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How Many Bales Are You Feeding
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<blockquote data-quote="1982vett" data-source="post: 497907" data-attributes="member: 7795"><p>I believe hay quality and condition of the cow has a lot to do with how much a cow consumes. Last winter we were coming of a summer much like the southeastern went through this year. I run around 110 momma cows on 360 acres in central Texas. Bale my own hay off of 45 acres in bermuda type grasses and 15 acres native blackland prarie grass. Also plant 60 acres in oats (ryegrass and burr clover volunteer) for winter pasture. Try to bale 10 - 20 acres of this. Comming off of summer of '06 I did not have an abundance of hay but what I did have was top quality. Some bermuda/ryegrass/clover was 20.3% Crude Protien. (range cube quality) Oats was 16.6% and prarie grass was 10.3% so all of it would meet daily requirements of a dry cow. I had to start feeding in September because the pastures were gone. Was luckey enough to get oats established and was able to start grazing by the end of November. It was gone by January. Point I am trying to make is that forage the cows were getting was good quality at a limited supply and kept them in good shape but they would eat anything and every thing you put in front of them and look for more. I bought 1200 small square bales my uncle had in a barn. He has been out of the cattle business for 5 or so years and had stopped putting up squares for quite a few years more so I knew the hay had to be at least 5 - 10 years old. When I finally got to the end of the barn I found about 30 bales, the wire was rusted off of the bales. The last wire bales were put in the barn in 1976. The cows ate this just like they ate the 20% mix.</p><p></p><p>This year is a different story. Most of my hay either got wet on the ground, curing was rushed, or was 2-3 weeks past cutting time. I have 30 bales that was old and tuff that got wet that they will not eat. Last year the cows would come off of the oats when they heard the tractor. They would just as soon have the hay as hustle after the oats. This year I have to run them off of the oats to get them to eat the hay. This year my best bermuda is 12.5% crude protien, no oats and didn't bother testing the prarie hay however they seem to prefer the prarie hay over the bermuda.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="1982vett, post: 497907, member: 7795"] I believe hay quality and condition of the cow has a lot to do with how much a cow consumes. Last winter we were coming of a summer much like the southeastern went through this year. I run around 110 momma cows on 360 acres in central Texas. Bale my own hay off of 45 acres in bermuda type grasses and 15 acres native blackland prarie grass. Also plant 60 acres in oats (ryegrass and burr clover volunteer) for winter pasture. Try to bale 10 - 20 acres of this. Comming off of summer of '06 I did not have an abundance of hay but what I did have was top quality. Some bermuda/ryegrass/clover was 20.3% Crude Protien. (range cube quality) Oats was 16.6% and prarie grass was 10.3% so all of it would meet daily requirements of a dry cow. I had to start feeding in September because the pastures were gone. Was luckey enough to get oats established and was able to start grazing by the end of November. It was gone by January. Point I am trying to make is that forage the cows were getting was good quality at a limited supply and kept them in good shape but they would eat anything and every thing you put in front of them and look for more. I bought 1200 small square bales my uncle had in a barn. He has been out of the cattle business for 5 or so years and had stopped putting up squares for quite a few years more so I knew the hay had to be at least 5 - 10 years old. When I finally got to the end of the barn I found about 30 bales, the wire was rusted off of the bales. The last wire bales were put in the barn in 1976. The cows ate this just like they ate the 20% mix. This year is a different story. Most of my hay either got wet on the ground, curing was rushed, or was 2-3 weeks past cutting time. I have 30 bales that was old and tuff that got wet that they will not eat. Last year the cows would come off of the oats when they heard the tractor. They would just as soon have the hay as hustle after the oats. This year I have to run them off of the oats to get them to eat the hay. This year my best bermuda is 12.5% crude protien, no oats and didn't bother testing the prarie hay however they seem to prefer the prarie hay over the bermuda. [/QUOTE]
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