3words said:
I have pure alfalfa,alfalfa bromegrass,or pure brome grass bales.Is there a certain kind of bale that will work better for bale grazing then other's?
I think the better the hay, the quicker it goes thru them. Using tubs and 'Free choicing' a few late calvers (not calved yet) on nice second cutting, about 45# a day would 'disappear'. Probably overfeeding protein by about 3X.
We now consider alfalfa 'protein supplement', use it as such on winter range---our cows will generally put on weight---quite a bit of condition, actually, on rough fescue, idaho fescue, etc--in jan/feb---if full fed 2nd cut alf every 3rd or 4th day---about 30 #. I like to see them eat, leave for water, then come back and clean it up. About 300# of alf a mo a cow ain't bad in mid winter.
When full feeding, i like a grass/alf mix. I think it slows down consumption, lets you get the goodies outa the alf and is better balanced for energy.
Took me yrs to figure out some of what works on a cow. Several yrs ago, I was short on hay and it was about $100. My neighbor sells thousands of tons and i whined to him. We made a deal on 'forgotten' stacks, leftover butts, stuff he'd been going to clean up for yrs. His guys delivered it for $15--20 a ton, so you can figger out how fancy it was. Some was nasty, i fed lots. Cows thrived.
Now our deal is to try to work with nature, calve later, take advantage of cows competitive advantage----which is to convert roughage not practical for our competition. We try to meet cow's requirements at lowest cost. And a dry, mid-gestation or even early third trimester cows protein requirements really aint all that hard to meet.
Was it me, I'd save the alf for 'protein supp'.