Wheat Straw

[cowgirl_telly_369]

How is wheat straw for cattle? And what exactly is it?

-Looking through the paper trying to find more hay to last the animals through winter.

 

[randiliana]

How is wheat straw for cattle? And what exactly is it?

-Looking through the paper trying to find more hay to last the animals through winter.

Wheat straw is the straw from combined wheat, and in my experience, cows don't really care for wheat straw. If it is aged a bit (couple years old) they will find it more platable. It really hasn't got a lot of feed value in it. If you have a enough good quality feed to mix off with the straw, it could be a good way to stretch the winter supply out though. If you are looking for straw to feed, oat straw would be a good choice, they seem to like it a lot better. Lentil straw is another good choice.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Wheat straw by itself is about as palatable and nutritious as your old shreaded household broom... ;-)

If I had to resort to straw left from running a combine, I would go with oat straw since it usually has oat heads with grain in it that the combine didn't "process."

Any type of "straw" hay probably needs to be supplemented with a good protein source, among other vitamins & minerals.

 

[bigbull338]

wheat straw hay is used as a filler.i know when we baled it our cows would eat it with out any problemsthe straw tests at 8% protine.you need to feed good hay and or grain with it to streach your hay supply.

 

[cowgirl_telly_369]

Thanks. I had to use that as something to go by when we all sit down and discuss what to buy.

 

[NorCalFarms]

We feed lots of straw to cattle. Mainly we free choice rice straw in 3x4 one ton bales because it is so easy to handle. We feed alfalfa and a little grass hay, but the rice straw gives them additional bulk. It is mostly a filler, as there isn't much feed in it, but our alfalfa is pretty high quality so they are getting enough protien, just not enough volume with alfalfa alone. Wheat straw would be much the same, we just don't have any around here. Oat or barley straw would probably be better, but you take what you can get. Below is a link to feeding rice straw, but wheat straw would be somewhat the same and it gives you some good guidelines.

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8079.pdf

 

[Bobg]

In our area they use stripper headers on the combine. I've never seen one, but from what I understand it just knocks the wheat off the head. It leaves quite a bit of wheat still on the straw and it makes pretty good feed along with alfalfa. In a pinch you can cover your straw stack with plastic and then pump in 60 gallons of anhydrous ammonia and double the protein. It also breaks down the fiber, I've seen a lot of people feed it when their short on hay.

Bobg

 

[Millerfamfarms]

Where we come from straw is called bedding. The cattle nibble on it if they are laying down but thats it. That is oat straw. If you bale it with the oats still on the straw that makes some pretty decent feed. Straight straw is pretty much worthless for anything but keeping the cows clean in the barn.

 

[BH]

wheat straw hay is used as a filler.i know when we baled it our cows would eat it with out any problemsthe straw tests at 8% protine.you need to feed good hay and or grain with it to streach your hay supply.

Yep, we use it as a filler. Had some tested and it tested at
4% protein. The NEm was .1806 and the NEg was 0. Not good for much obviously. It just added a little more bulk to the ration.

 

[somn]

Where we come from straw is called bedding. The cattle nibble on it if they are laying down but thats it. That is oat straw. If you bale it with the oats still on the straw that makes some pretty decent feed. Straight straw is pretty much worthless for anything but keeping the cows clean in the barn.

Oat straw apparently takes longer to travel thru the digestive track than other forages. There once was an old boy from South Dakota always fed oat straw to his calves the day before we came to pick them up they hardly ever **** the inside of the trailer up. He thought he was pulling one over on me I didn't care we weighed them in the nearest town then I shrunk them 4 percent anyway. He always had good calves though. Maybe they did have a little more than 4 percent of body weight in the intestines maybe not too I don't know. I didn't care really the trailer was usually clean enough for another load before a washout. That saved me $40.00 and a hour labor.

 

[TheBullLady]

I can't imagine it has much feed value, except for filler. I guess if you fed it with plenty of protein, ie: lick tanks or tubs, it might be okay. I know with the shortage of hay a lot of folks are forced to buy "feed" they wouldn't even consider using in a good year.

 

[cowsense]

We've used all kinds of cereal straw for feed....cows prefer barley but when it's cold they'll clean up almost anything. The key is to balance your ration for energy and protein along with a mineral program. We either supplement a hay ration with straw as an additional filler or if we are short of hay and using straight straw we feed grain or pellets to balance out the energy needs of the cow. A grain and straw ration in our country is often the most economical cow maintenance ration going!

 

[glover36]

never fed any type of straw always used as a bedding only time we did was we cut it early when still green and baled and wrapped it