Winter Feed Rate

[Just Curious]

I use a 3% figure of the animals body weight to calcualte the amount of hay I throw out in the winter... I use a Timothy Grass hay... The amount that I throw out is probably 95% consumed in a 24 hr. period. The rest is usually ignored due to fouling...
I have heard others say that they just put out enough that they can consume in 2 hrs... I have heard horse folks using the 2 hr rule as well...
I know that this is probalbly come up before and I hate asking redundant questions, but I did do a search and went back a year into the old threads...
Chuck

 

[gerardplauche]

Go to the Feedyard boards. I posted the exact same article about a month ago. Lots of good responses on it.

 

[Just Curious]

Go to the Feedyard boards. I posted the exact same article about a month ago. Lots of good responses on it.

Thanks Gerard, but maybe I need to be more clear.... I am just concerned with a maintenance plan to get my critters through the winter... Not really interested in putting weight on them, just getting them through the cold months in good shape...
Right now, I am probably throwing out 30 lbs of hay per day per head... We have about 6" of snow on the ground and have had it this way for about a month now... Pretty nice winter so far...

 

[TexasBred]

Curious.......seeing your in Montana and hearing you speak about the weather I think the safe thing to do is just make sure they have all the hay they can eat everyday. Sure there will be some spoilage but beats dragging off dead cattle. If it won't flatten your pocket book a little protein supplement would help as well.

 

[iowafarmer]

I think you are ok then id stick wit hwhat youare doing unless you are trying to stretch out your hay because you dont have enough to make it thorugh the winter.

 

[simangus23]

THE AMOUNT OF HAY NEEDED PER COW DEPENDS ON THE cp AND tdn OF YOUR HAY AND HOW MUCH ON AVG YOUR COWS WEIGH

 

[simangus23]

OH AND THEIR REPRODUCTIVE STATUS

 

[TexasBred]

As well as the fact that some cows can "just eat". Two cows identical in size, age, and all other outside factors and one can consume 60 pounds of dry matter per day and the other cannot even get down 50 lbs. Explain it????????

 

[randiliana]

OK, we figure on between 2.5% and 3% of body weight. Go with the 2.5% when the weather is nice, and the 3% when it is on the nastier side. Remember that with a wind, nice temps aren't so nice. We try to base our feeding on 0 F. Above 0 and we feed less, below 0 we feed more. There is no point in wasting feed if you don't need to. We don't feed grain, except if it is baled either.

 

[simangus23]

I imagine that Timothy/Grass hay is running no more than 12% CP and 60% TDN.
Thats a feed value of 0.072
If your cows are dry'pregnant during the winter months that is there lowest CP requirement all year -- almost. (1.89)
If they average 1200 lbs they will consume 2.8% of their BW. 1200 x .028 = 34 lbs
34 lbs x 0.072 = 2.448 when they only need 1.89 -- so yeah you are wasting hay for no reason at all.
so ---- 1.89/.072 = 26 lbs of hay to meet their requirement--- then since they are still "hungry" or not full you can feed them a lower quality hay.. We feed to meet their requirement-- first--- then finish their feeding off with a lower quality filler hay.
Sim

 

[Jovid]

I imagine that Timothy/Grass hay is running no more than 12% CP and 60% TDN.
Thats a feed value of 0.072
If your cows are dry'pregnant during the winter months that is there lowest CP requirement all year -- almost. (1.89)
If they average 1200 lbs they will consume 2.8% of their BW. 1200 x .028 = 34 lbs
34 lbs x 0.072 = 2.448 when they only need 1.89 -- so yeah you are wasting hay for no reason at all.
so ---- 1.89/.072 = 26 lbs of hay to meet their requirement--- then since they are still "hungry" or not full you can feed them a lower quality hay.. We feed to meet their requirement-- first--- then finish their feeding off with a lower quality filler hay.
Sim

The hay expert has spoken we all should listem. :lol2: :lol2: :banana:

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I went to a Beef Seminar by Cornell & guest speakers last week.
For saving on hay (less waste), it was recommended to put all your feeders in an area that you can fence off. Open the fence & let cows in for 4 hours a day, than lock them out.
"Purdue reseasrch shows that if cows have access to round bales for only 4 hrs/day, cow weight was almost identical to those with 24 hr access but there was 37% less hay disappearance (all wastage). Buy another round bale feeder (cone type best, round rings next) so all cows can eat at the same time and then fence cows out except for 4 hrs/day." Dr Mark Hilton, Beef Production Medicine, Purdue Univ.
Pregnant cows need to be gaining wt during winter dry period.