Month you start feeding hay

[Poundsy]

Simple question: Where you live and when do you have to put out your first bale of hay?

We are in central Indiana and almost every year like clockwork I have to start feeding hay the week before thanksgiving and stop feeding last week of March/first week of April.

 

[Suzie Q]

I can remember a huge fight with an employer. They feed out hay from such and such a month to such and such a month. Well it doesn't work like that around here. You need to feed when there isn't feed. If there has been no rain, you can not expect horses to work on no food just because the time of year has not gotten to the magic month.

The year before last we did not get grass here for our cattle until virtually Christmas, this year we have had it since before September and it seems that about the whole of Australia is in flood. That means that I have started feeding out again this week, as when the property is covered in water there is no area left for the cattle to graze.

 

[bigbull338]

im in east tx an under normal feeding we dont start till the 1st hard frost about thanksgiving.but the rain quit,so we started haying the 1st of nov.an we will hay till mid march.

 

[dun]

Early to middle march and feed through April and into May. Some years as early as August and as late as June. A couple o years ago we staretd in Jne fed through August and didn;t feed anymore till the next winter

 

[Anonymous]

C Florida.. With the drought this year we put out hay mid October. Normally don't need to until mid November. Spring grass comes on in mid march

 

[TexasBred]

Dry down here and a couple of hard frosts early. Put first hay out about mid November. Should be able to quit by mid March.

 

[plumber_greg]

Gonna' put some out this weekend, gonna' get the cold they're getting in Mont. If the weather held I might have another 3 weeks. Lots of picking on the fescue yet. Will put the worst of my hay in rings and let the cows decide. NW Mo. gs

 

[plumber_greg]

Forgot, will quit the last week of April. gs

 

[shaz]

Southern Middle Tn,
drought got me this year so I started feeding hay last night. Usually I can start at the end of Dec and stop around April 10.

FYI: My calving season is in two weeks. Other respondents should list their calving season. It makes a difference.

 

[cowboy43]

How many bales do you figure for each cow and at what cost ? Central Tx 3 to 4 round bales $150 to $200 per cow. When their is no grazing left 30 cows will eat a 1000lb bale a day and a sack of cubes.

 

[fit2btied]

Sometimes start in August and sometimes feed into April. In an ideal year we keep all the cattle on leased land until deer season - mid-November. We take one cutting on all the home pastures and then stockpile. This was a very good year. Three of the last four have been pretty good to us. We will only put out hay when everything is ice or snow covered and if we have an early spring, we may not have to hay at all otherwise. Will be starting with 3-yr old barned hay.

 

[agmantoo]

Normally I rotationally feed stockpiled forage all Winter and graze growing forage the rest of the year doing rotational grazing. I make no hay and the cows calve year round. I have some stockpiled forage now but not enough due to drought to make it to March without some type of supplement. So for the last few weeks and until around the 17th of December when the hay I purchased is consumed, I am feeding hay. I got a good deal on the hay and it is costing me $60/day to feed 5 round bales per day. With this conserving plan I let the forage get a rest and grow some on the warm days. I also plan to avoid having to put out hay as the weather gets worse because I will revert to my normal rotational grazing on the 18th of Dec.

 

[Isomade]

Usually mid November or first of December till mid March.

 

[1982vett]

I'll feed hay when ever the forage in the pastures is inadequate to meet the cows nutritional needs. That could be just about any month of the year. Lately that has been anywhere between July and June.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I start feeding hay in Sept and go thru mid Oct while calving usually 6 to 8 900-1000lb bales because I calve on 100 acres and the grass gets short but as calving progresses and I get the pairs sorted off onto better grass I wind up feeding only a couple bales per day by the last week or so of calving

then I usually have to feed a few bales to atleast 1 herd starting the first of december while the bulls are out cause rotaing is restricted because of the bulls
if the weather holds after the 15th of January when I pull bulls I can usually make it another 20-30 days before feeding everyday and when I do start I usually feed til the first of April

some yrs like last yr we started around thanksgiving and fed thru march on a daily basis

 

[fargus]

We calve in May. The last few years we've put our first hay to the cows around the 25th of November, and they are fed through to the end of April. I got behind with a busy fall, but I'm going to go out today and tomorrow and set up our bale grazing. There is some stockpiled grass under the snow in the field I'm going to set the bales out in, so that may stretch our supplies. We have tons of hay, so I'm not worried, but if we can cut less and graze more next year that would be super.

I figure 11 x 800 lb round bales per cow every year. That is usually high, but it gives us some room to breathe. Hay prices bounce around, but for dry cow hay we can usually get acceptable quality for $25/bale. So you're looking at $200-$250 a cow if it's a tough hay year. We would love to graze more, but we get so much snow in our part of Ontario that getting all of your stockpiled grass can be tough. The other thing we contend with in Oct, Nov, and the early spring is mud. It seems like a bit of pugging in a MIG scheme doesn't hurt the ground (might even help it) but if we're half a day late moving the cows on they can do a pile of damage.

 

[oscar p]

Start the 3 week of November and feed to the middle of April.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

Im in northeast texas. We usually start when we get a killing frost.

Last year we fed from early November to March.
This year we started putting out hay in november just for my brahman and nelore calves, yearling crossbreed heifers and about 6 first calvers that are in pastures that have little grass.
Our mother cows, horses and bulls are still on pasture. They are keeping their condition on the brown grass so we won't out out hay until they start falling off.
I am surprised we have made it this far without feeding hay. Hopefully we can make it to the end of the year.

 

[Poundsy]

Thanks for the insight in different areas. I calve early fall so the cows still have some good green grass for a month or two before they get brought up to barn paddock. It seems even when the grass is green but short the cows start bawling like they know it is time for the hay feeders to get filled.

 

[Brute 23]

Started feeding a few bales on the cold days at a couple places about two weeks ago. Have a couple places that we still haven't started feeding hay. All places have salt, mineral, and molasses.

In a prety decent year its not unusual that we go until Dec or even Jan at some places. I will do just about any thing to keep from feeding hay... keep numbers low, molasses, rotate pastures, little sack feed here and there. It seems like a good but if you factor in time plus wear and tear..... .