• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Feeding oat straw . . .

Thats an awesome article MLA. I have "fixed" rations many times when feed is expensive.

I made up a spreadsheet with current cost per pound of feeds and punch different ideas into it to see what is cheapest.

When barley was $4 a bushel last time around, it was still cheaper with straw than hay that year.

The chart says about 6 pounds of barley will replace 11 pounds of hay...for energy... cows still need roughage, but not as much if they are eating straw.
 
The one cow we had that impacted,many years ago, was on green oat hay, not even straw. It had been cut a little late and wasn't the best stuff.
Anyway, she was a big (18-1900 lb) old Maine cow,one of my Dad's favorites. Due to calve in about 3 weeks. We tried the mineral oil and the dioctyl etc. Didn't work.
He decided to have our vet try the surgery. He opened her up and then carefully opened the rumen and sewed it to the hide, to prevent the rumen contents from getting into the peritoneum. Then we removed all the contents from the rumen by hand. About 2 wheelbarrows full!!! I $hit you not!!
It was an ugly, heartbreaking job. She was dead within about 5 hours.
If I ever have it happen again, surgery is out of the question. Dr. Winchester is way more humane.
 
Yeah, Jason, it's all about finding the most cost effective way of feeding them in any part of the world, I guess.

A buddy of mine has a good thing going. He just bought about 30 cows and he feeds them leftover produce from several large grocery stores in London, ON., which is about 3/4 hr. drive from his place.

The stores pay him to pick it up, as that costs them less than any other method of disposal.

He supplements it with about 15 - 20 % hay to give them enough dry matter. The hay he buys is not even that good a quality, so it's not expensive either.

I am not close enough to any big enough centers to be able to get a sweet deal like that.

Plus, it would take a lot of lettuce to feed 50 -60 cows! Some feedlots around here get carrots by the truck load to mix into their feeder cattle rations.
 
TimH, from your description, I'm starting to think that impaction is the same as what we call grain overload. Does acidosis come with impaction? I had a cow get into grain last summer and I dumped a bit of baking soda, bloat-eze, and mineral oil into her and she survived. And something the vet gave me, glucose, maybe?
 
Manitoba_Rancher said:
The pathogenesis is unknown but is related to diet. Once the abomasum becomes impacted, subacute obstruction of the upper GI tract develops. Ions of hydrogen and chloride are continually secreted into the abomasum in spite of the impaction, and atony and alkalosis with hypochloremia result. Varying degrees of dehydration develop because fluids are not moving beyond the abomasum into the duodenum for absorption. Sequestration of potassium ions in the abomasum results in hypokalemia. Dehydration, alkalosis, electrolyte imbalance, and progressive starvation are seen. Impaction of the abomasum may be severe enough to cause irreversible abomasal atony.
Click to expand...

Hey,

I just noticed this. Do you have any hypokalemia details you could pass along? Doesn't need to be anything that takes your time, just if you have some hypokalemia topics at hand.
 
Last time we did the straw and grain thing we fed straw free choice and 8 pounds of a 14 percent screening pellet-the bugs might of been confused but the cows did fine. Straw plus three pounds of grain and you'd have dead cows in the first cold snap.
 
I have fed straw with no problems but you must not make a quick change - - - make sure they are full of what thay are used to and then offer the straw - - -straw is fed here if cold weather is forcast as they will turn the furnace on and do quite well but they will be short on protien so I place protien tubs when feeding straw - - -I do not provide the tums if feeding hi quality hay.
 
Something we have been noticing the last few years is that some of these newer varieties of wheat seem to be much more palatable for the cows than the old wheat varieties- and they really clean up the wheat straw....Not only while grazing the stubble but also with the straw bales in the winter....

My cousin just commented the other day- how the cows preferred the wheat straw over even the oat hay- while cleaning up the heads and kernals, but leaving a lot of the stalk-- but cleaning up all the wheat straw....
 

Latest posts

Back
Top