stretching hay supplies

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Anonymous

Having a hard time finding hay to buy. Any suggestions on ways to stretch hay supplies without costing an arm and leg? Please respond, I may have to start selling cows that I would rather not. Thanks!



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Anonymous

There are probably others, but the only one I know of is to use roughage from none hay sources or poorer quality hay and feeding a supplement. You need the roughage to keep the guts working but the protein can come fomr other sources. Corn gluten, urea, etc. The trick is to increase the nutritional intake without messing up the rumenal microbes that allows the digestion of roughage. It seems like either Drovers or Beefmag had an article not too long ago about the subject.

dun

> Having a hard time finding hay to
> buy. Any suggestions on ways to
> stretch hay supplies without
> costing an arm and leg? Please
> respond, I may have to start
> selling cows that I would rather
> not. Thanks!



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A

Anonymous

Try DDGs and/ or soyhulls they work great in maintaining a cows condition and lessons their dependence on hay as long as you feed around 4.5 lbs per cow a day... This is a fairly cheap alternative also

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Anonymous

Check the website: <A HREF="http://www.hayexchange.com" TARGET="_blank">www.hayexchange.com</A> They have nationwide ads for hay listed by state. Independent hay people post the advs. Last time I checked, there was fairly good supply in Oklahoma and Kansas. You're in Missouri. The prices I saw were very reasonable.

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Anonymous

Rough rule of thumb is a pound of grain replaces 2 to 3# of hay in nutrient value. Of course, you have to keep the grain to hay ratio within reason so you don't run into rumen problems. But, with our 5+ year drought here in the west, it has at times been more economical to feed some grain and less hay. Sometimes not just more economical - sometime's it's pure survival when hay is not available.

> Having a hard time finding hay to
> buy. Any suggestions on ways to
> stretch hay supplies without
> costing an arm and leg? Please
> respond, I may have to start
> selling cows that I would rather
> not. Thanks!
 
OP
A

Anonymous

The Cow-Calf Management Guide & Cattle Producer's Library is an excellent resource for this kind of info.

<A HREF="http://wbrc.ag.uidaho.edu/" TARGET="_blank">http://wbrc.ag.uidaho.edu/</A>

> Rough rule of thumb is a pound of
> grain replaces 2 to 3# of hay in
> nutrient value. Of course, you
> have to keep the grain to hay
> ratio within reason so you don't
> run into rumen problems. But, with
> our 5+ year drought here in the
> west, it has at times been more
> economical to feed some grain and
> less hay. Sometimes not just more
> economical - sometime's it's pure
> survival when hay is not
> available.
 
OP
A

Anonymous

> The Cow-Calf Management Guide
> & Cattle Producer's Library is
> an excellent resource for this
> kind of info.

> <A HREF="http://wbrc.ag.uidaho.edu/" TARGET="_blank">http://wbrc.ag.uidaho.edu/</A>

Your mineral choice will also determine the amount of low quality hay the cow will eat. Choose a good minerial.

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Anonymous

> Having a hard time finding hay to
> buy. Any suggestions on ways to
> stretch hay supplies without
> costing an arm and leg? Please
> respond, I may have to start
> selling cows that I would rather
> not. Thanks! I buy soyhull pellets by bulk from the local co/op they say they are eight percent protien for 109 dollars a ton.

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Anonymous

If you could grind the hay you can mix in straw with with your other hay, grinding makes it a hell of a lot more palatable. If your hay has decent nutritional value you can feed almost 2 parts hay one part straw and still meet and exceed your cows protein requirements.

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Anonymous

> If you could grind the hay you can
> mix in straw with with your other
> hay, grinding makes it a hell of a
> lot more palatable. If your hay
> has decent nutritional value you
> can feed almost 2 parts hay one
> part straw and still meet and
> exceed your cows protein
> requirements.

Hello, BP: That was a nice, helpful and non-sarcastic post ---- please continue to post in that manner, and try not to revert to some of your other "styles" of posting.
 
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A

Anonymous

> Hello, BP: That was a nice,
> helpful and non-sarcastic post
> ---- please continue to post in
> that manner, and try not to revert
> to some of your other
> "styles" of posting.

I've got a question - I am feeding hay grazer hay this year, actually started it last year, but the girls seem to put a lot of it on the ground and then it goes to waste. Would grinding it up help this problem and if so, how do you grind it and what do you put it in for them to get to it if you would not use hay rings.

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Anonymous

dont feed all your hay out when its still fall wait until it starts getting cold and harsh weather to feed your hay and believe me it'll last longer!
 

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