> Good oat hay, meaning that which
> was baled at a good stage &
> has grain in it, is good feed.
> Cows can actually get fat on it in
> a hurry. We consider it good
> winter feed, and we are in NE UT
> at a high elevation. Poor oat hay,
> that with little grain in it,
> should be considered about the
> same as straw when it comes to
> feed value.
> You might look into the cost of
> grain in your area. Depending on
> the cost of grain, substituting
> grain for a portion of the hay
> ration can save you a bunch on
> hay. Consider each pound of grain
> equal to about 2 to 3 pounds of
> good quality alfalfa hay.
> I had to laugh when you mentioned
> chopping up pumpkins for your
> cows. One of the funniest sights
> I've ever seen happened when a
> neighbor threw some whole pumpkins
> from his garden over the fence for
> our cows. Our oldest cow, Foxy,
> isn't at all shy about food and
> she immediately chewed a hole in
> one of the pumpkins. The other
> cows decided that smelled pretty
> good and started crowding around
> trying to get a share of that one
> pumpkin that already had a hole in
> it. Foxy wasn't about to share, so
> she stuck her nose into that
> pumpkin and took off at a run,
> with the rest of the herd running
> behind her. She'd stop and take
> another bite from time to time,
> then take off running with it
> stuck on her nose again. She
> wasn't running because the pumpkin
> was stuck on her nose - she was
> definitely trying to keep the
> other cows from sharing HER
> pumpkin.
> It wasn't very many days before
> the entire herd learned how to
> chew holes in pumpkins.
> We never again saw a game of
> "cow soccer" but we sure
> enjoyed the one game we did see.
> My elderly neighbor had tears
> running down her face from
> laughing so hard watching Foxy.
linda,
great story, i have six heifers, moved to an area and kept the ag. exemption, good tax savings in tx.
i finally realized cows have different personalities, and quite tame too, has been fun.
dan tx
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