supplementing in a hay shortage

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plbcattle

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What do most of you supplement during droughts such as the one we are in. I have seen a lot using cotton seed, soy hull pellets, range cubes. I will be feeding about 100 momma cows so cost per ton will be an issue. these cows will be calving shortly and i have been supplementing about 10 lbs of alfalfa every other day along with grass hay
 
Haven't priced whole cottonseed, but I like this as a supplement. High in energy and high in protein. Parents fed it a couple of years back and cows came out of the winter in good flesh. Cost them $90.00/ton then. Takes care of both protein and energy requirements. DO NOT feed it to breeding bulls. The gossypol in the seed causes sterility.
 
Straw. Fed it for two years straight and had good luck with it.

2 years old or older is best - cows love it. Be sure to have lots of water on hand and some decent mineral. There is an article posted somewhere - Cattleannie I believe - that talks about it.

Bez!
 
J. T.":t4m2lgnj said:
Haven't priced whole cottonseed, but I like this as a supplement. High in energy and high in protein. Parents fed it a couple of years back and cows came out of the winter in good flesh. Cost them $90.00/ton then. Takes care of both protein and energy requirements. DO NOT feed it to breeding bulls. The gossypol in the seed causes sterility.

Cottonseed causes more problems than what you described.
http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare ... 116pod.pdf
 
silage...24 dollars a ton here...probably more out there because of supply and demand stuff but really good feed
 
We're in your same general area and are currently streching our hay with soybean hull pellets. It's a 12% protein feed and cost $110 in the bulk (up from $95 two months ago). You'll have to hand feed it, The cows eat it like lollipops! NOAA is claiming that there is no relief from the drought through the first quarter of '06. We are alredy in the bullseye at the exceptional level. Don't know how a lot of us will survive. Really hate to still be feeding cows in April and May!
 
Several ways to stretch forage supplies and supplement:

1. Ration exisiting standing grass by strip grazing. This is easy to do with inexpensive portable electric fence.

2. Ration hay by unrolling hay instead feeding in hay rings. Can unroll 1 bale for each 50 cows daily. See this link for a simple, inexpensive unroller device.

http://www.perry-co.com/hay.htm

3. Whole cottonseed My family has fed WCS as long as I can remember, with no problems, including bulls. We do limit WCS feeding to 4-5lb/hd/day. I know research has shown problems from gossypol, but we have not experienced it at the rates we feed. Whole cottonseed is one of the most nutrient dense feeds. It is fed in huge quantities to dairy cows.

4. Dried distillers grains or corn gluten feed. These 2 products are very similar corn milling byproducts. they are high in protein, energy & fiber.

5. soy hulls. excellent fiber & energy supplement. usually run 10-12% protein. work well with corn gluten, ddg, or wcs for a little more protein.

6. shelled corn currently very cheeeeaaaap! good source of energy, but needs additional protein such as alfalfa hay, corn gluten, DDG or WCS. whole corn can be fed directly on grass sod with minimal waste. there will be what appears to be a lot of whole kernels in the manure. this passed corn is a very small % of that consumed and on a low volume basis, will probably not be cost effective to process. Also cracked corn would need to be fed in troughs or waste will be considerable.

See this link for byproduct suppliers & prices.

http://agebb.missouri.edu/dairy/byprod/index.htm

Hopefully this will give you some ideas to consider.

I understand your situation as we are in the same boat. 2005 will go down in history as the 10th driest year in Waco TX. just last month I purchased additional WCS due to drought.

Good luck & best regards

Brock
 
plbcattle":2skphotm said:
What do most of you supplement during droughts such as the one we are in. I have seen a lot using cotton seed, soy hull pellets, range cubes. I will be feeding about 100 momma cows so cost per ton will be an issue. these cows will be calving shortly and i have been supplementing about 10 lbs of alfalfa every other day along with grass hay

You are being awfully quiet about this - cheapest way to go is usually straw if it is close by - vast majority of folks completely ignore this option for some reason - here is the article from Cattleannie - older the straw the better from my experience.

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16751

Bez!
 
Guys around here use straw also but put molasis (sp) on it to get cows to eat it better. My dad always said it beat a snow bank all to h3!! JHH.
 
Bez!":3iilkk9e said:
plbcattle":3iilkk9e said:
What do most of you supplement during droughts such as the one we are in. I have seen a lot using cotton seed, soy hull pellets, range cubes. I will be feeding about 100 momma cows so cost per ton will be an issue. these cows will be calving shortly and i have been supplementing about 10 lbs of alfalfa every other day along with grass hay

You are being awfully quiet about this - cheapest way to go is usually straw if it is close by - vast majority of folks completely ignore this option for some reason - here is the article from Cattleannie - older the straw the better from my experience.

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16751

bez

perhaps its because there is less staw than hay in the ozarks.
If you gotta truck it in from kansas you might as well bring in hay???
 
plbcattle":21f84foh said:
I will be feeding about 100 momma cows so cost per ton will be an issue.
Cost per ton should be no more of an issue if you have 1 cow, 10 cows, 100 cows or 1000 cows.
 
hillbilly":1gitwj8k said:
Bez!":1gitwj8k said:
plbcattle":1gitwj8k said:
What do most of you supplement during droughts such as the one we are in. I have seen a lot using cotton seed, soy hull pellets, range cubes. I will be feeding about 100 momma cows so cost per ton will be an issue. these cows will be calving shortly and i have been supplementing about 10 lbs of alfalfa every other day along with grass hay

You are being awfully quiet about this - cheapest way to go is usually straw if it is close by - vast majority of folks completely ignore this option for some reason - here is the article from Cattleannie - older the straw the better from my experience.

