Winter feeding area ideas

[Bright Raven]

If you build one post some pics. I'm going to build a fence line feeder similar to Eden shale this fall. I'll also post pics and let everyone know how it works out.

Will do. I plan on starting soon.

 

[plumber_greg]

Something like fenceline feeding of hay you need 4 things=====
#1 a good winter to be able to haul and scrape manure and wasted hay. If you can't, it will build up and the cows will have to reach down to get to the hay.
#2 a way to stop the mudhole at the stepping off point.
#3 the desire and time to have to constantly scrape and haul manure.
#4 not very many cows, or #3 will stop happening.
Something like this is not a new idea. Before investing very much money in it, ask yourself why people who have had cattle their whole life dont have a setup life this. Simply cuz it dont work very good. JMHO. GS

 

[Dave]

Something like fenceline feeding of hay you need 4 things=====
#1 a good winter to be able to haul and scrape manure and wasted hay. If you can't, it will build up and the cows will have to reach down to get to the hay.
#2 a way to stop the mudhole at the stepping off point.
#3 the desire and time to have to constantly scrape and haul manure.
#4 not very many cows, or #3 will stop happening.
Something like this is not a new idea. Before investing very much money in it, ask yourself why people who have had cattle their whole life dont have a setup life this. Simply cuz it dont work very good. JMHO. GS

You have to ask yourself are there different environments than the one which you live in. Set up right in the areas where mud is an everyday, every winter issue you will spend less time messing with the manure than trying to feed out in the field. My old set up it took 20 minutes at the most twice a week to scrape the manure. It was the simplest easiest set up for the weather, flooding and soil that I had to deal with. And I fed up to 100 head in the this system.

 

[plumber_greg]

Something like fenceline feeding of hay you need 4 things=====
#1 a good winter to be able to haul and scrape manure and wasted hay. If you can't, it will build up and the cows will have to reach down to get to the hay.
#2 a way to stop the mudhole at the stepping off point.
#3 the desire and time to have to constantly scrape and haul manure.
#4 not very many cows, or #3 will stop happening.
Something like this is not a new idea. Before investing very much money in it, ask yourself why people who have had cattle their whole life dont have a setup life this. Simply cuz it dont work very good. JMHO. GS

You have to ask yourself are there different environments than the one which you live in. Set up right in the areas where mud is an everyday, every winter issue you will spend less time messing with the manure than trying to feed out in the field. My old set up it took 20 minutes at the most twice a week to scrape the manure. It was the simplest easiest set up for the weather, flooding and soil that I had to deal with. And I fed up to 100 head in the this system.

I guess I'm too old.I couldn't walk to the barn, start the equipment, open and close the gates in 20 minutes, yet alone scrape manure for a hundred head.

 

[Bright Raven]

Something like fenceline feeding of hay you need 4 things=====
#1 a good winter to be able to haul and scrape manure and wasted hay. If you can't, it will build up and the cows will have to reach down to get to the hay.
#2 a way to stop the mudhole at the stepping off point.
#3 the desire and time to have to constantly scrape and haul manure.
#4 not very many cows, or #3 will stop happening.
Something like this is not a new idea. Before investing very much money in it, ask yourself why people who have had cattle their whole life dont have a setup life this. Simply cuz it dont work very good. JMHO. GS

Greg

You raise some good points. In my operation, I have a feed area that has a rock base of #2 limestone gravel choked off with mine waste run. I scrape it off on a regular basis. I then spread the mature on the pasture about mid summer.

The operation at Maple Leaf uses the Amish design, I have seen it a couple times and I think he has his on concrete. This guy raises some great Simmental and Angus cattle. It is not unusual for him to spend 25 k to 40 k for a heifer. I watched him buy the top selling heifer at the Owen's Brothers Sale for 24 k one year - which is near Springfield MO. He drove to Springfield from Morehead, bought the one heifer and headed back home with her. My point is he has a lot of divided paddocks with small groups. These setups allow him to run down the main lane and drop hay to each group without messing around in the paddock. This systems really works great for him.

 

[ddd75]

i'll just take my feedlot building with concrete lanes. I'll scrape manure before letting them destroy my fields.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

i'll just take my feedlot building with concrete lanes. I'll scrape manure before letting them destroy my fields.

I've been talking for several years about ways to improve on our winter feeding set-up.

Would you mind posting pictures of your feedlot building? Thanks in advance.

 

[Dave]

Mine was a straight run of a little over 120 feet long. Concrete 120+ by 24 with those slant bar feeders down one side. The hay all had a roof over it. About half the roof stuck out 4 or 5 feet over the cows. The other half had a roof out 12 feet completely over the cows. At the west end I had a 24 by 24 manure bunk. It had a 4 foot tall wall around three sides made of those 2x2x4 concrete blocks that weigh a ton.

I had a rubber tire scraper made from a big tractor tire. The tire was cut in two and then the side wall cut off one side. Mounted on a three point frame it was 7 feet wide. It formed a big U. About 5 passes and I would have 95% of the manure. I never worried about making it spotless because as soon as I was done the cows would be back making a new mess.

As I said I had up to 100 cows on this. That was just before turn out and was a bit over crowded. This set up worked great for 60 head. At 100 I set a couple round bale rings at the edge of the concrete.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Mine was a straight run of a little over 120 feet long. Concrete 120+ by 24 with those slant bar feeders down one side. The hay all had a roof over it. About half the roof stuck out 4 or 5 feet over the cows. The other half had a roof out 12 feet completely over the cows. At the west end I had a 24 by 24 manure bunk. It had a 4 foot tall wall around three sides made of those 2x2x4 concrete blocks that weigh a ton.

I had a rubber tire scraper made from a big tractor tire. The tire was cut in two and then the side wall cut off one side. Mounted on a three point frame it was 7 feet wide. It formed a big U. About 5 passes and I would have 95% of the manure. I never worried about making it spotless because as soon as I was done the cows would be back making a new mess.

As I said I had up to 100 cows on this. That was just before turn out and was a bit over crowded. This set up worked great for 60 head. At 100 I set a couple round bale rings at the edge of the concrete.

Sounds pretty good.

 

[plumber_greg]

Dave always thought something like that would work good in the heifer pen.
Did you have a problem with them wanting to bunch up under the roof in bad weather?
In mo. I think they would. Gs

 

[Dave]

Dave always thought something like that would work good in the heifer pen.
Did you have a problem with them wanting to bunch up under the roof in bad weather?
In mo. I think they would. Gs

There was also a 3 sided loafing shed where they could get out of the weather and some evergreen trees in the back of the field. This area normally doesn't get big storm weather. More like steady drizzle almost everyday.