When to feed hay with light stocking

[denoginnizer]

How do I know when my cows need hay? I have about 29 cows and 11 calves on 300 acres of mostly fescue and briars. The body condition of my cows is around 6.5 and doesnt appear to be declining much , if any. Do you wait until the cattle look like they are losing body condition or until the grass looks short or some other technique? The guy that sells hay said I should buy a few hay bales from him and see how fast they eat it. You dont think he might be just a little more interested in selling hay than telling me what he really thinks :lol: ? I am wanting to add about 20 more cows soon but I am trying to stock light in order to avoid having to feed hay.

 

[Scotty]

Good question. To bad I probly don't have the answer. I strt when the grass starts to turn yellow or is getting short. Jsut kind of a sence that I knowe its time. Hope that makes sence. I only have costal and natives like bluestem. I would say that when your cows start going down hill you might be a little behind. IF they are eating what you have and staying fit I wouldn't worry.


Scotty

 

[dun]

A lot depends on if your fescue is still growing or not. It's probably not at it's best right now and just because there is some for them to eat doesn't mean it's of a high enough nutritive value. If you wait till they start loosing condition it will be hard to put it back on. Unless you intend to overseed a legume into the fescue, you don't want it grazed too short. It needs a little bit aboce the ground so that you don;t set it back in growth come spring. Over grazing in the winter will cost you growth next year. I base it all on behaviour as to when we put out hay, (or this year for other reasons) if they are spending an extreme amount of time feeding then I would put some out. Extreme is hard to quantify because it's based, to me anyway, on knowing the cattle. If a cow normaly spends an hour or two eating then chews her cud for a while and gets right up and starts grazing again, I would think that she needs more groceries. If she eats for a while, chews her cud for a while, lays around sleeping/resting for a while and then gets up and starts to eat, I'ld say she has enough groceries.
But each of us has our own criteria

dun

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Difficult to answer, as dun said each of us has our own criteria. I usually go by a combination of factors. How the grass looks(color, height) the condition of the pastures(some areas more grazed than others, looking poor etc.) how the cows "look" as in do they look hungry? Are they up and moving more often than before(means grazing more which means getting less) are they watching me more(they watch me more often when they are in need of food). Some years I start with hay earlier than others. We had drought conditions about 2 yrs ago and started feeding hay in July! If you wait until they are looking like they are losing condition, it will take longer to get it back. If yours are still looking good, they may not need any, but it wouldn't hurt to put a few bales out and see what they do with it. If they chow it down quickly, maybe it's time to supplement their pasture with hay. If they just pick at it, then they really don't need much. I hope all that made sense.

Katherine

 

[jerry27150]

if they are like mine, they will eat hay instead of stockpiled forage if i put it out. some say when grass gets below 3 inches you should feed hay. personally if my cows look good & there is grass i don't bother. have to watch mine closer cause i calve year around & leave all together. if we get some snow or ice i feed also. in alabama i wouldn't think it would be long before fescue grows again. if they are dry cows they won't need as much anyway.

 

[jerry27150]

with that many acres i wouldn't think you would need any hay for that size herd down there