feeding moldy hay bales

[42acres]

I baled about 30 bales of brown top millet on friday. When i was mowing it with my haybine i did not know at the time that i was leaving some standing, not sure why, (dull blades, too fast?). Anyway now it has some green millet hay mixed in my bales. I know it will mold some. My question is how harmful is feeding hay with mold in it to cows?

 

[Outrigger2]

may want to get it tested for nitrates as well.

 

[TexLonghornRanch]

http://beef.unl.edu/stories/200212100.shtml

Read this

 

[mnmtranching]

I think almost all hay has some mold. I feed some from time to time thats pretty bad. Mixed with good stuff and have not had problems.

 

[toby]

I have found that if the hay is severly molded the cattle will not eat the moldy hay.

 

[TREY-L]

I'm with toby on this one, I had to feed some 2 year old hay last winter. The outer layers were pretty much rotten, my cows just nosed that layer off and ate the good inner layers. When they finished picking through the bale, I just moved the hay ring and put in a fresh bale of good hay. I rationed out my good hay using this method.
Trey

 

[3MR]

During all this rain my feed got wet. I went ahead and fed the moldy feed. The cows just pushed the moldy stuff aside to get to the good feed in the middle. They didnt touch the moldy stuff and I would just go clean out the chunks they pushed to the side when they were done.

 

[novatech]

Darn near every round bale stored outside has mold. The cattle will usually seperate the good from the bad, unless you are not feeding enough that they do not have a choice.

 

[AngusLimoX]

The cattle will usually seperate the good from the bad, unless you are not feeding enough that they do not have a choice.

Profound.
And correct.
And so routine many of us forget.
We don't give the girls enough credit.

ALX