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Bale Grazing Revisited

N

Northern Rancher

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Joined
Feb 10, 2005
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12,247
Location
saskatchewan
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Moving the pairs out west to start on sopme bales placed in different paddocks.
 
If I did that my old gals would eat 24 hours a day-- eat me out of house and home... :wink: :lol:

I've done it a few times when expecting a storm- or during a storm and they eat about 1/2 again as much as if I feed them an alloted amount daily....
 
No they don't OT surely to God an icon in the ranching business like you would know cattle will eat more when weather coming in -over the course of the winter their consumption isn't any more than once a day feeding-those bales are tied with net wrap and some are tied with plastic twine-I absolutely hate net wrap but sometimes that's what you end up buying. I ran out of daylight to pull that stuff off tonight I'll get it in the A'M. Alot of guys just leave twines o and harrow them up in the spring. If I can I'll take an aerial photograph of these paddocks the grass growth is pretty amazing where you've fed. Some guys row them and move fence every three days but I have enough fields fenced I move aboiut every week or so-we'll start placing bales behind them as they clean up each field. Don't tell anyone but I'm test driving a tractor-things really going to hell in a hand basket now lol.
 
For years man has tried to come up with ways of keeping cows from wasting hay, now some just dump it on the ground and let them have at her. :?
 
Saves me money Sandy-add up daily feeding costs-depreciation on feeders and tractors etc-corral cleaning-what little they waste doesn't begin to add up to those costs-my cost per day per cow is less than the bale processor boys. I was a sceptic too till I saw smarter ranchers than me doing it. I could care less what anybody else does just showing what we do-I know it works for me and my operation. Don't knock it until you've tried it-just might open your eyes-but you've got to give it more than a two day trial lol.
 
Oh I'm all for saving money. Some of my neighbors put out the 800 bucks to take the meadow lake holistic course. They are all set up for bale grazing so I will watch how it works for them. Just think there is less waste if you roll out what they need everyday. And the manure is spread out better, twice over with the harrows in the spring and the manure is gone.
 
For what it costs to run a tractor to feed 500 head a day they can waste a bit-they're manure will be spread pretty well too. It's nice when the temp gets cold knowing you don't have to go fight with equipment. I'm not so much Holistic as I am really cheap lol.
 
Northern Rancher said:
No they don't OT surely to God an icon in the ranching business like you would know cattle will eat more when weather coming in -over the course of the winter their consumption isn't any more than once a day feeding-those bales are tied with net wrap and some are tied with plastic twine-I absolutely hate net wrap but sometimes that's what you end up buying. I ran out of daylight to pull that stuff off tonight I'll get it in the A'M. Alot of guys just leave twines o and harrow them up in the spring. If I can I'll take an aerial photograph of these paddocks the grass growth is pretty amazing where you've fed. Some guys row them and move fence every three days but I have enough fields fenced I move aboiut every week or so-we'll start placing bales behind them as they clean up each field. Don't tell anyone but I'm test driving a tractor-things really going to hell in a hand basket now lol.
Click to expand...


DID YOU SAY A TRACTOR?????????????


I am going to try your bale grazeing I have to be gone over christmas so I figured it would save my help some time if they can just let them bale graze.

Should I tip the bales on end or does'nt it matter I have a 10 acre field with about 40 bales scattered where they fell out of the baler can I just open the gate on them??

I leased my uncle's place and he has it set up with 11 pastures on 400 acres so it made to order ya think all come into the same water source which is located in the center.
 
Sandy said:
Oh I'm all for saving money. Some of my neighbors put out the 800 bucks to take the meadow lake holistic course. They are all set up for bale grazing so I will watch how it works for them. Just think there is less waste if you roll out what they need everyday. And the manure is spread out better, twice over with the harrows in the spring and the manure is gone.
Click to expand...

And anyone with common sense,will agree with you..............good luck
 
All I have to say on the subject is that those are some very good looking cattle. :wink:

Glad we don't have your snow here right now. Might take it later. We hope to not feed any hay to cows for several months.
 
NR; I kinda thought your picture was taken outta the back window of a tractor :!: :twisted: In this country we always seem to be able to get just enough feed to get by.........use some straw as a filler - cows winter well. There are a couple of people here bale grazing but they seem to use a lot of feed......they seem satisfied with the system. I prefer swath grazing but we only have enough this year for about a month due to last summers heat stress.
 
We did it once a couple years ago with some barley hay in a field for a couple weeks after our loader tractor broke down.. It was one of those deal that you turn the cows in, they start grazing the bales and you feel like oh my god, they are going to stomp them into the ground and waste a ton. .. Than, when, it was all said and done you could barly tell that there had been bales where they were except the ground stomped down a bit. Was some hay wasted? Well, they went through it a bit faster than if it had been limit fed but it wasn't terrible. We had plenty of hay that year anyways so it was just actually a nice time to experiment.

As far as spreading out the manure, we feed in a 80 acre field, used to feed in two 80's but now one is in grass and I don't like to keep cows on the grass during the winter as the freeze thaw cylce tends to cause problems with mud and compaction. The manure is spread all over the place by the cows because the feeding places are all over the place in the field. Really not a problem. Come spring we disc it up and chisel it and plant hay barley or Oats and than following with a summer annual to soak up the extra nutrients that are out there... Of course, than we deposit them again the following winter, lol.

Which I was bale feeding right now... Blowing snow, big drifts and cold outside.
 
What works there might not work as well here. Bet that is fine under your conditions, and with your resources. My cows are on grass with range cubes as supplement. Works for me.
 
Northern rancher,
what's the best ratio you've found for cows to the ton/bale
or number of days of feed per field,or maybe better worded what do you use for a gauge.

do you sort off two year olds,old cows, thin cows into a seperate bunch??

How would it work to let the thin bunch into a field first to pick off the best feed then let the middle age "fat" cows come in to clean up after them??
if left all together don't the weaker ones get pushed off to the less desirable feed?? It looks like in the second picture maybe some calves in the bunch,do they compete ok?

What about just leaving bales in the field where you make them,no twine
just kick em out of the baler.
Do you think there would be less waste if you made the bales half size??

Is there a point where the snow gets too deep and there's too much waste??

I thought about this quite a bit, just never got brave enough to try it.
The neighbors already think I'm lazy and crazy,might as well give them
something to talk about at coffee!

one of my favorite quotes

" most people would rather fail conventionally,than succeed unconventionally"
by Allan Nation
 
I have been bale grazing for years. Instead of tilling in the manure go over it with an Aerator, then broadcast seed for the growing season. Hay or graze it.
After first crop hay we have no-tilled Brown Midrib Sorghum. Let it dry down after the frost ( Sorghum cannot be grazed green after frost because of prussic acid poisoning) It will yield more feed than standing corn.
 
Lone Cowboy I've just come to embrace my laziness instead of trying to defend and hide it. It's not an exact science by any means for sure-as for Haymaker anybody who won't hunt deer in plus 28F because it's too cold shouldn't really be preaching common sense to a rancher whose just gone through a weel of -35 with a good chance we might get three more months of it. We run all our cows in a group-I don't know if you noticed but the calves are still on there's 425 head in that group and they are eating $210 worth of hay a day-work the math however you like it. Denny I just set them bales on end because the netwrap is easier to get off that way lol-pure sciencve at it's best. Well I'm off to coach hockey till Monday see you then.
 

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