Hay

[jltrent]

Have you ever had cattle bloat on clover?

Just curious, I have some pretty clover heavy pastures, but have not had an issue yet.

I keep a close eye on them when I turn them out and try to make sure they don't go into the pastures too hungry.

Probably been about 10 years ago but I had one cow to die with bloat and foundered my bull as he never was the same. If I turn cattle in on a heavy red clover field, I want it dry and run them out late the same day.

Red clover itself is not toxic and does not directly poison or kill cattle; however, overconsumption of lush, immature red clover can cause a fatal digestive condition called frothy bloat. When cattle consume highly digestible, green legumes rapidly, gases build up in the rumen and form a stable foam. This foam traps the gas, preventing the animal from belching, which causes severe pressure on the lungs and heart and can quickly lead to death by asphyxiation.

 

[NIdahoShorthorns]

That does require precipitation in the fall. I also want to point out stocking rate. Most people are stocked to the gills for their land base, and that makes stockpiling difficult.

The day I met you and got to see your friend's stockpiled fescue was a game changer for me. Completely rewired my thinking on stored forages.

I sure hope this rain keeps up, im going to clip everything this next month in hopes of getting some high Q stockpile.

Do deer hit yours hard before cows get to it? Theyve been in mine pretty hard by time I get to it in January.

Deer in TN, what do you do with stockpiled forage when you have a resident herd of 300-500 elk?

 

[ClinchValley86]

Deer in TN, what do you do with stockpiled forage when you have a resident herd of 300-500 elk?

Thatd be rough stuff. The deef come thru and get all the good stuff by time I get to it. I imagine the elk make everything disappear.

 

[cfpinz]

Deer in TN, what do you do with stockpiled forage when you have a resident herd of 300-500 elk?

You eat well.

 

[Otha]

And I am willing to bet the days of buying 4 x 5 1000 lb + bales for $ 45 to $ 75 is coming to an end soon. And if you do find hay of any kind for that price would kill a billy goat.

I agree with alot of what you said. However, at least in my area I bet we see that cheap hay again. We are seeing it now after everyone said in 2019 we'd never see it again. But when you get 3 wet years in a row people just want the stuff gone. It's all over Facebook for $35-45. Of course it's not top end hay but a cow will eat it up just fine. There are so many small places owned by people with town jobs that don't have to make money on their hay. They don't want to look at 3 years worth rotting in the fence row.

 

[Dave]

Our basic rotation by the dirt farmers is 2 years of potatoes, one year of wheat, and 4 years of alfalfa. Price and available irrigation water will alter that some. Hay takes more water. Wheat less water. Price goes up everyone plants more hay. Price goes down they plow it down. Most of the grass hay is raised on ground not good for other crop.

 

[CowboyRam]

I have seen hay advertised at $380 per ton here.

 

[GoWyo]

It's all $300 and up here. I do see quite a bit of dry land millet has been planted around here and it did receive some timely rains, so that is probably going to plug a lot of holes for lack of dry matter on winter pastures. I get nervous feeding it to pregnant cows, but a lot of folks do feed it and seem to do ok.