ga. prime":3qle6qw8 said:
Interesting. Very interesting.
if you look at fertilizer rates and figure up what nutrients are in decent hay, you can feed your cows for nearly nothing while fertilizing your pastures from somebody else's place. the cows wont spread it as evenly unless you are mob grazing, but it's the most useful concept i have found in a while [keenanv]
if you are making hay, it's a different story, but if you can buy it pretty cheap I think this might be a big factor in profitability.
an AL extension study showed that in general a 1200 lb round bale has the following:
46 lb of N @ $.4543/lb = $20.90
12 lb of P205 @ $.5673 = $6.80
50 lb of K20 @ $.395 = $19.75
total = $47.45 for a 1200 lb bale.
most round bales we see are in the 700-800 range, so lets say a 750 lb 4x5 bale is $29.66 (750/1200*$47.45)
if you pass 80% through the cow you end up with $23.73 worth of nutrients hitting the ground with every bale you feed. even if the lack of even spread reduces the effectiveness to 75%, you are still getting $17.80 out of each bale feeding your cows for nearly nothing.
anybody buying these bales for $20/bale?
most who are doing this on purpose, roll out the bales in a different area every time to spread nutrients around.
references:
current nutrient rates:
http://www.crystalsugar.com/agronomy/agtools/npk/
hay composition:
http://www.noble.org/Ag/Forage/RealValueHay/index.html
80%: Keenan Turner, KY Ag Ext grazing specialist