

Yeah, they're not going to starve if the hay is getting low because I also supplement with cubes.
 
I have a couple richie waterers that cows can come drink from. But usually they find water under the snow.
I'm always kind of puzzled by those... the actual valve is only like maybe 1/4 hole to fill them. How do we expect that to keep up with like 150 head? I've seen my Jobe MegaFlow with a 1 1/4" waterline, and 1 1/4" tailpiece on the valve, with that big tire tank (500 gallon reservoir), get drained and not be keeping up with the herd in summer (two of these, ... on the same line and well though... with about 300 head of cows, calves, bulls, and yearlings). They eventually learn to take turns. But THAT is when I end up with calves in the tank.
 
I fed in the evening because it made it more likely they would calve during the day.
I feel like I'm the only person that feeds mid-afternoon and still, the majority of my cows & heifers calve during the day. Now, that might be first thing in the morning when I head out to check, but calving at night is more the exception. If it happens, it's generally a dang heifer but I do actually drag my azz down to the barn in the middle of the night to check them.
 
Lucky, you have a link to that "Thermal Sweep" unit?

I found a few when I was researching them but that one came up quick today. We plan on putting a few waterer in this year and plan on trying them. Ours will be 500 gallon concrete tanks. You made allot of good points. A friend put a hay ring on top of his to keep cattle out. Said it's ugly but works.
 
My cows drink out of the river in 2 of the 3 fields. The other field they drink out of the irrigation ditch. A couple other neighbors use ditch water too. But around mid December the ditch will start to freeze up so we shut it down and everyone moves their critters to fields where they can get to the river.
 
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I'm always kind of puzzled by those... the actual valve is only like maybe 1/4 hole to fill them. How do we expect that to keep up with like 150 head? I've seen my Jobe MegaFlow with a 1 1/4" waterline, and 1 1/4" tailpiece on the valve, with that big tire tank (500 gallon reservoir), get drained and not be keeping up with the herd in summer (two of these, ... on the same line and well though... with about 300 head of cows, calves, bulls, and yearlings). They eventually learn to take turns. But THAT is when I end up with calves in the tank.
this is why i got all 7' tire tanks and put in 2 120 gallon pressure tanks. they can't drain it.
 
I'm always kind of puzzled by those... the actual valve is only like maybe 1/4 hole to fill them. How do we expect that to keep up with like 150 head? I've seen my Jobe MegaFlow with a 1 1/4" waterline, and 1 1/4" tailpiece on the valve, with that big tire tank (500 gallon reservoir), get drained and not be keeping up with the herd in summer (two of these, ... on the same line and well though... with about 300 head of cows, calves, bulls, and yearlings). They eventually learn to take turns. But THAT is when I end up with calves in the tank.
Need more storage/water tanks in summer. What happens if your water supply goes down? Should have a day or two worth of water in reserve.
 
We plan on putting in the fresh water tanks mainly for the yearlings to drink out of. From my understanding they'll gain quite a bit more on fresh water. The couple times a year the pools freeze over will be a bonus. This year we had a late year drought and had to check pools twice a day for stuck cows. Not sure how much it'll help with that but I know cows will walk a long ways for fresh water so we'll see.
 
I'm always kind of puzzled by those... the actual valve is only like maybe 1/4 hole to fill them. How do we expect that to keep up with like 150 head? I've seen my Jobe MegaFlow with a 1 1/4" waterline, and 1 1/4" tailpiece on the valve, with that big tire tank (500 gallon reservoir), get drained and not be keeping up with the herd in summer (two of these, ... on the same line and well though... with about 300 head of cows, calves, bulls, and yearlings). They eventually learn to take turns. But THAT is when I end up with calves in the tank.

Cows learn to wait and take turn. And many of the animals drink water under the snow. They step down in a low spot and their hoof print fills with water and away they go. I feed 1/2-1 mile away from the drinkers so it's not uncommon for cows not to come drink for a week at a time.


In the summer I use tanks and floats.

A tire tank in the winter has a lot of overflow waste water and although I may farm within miles of the largest body of freshwater on the planet our wells don't have that kind of reserve capacity. And the colder it gets the more water needs to flow or else it freezes solid.
 
I fed in the evening because it made it more likely they would calve during the day.
I always feed first thing in the morning for two reasons. I am done before 8:00 and can get along with my day. Also if you feed in the evening and have a break down or other issue you are fixing it in the dark because you still need to feed.
 
Yeah, that's why I did it. I learned about it when I was taking classes to become a Certified Childbirth Educator with my wife.
I've heard guys say it works. Always wanted to try it but my system doesn't lend itself to it. I bring my cows up to the barn at night to pen them and feed them. Then I turn them out into a larger area in the morning and feed them again. I like them to have enough they are bedded in it a certain way amount.
Did you find you needed to start your night feeding quite awhile prior to calving to get best effect or could you start when calving was upon you?
 

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