Winter Feeding - moldy bales

[MCRLLC]

I'm getting mixed responses from my local farmers I've been working with so I thought I'd put it to all of you as I'm a beginner and I'll take whatever advice I can gather.

I've got a small grass fed cattle herd (3 - cows, 3 -calves, 1 -bull). Due to all of our rains this year my baling efforts were not very good. I've got 135 small square bales many of which are going to mold because I couldn't get them dried out before baling. I'm going to have to buy additional hay/alfalfa to get through winter, which I've never had to do so I'm at a loss there too.

With the bales I have I've been told just to get rid of (sell or burn) the small square bales I have because the bales might cause abortions if/when they mold. I've also been told to keep the bales and put it out free choice with good hay and the cattle will sort through it so it won't be a waste. Thoughts?

 

[Nesikep]

Feed them out after calving to be safest, or before the last trimester I hear is OK too.. for the typical spring calving herds we were told "no moldy hay after christmas".. and the calves and bull can evidently eat it any time.
Before we had a hay shed we had a lot of bad hay, and they ate it all.. Just as with humans, hunger is the best cook.

Welcome to CT too

 

[TCRanch]

If it's the white spore type of mold it can evidently cause a lot of damage, even to humans (I believe it's called Farmer's Lung) if inhaled in significant amounts. A little mold won't damage the entire bale but if you hit the bale or break it open & see a cloud of white dust I wouldn't feed it & generally the cows won't eat it (like Nesikep said, they will pick thru). We ended up with quite a few bales of moldy alfalfa last year and since it was such a brutal winter rolled it out as bedding.

Welcome & good luck!

 

[wbvs58]

Did the bales go hot?
Welcome.
Ken

 

[Nesikep]

Cows will always eat the bedding no matter how good the hay is!

I found that hay that has at one time been well dried and then gets baled wet (from rain) usually doesn't heat up as much as stuff that just stayed green, like in the corners of the windrows where you drive over it, the outer round or two where you have to drive over it as well

 

[Bigfoot]

Knowing, I will feel the fury, I will go ahead, and state the truth. I have fed my share of molded hay. Never had an issue. That's not to say one couldn't arise. We don't live in a perfect world, so we don't always have perfect hay. I would feed it last, especially if I was going to have to buy some anyway. I've seen cattle not eat the mold, and if it got carmalized, I've seen them eat it like candy. That's what I would do/have done.

 

[highgrit]

I've got rolls of hay stacked end to end around some of my property lines so the poachers can't see in. And the cows will tear into some of the rolls and eat them to the dirt. I've tried to feed them the same hay the year it was cut and all they do is pick through it, and turn their noses up at it. I can't figure a cow or a woman out.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I've got rolls of hay stacked end to end around some of my property lines so the poachers can't see in. And the cows will tear into some of the rolls and eat them to the dirt. I've tried to feed them the same hay the year it was cut and all they do is pick through it, and turn their noses up at it. I can't figure a cow or a woman out.

I think some hay ferments and gets better with age.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

Knowing, I will feel the fury, I will go ahead, and state the truth. I have fed my share of molded hay. Never had an issue. That's not to say one couldn't arise. We don't live in a perfect world, so we don't always have perfect hay. I would feed it last, especially if I was going to have to buy some anyway. I've seen cattle not eat the mold, and if it got carmalized, I've seen them eat it like candy. That's what I would do/have done.

I do the same thing Bigfoot. I have fed a lot of bales that other people would cull and have had no problems. Not saying anyone else will not, just that I have not. I have noticed that my cows eat the worst hay I have that was left outside before they will touch anything that was kept in the shed; so I always feed my outside hay first while their nutritional requirements are lower.

 

[MCRLLC]

Thanks for the information everyone, I've been checking the temp on these bales almost daily since we put them up just to keep tabs on them. 89 F has been the high, some of these bales are testing in mid-low 30's and the majority of the others are in the 20's or lower for moisture. I have a few bales testing in the 40's (too wet to really even measure) and the hole mold issue came up because I had one very saturated bale that after a few days clearly had white mold. We pitched that bale out in the sun and the cows picked through it for a few minutes and then went back out to the green pasture.

We creatively stacked the bales up in the barn and left the side and base doors open to keep air moving through, we generally have 10-12 winds daily so there is usually a breeze moving through but there are several bales that I'm worried about. Some one suggested I salt my bales to help keep out/kill the mold. Sounds like maybe I should plan on feeding these out after everyone has calved in March. Thanks again for your insights.

 

[Kell-inKY]

I can't help you with your hay but I saw your ranch name at the bottom and clicked on your name which led me to your facebook page. Nice looking family and lots of pictures of the operation. Sounds like you are coming from row crops? why not plant some winter forage and reduce your hay to a minimum? I will be hitting that hard this year after watching several videos. Turnips and probably rye, or oats, who knows. I grazed left over bean stubble for quite a while last year, do you have some corn or bean fields?

I wish everyone would have a page and we could check out each others farms, I do like pictures. Oh yeah, and welcome.

 

[HDRider]

I've got rolls of hay stacked end to end around some of my property lines so the poachers can't see in. And the cows will tear into some of the rolls and eat them to the dirt. I've tried to feed them the same hay the year it was cut and all they do is pick through it, and turn their noses up at it. I can't figure a cow or a woman out.

I think some hay ferments and gets better with age.

You talking about women in that last part?

 

[TCRanch]

Knowing, I will feel the fury, I will go ahead, and state the truth. I have fed my share of molded hay. Never had an issue. That's not to say one couldn't arise. We don't live in a perfect world, so we don't always have perfect hay. I would feed it last, especially if I was going to have to buy some anyway. I've seen cattle not eat the mold, and if it got carmalized, I've seen them eat it like candy. That's what I would do/have done.

We had some alfalfa caramelize a few years ago during the drought. Does extreme heat cause that? Regardless, agreed they went nuts over it, kind of like how a burnt marshmallow is always better

 

[Son of Butch]

I agree with feeding caramelized bales.
But from what I've seen it's the Big bales that will caramelize while small bales usually seem to get white mold and turn into a bale of manure.

 

[Son of Butch]

Regardless, agreed they went nuts over it, kind of like how a burnt marshmallow is always better

That's a good analogy TC.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Whether they like it or not, the quality is lowered in any of the issues mentioned. Heat, moisture, mold all take sugars and proteins out of the hay.

But we as humans like to eat junk food too more so than the healthy stuff, but that doesn't make it good for us.

 

[MCRLLC]

I can't help you with your hay but I saw your ranch name at the bottom and clicked on your name which led me to your facebook page. Nice looking family and lots of pictures of the operation. Sounds like you are coming from row crops? why not plant some winter forage and reduce your hay to a minimum? I will be hitting that hard this year after watching several videos. Turnips and probably rye, or oats, who knows. I grazed left over bean stubble for quite a while last year, do you have some corn or bean fields?

I wish everyone would have a page and we could check out each others farms, I do like pictures. Oh yeah, and welcome.

Thank you, yes I come from a small row crop operation. We're just beginning to transition between my dad (strictly row crop) to me (more cattle), someday the plan is to forage year round. Feel free to like us on Facebook or LinkedIn.