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bale grazing pics

E

elwapo

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Feb 10, 2005
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medicine hat
This is our first attempt at bale grazing. It seems to be working well
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This is alot of snow for se Alberta, and the weather has been cold!
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More cows and some fresh bales. We move the electric fence every 14 days.
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Our new solar /wind water system mounted on an old truck so we can move the system to different locations. The water bowl is set in a culvert which is dug 16" into the ground with water fed through a pipe from the dugout.
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There is a motion sensor which activates the pump to pump into the bowl for 45 seconds. The holes in the top of the bowl allows the water to overflow back into the culvert. The bowl drains back so that it never freezes up (even in the -40 temps we have been having in December)
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Nice setup on the water bowl. Not having any trouble with the pump only pumping for 45 seconds at a shot? My buddy who worked for a pump shop told me that it hurt the pumps life to run for short bursts.

As for the bale grazing, I think you'll like the results. I know I certainly do. The only drawback I've found thus far is that I still pen calve in Feb, so the cattle are a little wild when I bring them in off pasture, lol.

Rod
 
Rod
I am moving the cows closer to home this week as we are due to start calving at the end of the month. I have not had any problems with the pump yet, you raise a good point with the on/off pumping. Cows being cows, they all tend to walk to water at the same time so I think the pump starts and doesn't quit for fairly long periods as long as the cows are moving around activating the sensor.
 
Ok not to sound unknowlegagle but I'm making sure I understand the bale grazing. You just sit the bales out and they eat them like that? Or you turn them into the bales that weren't picked up in the fall? Isn't there a fair amount of waste? We have just sat out bales say if the wind is blowing so hard the neighbor gets the hay but I have noticed there is some waste with the process.
 
CattleArmy,

I've noticed that there is only slightly more waste than feeding bales in those cheap bale feeders. Maybe around 5% or 10%. There is about 20% more waste than feeding with a hay saver suspended bale feeder.

But one of the things that I've trained myself into thinking is that its really not "waste". The ground litter cover is literally priceless in a dry spring, plus the nutrient release is considerably more controlled than spreading fertilizer. On a patch of blow sand that I've been bale grazing for the last 4 years, I had grass growing this year for the first time in 10 years.

On my good pastures, I had grass growing 5 feet tall in the spots where the bales were sat out. In two or three years that nutrient will move around and the grass will be lush all over a relatively large area.

So I guess my thoughts are that it costs me about 11 bucks to make a bale (inc equipment and rent on the land). At 10% waste, I'm losing a buck, but easily gaining that back on reduced fertilizer costs and increased land productivity. And I don't have to fire my tractor up at -40 to feed cows, so I'm gaining on reduced fuel costs and reduced wear and tear (if I'd actually hauled my bales in the fall, lol).

Rod
 
I purchased the watering system including solar panel and wind charger from Kelln. I am amazed at the ability of the wind and solar to keep the batteries topped. I have the battery bank and controls inside the cab of the truck which makes it very handy to keep clean and accessible. The old truck runs but it is usually easier to hook up the hitch and pull it.
 
Cattlearmy
I am actually quite surprised at how well they clean up the bales. If you let them into too many I think there would be more waste. Once the snow leaves I will know for sure what the waste is. The trucking cost to haul all my hay to the home place would have been about the same as the cost of the water system.
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
I have heard a figure of $9 of nutrients left behind from bale grazing. You get that for free if you buy the bales from somewhere else.
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With current fertilizer costs, it wouldn't shock me one bit if that $9.00 was higher. Say 10% waste on a 2000 lb bale. Thats 200 lbs (I really don't think its that much waste, but haven't wanted to go out and weigh the leftovers, lol). Assuming 12% protein, thats 24 lbs worth of protein which is eventually broken down into nitrogen. Even if only half of that breaks down and hits the grass, thats 12 lbs of nitrogen. At $800/ton for actual nitrogen, you've just gotten $4.80 worth of nitrogen.

And that doesn't include any of the other macro or micro nutrients contained in that hay. Some of the micronutrients are lost (like copper) since they need to be tilled into the soil, but others are recovered. Those micro-nutrients make nitrogen look cheap as bubble gun.

