Spring has Sprung

[Stocker Steve]

Swans and geese came back this week. Snow is melting quickly. More snow and more runoff than we have had for several years. Frost will not be out for a while so the water is ponding.

Deer are back on the cereal rye. Snow got too deep and crusty for several months for them to graze thru it. The small fawns we had two months ago are not visible...

 

[daneg]

Almost spring like here also, noticed crows a couple of days ago seen the first geese today. Still lots of snow to melt but we need the moisture. The deer population is certainly going to be lower with the deep snow the wolves and coyotes ate well this winter.

 

[Aaron]

No birds yet. Snow going far too fast. No frost in the ground, so majority should soak in. Never good if majority of snow gone in March though. A few weeks of gusty warm April winds could be a bad start for the growing season.

I am only slightly more optimistic than I was this time last year.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I am only slightly more optimistic than I was this time last year.

I am attempting to seed some alfalfa mix again this year. Bought better insurance for it so I am hedging.

Hay will be challenging. Much lower carryover than normal, and corn will stay high unless the Russian Czar decides to negotiate.

The go for it approach would be to buy a TMR and start blending byproduct with swamp hay and straw... Are bigger herds doing this in Canada, or is byproduct too far for efficient trucking?

 

[daneg]

There seems to be more TMR being used. I can't justify the cost of one. I'm feeding DDGS for the first time this winter, some of my neighbors have them for several years.
Lots of creative rations used to feed cows this winter,

 

[SBMF 2015]

Frost is all gone here. I did some spring chisel plowing Wednesday. Still a little muddy, but the rain we got Friday should mellow it out.

 

[Stocker Steve]

There seems to be more TMR being used. I can't justify the cost of one. I'm feeding DDGS for the first time this winter, some of my neighbors have them for several years.

I have bucketed a DDG with mineral mix onto swamp hay bales every two or three days. Cows get really pushy, but they can hold decent condition on junk hay during an artic conditions.

Just need to buy more cows to make the TMR pay...

 

[Stocker Steve]

Not freezing at night here so the snow melt is very rapid, the grass is trying to green up, and ice fishing is almost over. Not used to above average temps. Still 7 weeks to a typical pasture turn out date.

 

[Aaron]

I am attempting to seed some alfalfa mix again this year. Bought better insurance for it so I am hedging.

Hay will be challenging. Much lower carryover than normal, and corn will stay high unless the Russian Czar decides to negotiate.

The go for it approach would be to buy a TMR and start blending byproduct with swamp hay and straw... Are bigger herds doing this in Canada, or is byproduct too far for efficient trucking?

A few bought TMRs of some sort I guess. Even the ones that said they wouldn't.

Byproduct not a option here. Only options were wheat straw, canola straw, corn silage, swamp grass and beef pellets.

One oldtimer ran out of hay in November and has fed his 20 cows beef pellets ever since. Going through about $800 a week in pellets. So if you ever wondered if cows could survive on pellets alone, no hay/straw of any kind, I guarantee you they will.

 

[TexasBred]

A few bought TMRs of some sort I guess. Even the ones that said they wouldn't.

Byproduct not a option here. Only options were wheat straw, canola straw, corn silage, swamp grass and beef pellets.

One oldtimer ran out of hay in November and has fed his 20 cows beef pellets ever since. Going through about $800 a week in pellets. So if you ever wondered if cows could survive on pellets alone, no hay/straw of any kind, I guarantee you they will.

No idea what a beef pellet is but would guess it is probably made up of roughage products and processed grain by-products and very little if any grain in it.

 

[Aaron]

No idea what a beef pellet is but would guess it is probably made up of roughage products and processed grain by-products and very little if any grain in it.

It's a screening pellet from the mills. Chaff, hulls, immature grains, etc., all compressed together.

Example:

https://ungers1903.ca/grains/beef-pellets-with-mineral/

 

[TexasBred]

It's a screening pellet from the mills. Chaff, hulls, immature grains, etc., all compressed together.

Example:

https://ungers1903.ca/grains/beef-pellets-with-mineral/

Just a mild little maintenance feed. Doubt it would ever cause any problems but still not a replacement for long stem hay or grazing.

 

[Aaron]

Just a mild little maintenance feed. Doubt it would ever cause any problems but still not a replacement for long stem hay or grazing.

Agreed. But this fella proved they will survive on it over winter.

 

[Stocker Steve]

U$S per ton ?

 

[Stocker Steve]

A few bought TMRs of some sort I guess. Even the ones that said they wouldn't.

Byproduct not a option here. Only options were wheat straw, canola straw, corn silage, swamp grass and beef pellets.

TMRs were initially used here for blending corn silage based dairy rations. Since they fed 2 x 365 you did not need a huge herd to justify the investment.

Then we saw TMRs being purchased by bigger beef operators that also background calves. Many were seasonal operations so the TMRs were only used half of the year, unless they were also supplementing yearlings on pasture.

Now I am seeing TMRs in modest sized beef cow herds. Yes, they save on hay expense, but selling some cows may have been a more profitable choice...

I thought about owning a TMR till the price of hay comes back down. How long will I have to wait to resell the TMR?

 

[TCRanch]

Okay, I can't help myself. Teacher in Jr. High said, every day on from Mar 20 - late April:
Spring has sprung
The grass has ris'
I wonder where all the flowers is?

That said, KS spring is anywhere from negative wind chills with snow/rain/sleet to 80 & sunny. Poor plants don't know whether to sprout and half that do are stunted in the next inevitable freeze.

 

[TexasBred]

Agreed. But this fella proved they will survive on it over winter.

Oh they will "survive" on a lot of things.

 

[coachg]

 

[Aaron]

U$S per ton ?

$290 US/ton

 

[Aaron]

TMRs were initially used here for blending corn silage based dairy rations. Since they fed 2 x 365 you did not need a huge herd to justify the investment.

Then we saw TMRs being purchased by bigger beef operators that also background calves. Many were seasonal operations so the TMRs were only used half of the year, unless they were also supplementing yearlings on pasture.

Now I am seeing TMRs in modest sized beef cow herds. Yes, they save on hay expense, but selling some cows may have been a more profitable choice...

I thought about owning a TMR till the price of hay comes back down. How long will I have to wait to resell the TMR?

I have no idea how long to resell. Staying far away from all the extra iron as I can. Never even got into the corn silage craze this year to supplement. I just want to feed bales every few days in rings.

A neighbor bought a rail car load of pellets and 100 tons of corn silage to help get his 63 pairs through winter. He is so envious of me and can't wait to go back to a normal year of just feeding hay. He hates all the extra daily work augering pellets out of the bin and scooping corn silage. He said he doesn't understand why guys make feeding cows more complicated then necessary on an annual basis. I say they must love sitting in tractors and doing loops around fields, discing, seeding, cutting, combining, and repeating. I hate every minute I have to spend with machinery.