What kind of hay do I need to buy?

[Sunny Citizen]

I have a 12 month old Jersey heifer - which I bottle raised since about 2 days old. She has been on grass and I supplement with a bale of nice hay from the feed store. (I had bought a roll of hay - which has turned out to be junk. She hates it. It has stickers in it that I have to pull out by hand. It is very "dusty" as well.) So, now the pasture is down and I need to get her a decent roll of hay.

I've found some for sale -- about 5 different "qualities" -- the highest being "fertilized coastal horse quality". Is that what I need? Or something lesser? His prices only ranged about $15 from the worst quality to the top quality, so that is not a problem. About $68 a roll for the best. Is that reasonable?

Another question: I have a small pasture -- I've just been tossing her hay over the fence into a large container. I don't have a hay ring. IF I put a large roll in the pasture with her, is she going to destroy it??? Pull it apart and tramp all over it??? Will she eat it if it's been on the ground? I've got a full schedule with the winter break fast approaching and want to cut down some of my daily work.

How much do I need???? One roll or two or ??? Better to make just one trip to get me through the winter???

How many small bales = a roll?

ANY advice is apprecaited! Thanks.

 

[Limomike]

I dont know about anyone else, but if I had just one heifer to feed, I would buy some small bales, and put out one of half a bale, (preferably in a trough) see how long it lasts, then put another one out. IF you do put a large bale out without a ring, yes, she will butt it around, and trample it, and eventually end up pissing/pooping on it. So much would go to waste.

 

[chippie]

If you plan to milk her, buy the best quality hay you can afford.
If you put a round bale out with her without a ring, chances are she will ruin quite a bit of it. She will lay and poop on the hay that she pulls out that falls on the ground. Cattle seem to like a nice bed of hay.

How many square bales = a round bale depends on the weight of the square bales and the weight of the round bale. If the square bale weighs 60 lbs and the round bale 1000 lbs. The round bale = about 16 square bales. It is best if you can keep hay in front of her 24x7.
You don't have your location, and I don't know what type of winter you have. The colder the weather, the more hay an animal needs. They burn energy to stay warm.

I agree that for one animal, buying squares would be the easiest. Do you have a place to store a bunch? The price will probably go up during the winter months.

 

[M5farm]

I dont know about anyone else, but if I had just one heifer to feed, I would buy some small bales, and put out one of half a bale, (preferably in a trough) see how long it lasts, then put another one out. IF you do put a large bale out without a ring, yes, she will butt it around, and trample it, and eventually end up be nice/pooping on it. So much would go to waste.

Limo is spot on. Sunny where are you from??

 

[Sunny Citizen]

I'm in East Texas. I can rig up some of my calf panels around a round roll if that would work as a type of hay ring. I really don't have a good place to store any hay (no barn - just nice calf hutches which I've used for the square bales). For the round roll, I've just covered with a tarp and pulled off as I need it.

 

[dun]

A rule of thumb goes "first day dining room, second day bedroom, third day bathroom". And that pretty well holds true if you don;t have a way to feed her other thern just tossing it on the ground

 

[Alan]

A rule of thumb goes "first day dining room, second day bedroom, third day bathroom".

haven't heard that before but it is so true with cows and hay.

Sounds like you have just the one (12 month old) heifer (?). If that is the case, I would stick to small bales. Can you build a simple corner feeder using two post and 3 or 4 boards? That should leave you a nice triangle feeder in the corner of the pasture for her. As far as storage goes you can stack the square bales on pallets or bad (none feeding) bales as a permanent foundation, meaning don't feed the bottom bales, just stack your good hay on top. Then tarp the stack, with one cow the stack shouldn't be too big. Only reason for small bales is ease of handling, it would work for rounds also just pull off what you need.

 

[tsmaxx47]

sunny, i've done it both ways - small bales and large round ones. for you convenience large round bales are the way to go, but you have to have a means of handling them. i generally figured about 1/2 round bale per animal per month when i was hand feeding. i agree with chippie that 16 to 1 is a fair figure when comparing small square bales to large bales - it doesen't work all the time but it's pretty close. coastal hay down there in texas is a pretty good hay. if she'll eat it fine. if she won't try a little molasses on it. alfalfa is high grade hay that i know for a fact she would eat, but i don't think i would feed it for a steady diet. in your situation, find a good feed store and go have a chat with those folks. they will have access to "good" quality hay or know where to buy it in your area. also your county extention agent should be able to answer all your questions that you have....good luck!

 

[B&M Farms]

A couple round bales will probably get you by. Depending on what part of east texas you are in you will have to feed hay until sometime in march usually. The price is okay for 5x5 or larger good quality bales. The small squares of coastal the feedstores here sale would do good to weigh much more than 40 pounds. You can figure at the least 20 squares to a bale. The problem with feeding large round bales to one yearling heifer is that she will probably take 6 weeks or more to eat one. A lot of rain and even in a hay ring you will have quite a bit of loss if its uncovered. I have four 13 month old replacement heifers together and it takes them about 2 weeks to clean a bale up. If it was just one I would square hay her. Im feeding them everyday anyway.

 

[Sunny Citizen]

Thanks, everyone. Your comments have been very helpful. Yes, she is our only cow. I think I'll go with a round bale and just live with having her waste some. My neighbor has the prong tractor attachment and moved my first bale for me. Last spring I planted bahaia seed and can't tell that I got anything to grow. I guess I'll try that again next spring....what little we already had did well and she liked it. I've put out rye seed and it's starting to green up. Hoping I will have a better pasture next year.