How much hay can a cow eat?

[gcreekrch]

Heifers and second calvers weigh 1000 lbs and are getting 6 lbs of pea and lentil screenings pellets and 23 lbs of average grass haylage dm basis.
The rest would average 1300 and are getting 6 lbs pellets and are getting 26 lbs dm hay and haylage.
Cold days we will bump the hay up 5 lbs and more. The 6 lbs of pellets are replacing 9 lbs of hay.

 

[tex452]

got a couple of pastures where the rye grass is coming on pretty good...I can fall back on those if I need to.

I have about 200 acres closed off hoping for warmer weather where the rye will start to come.
With the rain this week and warmer weather next week it should be decent in a couple weeks.

 

[gman4691]

I have about 200 acres closed off hoping for warmer weather where the rye will start to come.
With the rain this week and warmer weather next week it should be decent in a couple weeks.

After the rain this week and the forecast sun next week, the rye grass ought to shoot up pretty good.

 

[Lucky_P]

Flip side of the coin - for folks who are in 'hay shortage' areas... How little hay can cows get by on?
Studies conducted at tOSU indicated that cows can overwinter on as little as 5-10# hay per day, provided that supplementation is provided to meet dry matter/TDN/protein requirements. Think they even had a group that they fed only 2.5# hay/day that got by OK.

2007, we had a disastrous freeze at Easter, then 1" of rain between May 1 and Nov 30... no local hay available, so we bought in western hay, and paid more than I swore I'd ever pay. We limit-fed 10# hay and 15# modified distiller's grain product per cow per day. Cows came through the winter in better shape than they ever had in the past with free-choice access to all the crappy locally-produced 'hay' we could buy.

 

[Logan52]

I remember 2007 well. We bought shipped in bluestem hay from Kansas for $7 a small square bale. Unheard of then. At first the cattle would hardly eat it. It was green but they had never seen anything like it before.
Lot of debate over whether it was better to sell the cows as they were selling good at the time. Price actually went down a little over the winter.
For many it would have been money ahead to sell the cows.

 

[kenny thomas]

In 2007 i bought tractor trailer loads of corn stalks in big square bales. It had some corn "nubbins" in it and i fed maybe 3lb of grain per day. They made it through the winter but that's about all.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. Figure on 3.5% of a cows body weight per day as the amount of hay an animal will consume. There is variation as a bull will consume about 3.0 and a dairy cow 4.0, but a pregnant or lactating cow is about 3.25. Add in a 'winter factor' component and you have a good estimate.