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16751

bez

perhaps its because there is less staw than hay in the ozarks.
If you gotta truck it in from kansas you might as well bring in hay???

Do not agree - if feed costs are high then perhaps it is cheaper to buy straw and spend the money trucking - still save in the long run.

Best bet if times are really that tough, is to truck the cattle the cattle to the feed as per another comment I made in:

Drought Options - http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Unless one decides to sell all the animals and start over when Mother Nature and God decide to get back on track with the producer. :lol:

Good luck to those in trouble - got the T-shirt and would not wish it on anyone.

Bez!
 
I tried to look back to confirm my info but could not find it. But think I read in Drovers or The Cattlman that a ration should not be over 10% for bulls.


Scotty
 
Bez!":5omiadsy said:
hillbilly":5omiadsy said:
Bez!":5omiadsy said:
plbcattle":5omiadsy said:
What do most of you supplement during droughts such as the one we are in. I have seen a lot using cotton seed, soy hull pellets, range cubes. I will be feeding about 100 momma cows so cost per ton will be an issue. these cows will be calving shortly and i have been supplementing about 10 lbs of alfalfa every other day along with grass hay

You are being awfully quiet about this - cheapest way to go is usually straw if it is close by - vast majority of folks completely ignore this option for some reason - here is the article from Cattleannie - older the straw the better from my experience.

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16751



bez

perhaps its because there is less staw than hay in the ozarks.
If you gotta truck it in from kansas you might as well bring in hay???

Do not agree - if feed costs are high then perhaps it is cheaper to buy straw and spend the money trucking - still save in the long run.

Best bet if times are really that tough, is to truck the cattle the cattle to the feed as per another comment I made in:

Drought Options - http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Unless one decides to sell all the animals and start over when Mother Nature and God decide to get back on track with the producer. :lol:

Good luck to those in trouble - got the T-shirt and would not wish it on anyone.

Bez!

Really can't argue with you and wouldn't want to argue with
cattle annie, I should be willing to learn but I'm getting old.

I consider staw as filler at best. If you have to truck it in
and suppliment 90% of your protein and 99% of your energy.
Why not buy hay???

Is the differance in price between trucked in hay or straw
enough to pay for all the supliment??

Just a dumb,
hillbilly
 
straw is a good cheap feed source.its not junk like most people think.it will test out 8% protine or better.an it will fill the cows up.to boost the protine feed tubs or sack feed.but know the tubs will increase the amount of hay thats ate.
 
hillbilly":o0z4tmzx said:
Bez!":o0z4tmzx said:
hillbilly":o0z4tmzx said:
Bez!":o0z4tmzx said:
plbcattle":o0z4tmzx said:
What do most of you supplement during droughts such as the one we are in. I have seen a lot using cotton seed, soy hull pellets, range cubes. I will be feeding about 100 momma cows so cost per ton will be an issue. these cows will be calving shortly and i have been supplementing about 10 lbs of alfalfa every other day along with grass hay

You are being awfully quiet about this - cheapest way to go is usually straw if it is close by - vast majority of folks completely ignore this option for some reason - here is the article from Cattleannie - older the straw the better from my experience.

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16751



bez

perhaps its because there is less staw than hay in the ozarks.
If you gotta truck it in from kansas you might as well bring in hay???

Do not agree - if feed costs are high then perhaps it is cheaper to buy straw and spend the money trucking - still save in the long run.

Best bet if times are really that tough, is to truck the cattle the cattle to the feed as per another comment I made in:

Drought Options - http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Unless one decides to sell all the animals and start over when Mother Nature and God decide to get back on track with the producer. :lol:

Good luck to those in trouble - got the T-shirt and would not wish it on anyone.

Bez!

Really can't argue with you and wouldn't want to argue with
cattle annie, I should be willing to learn but I'm getting old.

I consider staw as filler at best. If you have to truck it in
and suppliment 90% of your protein and 99% of your energy.
Why not buy hay???

Is the differance in price between trucked in hay or straw
enough to pay for all the supliment??

Just a dumb,
hillbilly

Well I am just a dumb farmer - I bought straw to save money! It is usually far cheaper than hay.

The price diff was more than enough for us - maybe / maybe not for you - run the pencil to it and see.

Bez!
 
Price difference between 5' x 6' straw bales weighing 1000lbs and hay bales weighing 1500lbs during the drought :

straw $20 ($40 for 2000lb square wheat straw bales)
hay $55 (if a person could find any for sale)

Going on that, if a person was paying around $8 a bale to have them trucked home (price for trucking was based on full semi load of bales and mileage - so charged for volume and not weight on the rate).

Even when the rolled barley supplement was figured into the equation (feed barley was around $108 a tonne), it was still more cost efficient to feed the straw/barley ration as opposed to the straight hay ration.

Plus, there simply was no hay available to purchase.

Anyway, just hope that this helps clarify our reasons for supplementing the straw during the drought. Basically, it was used as "push" for the grain (to keep the rumen working and keeping the cows from getting bunged up), also as fill so that the cows felt full.

Have enjoyed reading the alternative feeding methods on this thread.

Take care.
 

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