Wheat hay

[Dixieangus]

Does anyone know the average percentage of wheat hay (straw) protein? And any risks?
Thanks

 

[Angus Cowman]

your talking about 2 different things
there is Wheat Hay and then there is wheat straw
the hay is baled usually while it is in the boot to dough stage and is some pretty good feed
the straw is baled after they have combined the wheat and isn't very good nutritionally

 

[Dixieangus]

sorry, wheat straw... But roughly do you have any idea?

 

[piedmontese]

for my cows there is no risk with wheat straw because they wont eat it.i only use it for bedding.i guess u could grind it with molasses and feed it but not much nutritional value.

 

[alisonb]

Probably no more than 3%. You can increase it to about 10% with ammoniation treatment but I doubt it would be cost effective. Soaking it in molasses syrup for a couple of hours will improve palatability and digestibility and increase protein levels 'slightly'.
It really makes good bedding or compost though .

 

[hillsdown]

My cattle eat straw in the winter, just to be eating it, specially if there is still grain in it . ;-)

There have been studies done about feeding dry cows straw and grain and no hay .They did just as well as the hay fed group ; however the straw was treated with ammonia to make it more palatable like Alison has stated. I think the one big draw back would be the amount of indigestible fibre ,however during the drought when hay was scarce here quite a few guys fed their cattle just straw and grain until they calved and then the hay came out.

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/liv ... /straw.htm

 

[TexasBred]

Without some supplementation a cow can literally starve to death with a belly full of wheat straw but there are times it works depending on 'what else" the cow is eating. "Gasing" is will raise the protein and make it worth something but don't know if it will be worth the cost of the anhydrous and the time, labor and material to cover and seal a stack of hay in order to apply the gas. I'd much rather just buy some decent hay to begin with.

 

[upfrombottom]

During last winters hay shortage, I sold 200 bales of rice straw to some guys that fed it to their cows. They said the cows loved it, I never had it tested, but alot of it had blown down and still had the grain on it when I cut and baled it. They may have just loved to have had anything to eat.

 

[piedmontese]

i'm not familiar with rice straw but it must taste better than straw tot he cows because mine wont eat straw.maybe they would if i starved them first.

 

[dun]

If I put straw in a feeder the cows won;t touch it. If I break a bale to bed down a cold calf the cows eat it like crazy.

 

[novaman]

Wheat straw is nothing more than a filler with minimal nutritional value. Some guys will soak straw bales with molasses to add palatability and protein but as TB said treatments like this are expensive and added labor. If you are short on hay and need to stretch your forage straw would work, provided you supplement it's deficiencies. I would consider grinding straw and hay together on a pile to make a mixture if I were to ever feed straw.