Put Out My Last Round Bale

[FourSquareFarm]

So, I put out my last round bale yesterday. I am wondering if I should buy some more or let them graze the start of green I see in my other pastures. How long do you wait to turn them loose on it?

 

[Rafter S]

I quit feeding hay when they don't clean it up. As long as they keep eating it all I keep putting it out.

 

[cowgirl8]

Our cows quit eating hay when they have enough to graze. Thats usually when we quit putting out hay. If your cows dont have enough out in the fields, they will let you know if they hear the food wagon start up...

 

[dun]

I quit feeding hay when they don't clean it up. As long as they keep eating it all I keep putting it out.

I do the same

 

[skyhightree1]

I quit feeding hay when they don't clean it up. As long as they keep eating it all I keep putting it out.

I do the same

Ditto but I filled the feeders last week they nibble it and now I got half eaten bales in the feeder that i am gonna burn next week if they arent gone. My rye is starting to come on pretty good so now they are eating it soon as it gets any height

 

[M-5]

3 bales have lasted 2 weeks so far. first week the were in knee deep oats and clover. this week Bahia that's 4 to 6" they will eat a few mouth fulls and head to the shade

 

[Bigfoot]

I have two rolls left, I think I'm calling it quits. I've bought and fed 75 rolls in the last 5 or 6 weeks. Might put out some DDG for the next couple of weeks.

 

[AllForage]

So, I put out my last round bale yesterday. I am wondering if I should buy some more or let them graze the start of green I see in my other pastures. How long do you wait to turn them loose on it?

If you manage your grazing ( mig). I suggest waiting til you have 4-6 inches and then doing quick rotations. Up here, pounding young early spring grass is s recipe for poor pastures and lots of weeds or thistles. Just wait for all the threads on chemicals to control them posted here.

 

[skyhightree1]

So, I put out my last round bale yesterday. I am wondering if I should buy some more or let them graze the start of green I see in my other pastures. How long do you wait to turn them loose on it?

If you manage your grazing ( mig). I suggest waiting til you have 4-6 inches and then doing quick rotations. Up here, pounding young early spring grass is s recipe for poor pastures and lots of weeds or thistles. Just wait for all the threads on chemicals to control them posted here.

Cattle eat alot of weeds :lol2:

 

[greybeard]

I've put out my last one as well for this year, unless something really weird happens with the weather--I'm not out of hay, just not going to put any more out.

 

[J&D Cattle]

If I was out I could probably make do and rotate the cattle a bunch and supplement with some DDG. I've got some hay left over that was under a leaky tarp and it needs to be fed this year. I'm going to fence my cows down into a small pasture and make them eat hay for probably another month.

 

[Texas Gal]

Last Tuesday ( 17th) we put out half of what had been feeding. We haven't put any out since then. They have cleaned it up but haven't been complaining so I guess we've put out the last bale.....unless we get some more wintry weather.

 

[Bigfoot]

Intresting to me that although we all live in different parts of the country, we end up stopping feeding hay the same time. I'd have figured you guts down south would have hit spring a long time ago.

 

[M-5]

we did but grass variety is so different.

 

[Bigfoot]

I'm always jealous of you guys down south, and your warm season grasses. My WSG is a long way from being grazeable, but my fescue is really starting to come on. I have had so many failed attempts at rye and oats, that I finally just gave up. I had 45 acres of oats completely fail last year. I planted an acre and a half of rye just fooling around with it this year, and it was a 100% success. Not even sure if my bermuda will be able to come out because the rye is so thick.

 

[greybeard]

Intresting to me that although we all live in different parts of the country, we end up stopping feeding hay the same time. I'd have figured you guts down south would have hit spring a long time ago.

I always figure about mid March but plan for another month in case winter hangs around longer.
The steady rains have really changed things this year--wasn't all that cold in first 3 weeks of March but rainy, wet, drizzling all the time. If not for the rain, I could have stopped hay a couple weeks ago--doesn't matter how warm or how much moisture, spring grass just won't grow when the sky is solid low clouds

 

[slick4591]

Ended up buying one bale last week cause the girls were not out grazing like they should have been. They went to work on it right away but slowed down a few days later and took to grazing. Now, if it ever will dry up I'll get all the waste scraped up for compost.

 

[greybeard]

Ended up buying one bale last week cause the girls were not out grazing like they should have been. They went to work on it right away but slowed down a few days later and took to grazing. Now, if it ever will dry up I'll get all the waste scraped up for compost.

What do you use to scrape or pile your waste hay up with?

I've tried a 5' landscape rake, 3 pt mounted straight blade, box blade, and backhoe front bucket, and can't say any of them work very well-----of those, the box blade with scarifier teeth all the way down seems to work best, tho the landscape rake might work if it were a lot heavier.

 

[Bigfoot]

I've never cleaned up a hay feeding spot in my life. Clean out barns of course, but never anything outside. Run a field cultivator over it, with a big drag, then I keep it sprayed right good for weeds. Usually have my best stands of grass on the old hay spots, and never sow them down.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Burn it and drag it.