Rod
 
By the time the horses paw through it there's not alot of waste-it's pretty nice t hear nails popping in -40 and know you don't have to struggle with equipment to feed. That's a good idea with mounting them on the truck like that-nice to hear anecdotal evidence that the system actually works too.
 
It's amazing how you can control weeds with bale grazing too-foxtail tends to creep in during dry years-I just made sure I set bales in the middle of the patches and it gets choked out by better grasses.I have enough paddocks so I don't have to move fence in the winter-not my idea of fun. Bale grazing is kind of reinventing the wheel-I think the oldtimers used to feed hay coils like that in the meadows. It's getting so our cows don't see the yard much which I like.
 
I am sure getting alot of sideways looks and comments from some of the neighboours. It is funny how something a little different creates a stir. About the same as when I started zero tilling my farmland 15 years ago. You would think I was running around burning churches the way some people react.
 
You would do better bale grazing than me or anyone else that had to deal with mud and muck where once you get snow and it freezes....it stays.

I roll out my rounds if at all possible cause when/if I do just set the bales down.....and it rains.....you got a MESS...big ol' sloppy mess and lots of waste
 
elwapo said:
I am sure getting alot of sideways looks and comments from some of the neighboours. It is funny how something a little different creates a stir.
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lol The first time I bale grazed the pasture along the highway I had lots of "WTF are you doing you dummy?". When some of the neighbors saw the 5 foot tall grass there next year, I noticed a fair few more bales scattered around the country, lol

Rod
 
This is very interesting :D . I've only fed whole bales in feeders before, and the ground around those locations doesn't look too great(despite moving the feeders between bales). Would this be because the cattle aren't actually spreading and trampling the hay into the ground, instead they're just making manure/discarded hay ruts around the feeders?

Also, how many cows per bale, and how frequently do you set new bales out? Do you only place bales on high ground, or do you locate them on hay meadows as well (does ground-type matter)? How well do you make them clean the hay up before feeding more?

Thanks for any answers you provide!
 
WyomingRancher said:
This is very interesting :D . I've only fed whole bales in feeders before, and the ground around those locations doesn't look too great(despite moving the feeders between bales). Would this be because the cattle aren't actually spreading and trampling the hay into the ground, instead they're just making manure/discarded hay ruts around the feeders?

Also, how many cows per bale, and how frequently do you set new bales out? Do you only place bales on high ground, or do you locate them on hay meadows as well (does ground-type matter)? How well do you make them clean the hay up before feeding more?

Thanks for any answers you provide!
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In my limited experience with bale grazing you are better to do it on seeded meadows as opposed to native range in drier climates. It would be a place for invasives to start on the prairie. Seeded forages would make better use of the nutrients left behind.
 
WyomingRancher said:
This is very interesting :D . I've only fed whole bales in feeders before, and the ground around those locations doesn't look too great(despite moving the feeders between bales). Would this be because the cattle aren't actually spreading and trampling the hay into the ground, instead they're just making manure/discarded hay ruts around the feeders?

Also, how many cows per bale, and how frequently do you set new bales out? Do you only place bales on high ground, or do you locate them on hay meadows as well (does ground-type matter)? How well do you make them clean the hay up before feeding more?

Thanks for any answers you provide!
Click to expand...

Feeeding out of a bale feeder may have advantages - but one big disadvantage is the ground gets torn up and mudded up and never seems to recover well.

We put bales out in the fall - I figure 8-10 bales per cow. We set the bales just like they come out of the baler - before we set them down we take of the wrap or any plastic twine - sisal twine can stay on - it rots nicely.

We put the bales anywhere it looks good to feed - groups of 44 bales for us - the wagon holds 22 - the cows eat until we mover them - so they get hungry they eat the hay - there is some wastage - but that hay seems to be eaten after the snow melts - plus I figure it does the ground good in the spring.

Snow is deep enough they stay with the feed until we move them.

BC
 
We are bale grazing in our seeded hay field with the bales just as they were dropped from the baler. The electric fence is utilized to graze one section of the field at a time until the cows have cleaned up the hay. I Wrapped the hay with poly twine and remove it before we turn cows into a section. The twine pulling is quite a job, especially in a foot and a half of snow. I have plans to heavy harrow the field in spring to break up any clumps of feed and manure.
 

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