how much hay

[Castleman Creek]

I have a holestein/jersey. She has been in milk for about 4 months. Im feeding coastal square bales that weigh about 45 to 55lbs a bale. She weighs about 850 to 900lbs. My question is, how much hay should she go threw in a day or a week. Right now i think she is eating about 1/4 of a bale a day or a little more. Does this sound about right? Im new to this.

 

[Bigfoot]

If she's got some pasture to pick through, and browse a little, that sounds about right. A decent rule of thumb, is to provide a half a square bale per day in the dead of winter. She may not eat quit that much, but if you make a guess how long your hay feeding season is, you can plan from there.

 

[bigbull338]

you can feed her 20 to 25lbs of hay a day.thats 1/2 a bale of hay.what id do is put 1 bale at a time removing the string or wire.

 

[suzorse]

dairy cows in milk eat any where from 40 to 60lbs of hay a day, so figure a bale a day , if you have a feed bunk
I would give a bale and replenish daily ,I feed 2 times a day myself , and try to feed 25to 30lbs per cow AM and PM , dry cows eat less, but I have been told they need hay in front of them 24/7
I want them to leave a small amount between AM and PM feeding , I do not free choice hay myself
I watch condition and feed accordingly
Suzanne

 

[Castleman Creek]

Thank you

 

[jedstivers]

Does she have any grazing and are you giving her anything else?

 

[Castleman Creek]

She has some grazing, not much, shes on 3 acres. I give her 1 scoop of grain in the morning, and 1 in the evening, and a flake of alfalfa once every 2 days. :nod:

 

[jedstivers]

Unless it's a really big scoop I'd turn it up a little. Prol do the alfalfa every day too.
On the coastal I'd for sure make sure she never ran out of it.

 

[Tim/South]

We hand milked cows when I was growing up. Cows got all the hay they wanted and about 4 gallons of sweet feed twice a day. Hard to keep weight on a dairy breed when in milk unless you feed them well.