I need to feed 15 beef cows for 2 months in a confined area before I put them on pasture. Hay is tough to come by and is expensive, but a neighbor has a source for corn silage, which he said the cows would prefer and that it was fine for them nutritionally. I'm new to this and am looking for opinions if this is ok until the ryegrass comes up in the pasture.
Hay vs. Silage
- Thread starter lead_dog
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BusterBrown
Well-known member
The Corn Silage sounds like good stuff, probably lots of calories. I've been hauling Coastal Bermuda hay through there to East Tennessee 23 rolls per load, $65.00 each.... How much is the Corn Silage going for?
The only drawbacks I see is storage and having to feed everyday. That's assuming you have bunks that will work for silage feeding.
If the silage is much better then the cows actaully need you may need hay just to lower the feed value of the silage.
If the silage is much better then the cows actaully need you may need hay just to lower the feed value of the silage.
bigbull338
Well-known member
yes you can feed the corn silage to the cows.but you do need to feed them some hay with it.
mnmtranching
Well-known member
I don't know what Your situation is?
Corn silage is great feed, lots of difference in quality. On good corn silage the grain is 80% of the nutrients. For instance Sweet Corn silage is cheap but little grain, drought stressed corn is not so good. It will all work, but needs to be supplemented. All corn silage should be supplemented with a protein/vitamin source.
And it spoils easily. After exposed to air should be feed within a few days. Best if feed from its storage to the cows daily.
Corn silage is great feed, lots of difference in quality. On good corn silage the grain is 80% of the nutrients. For instance Sweet Corn silage is cheap but little grain, drought stressed corn is not so good. It will all work, but needs to be supplemented. All corn silage should be supplemented with a protein/vitamin source.
And it spoils easily. After exposed to air should be feed within a few days. Best if feed from its storage to the cows daily.
Dave
Well-known member
Feeding corn silage in a bunk is best but I do know a guy who feeds it on the ground. He took the beaters off an old manure spreader and just lets the chain push it out as he drives across the field. More waste feeding that way but they do a reasonable job of cleaning it up.
mnmtranching
Well-known member
Dave":rzem4yw0 said:
Feeding on the ground works real good up here. Once the ground is frozen solid it's cleaned up near 100%
For the next 45 days or so (until the rye grass comes in), my plan is to fence them in an area where we're planting a new garden. I've put wood chips in there as well as spreading some deer corn. My plan is to put the hay or silage on the perimeter just under the electric fence, so the cows can reach it to eat and deposit manure in the new garden. I'll add more wood chips as needed to build the organic matter. Then, when I take them out in late January, I'll put the pigs in to till everything up and look for the fermented corn.
We have good forage for the rest of the year, with longtime stands of fescue, bermuda, dallis grass, etc. We'll be drilling in durana clover next year once I lime once more and get the pH up a little.
We have good forage for the rest of the year, with longtime stands of fescue, bermuda, dallis grass, etc. We'll be drilling in durana clover next year once I lime once more and get the pH up a little.
rkm
Well-known member
Mnmt, can you get by feeding corn silage as the sole source of forage? Won't the cows get too fat?
mnmtranching
Well-known member
rkm":2sm462km said:
If You have good quality corn silage, feeding cows all they want to eat. Oh yeah! they will be fat as hogs by Spring.
I fence line feed, about 30 pounds per day with a couple pounds of Alfalfa.
