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Green feed Barley

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
Anybody have experience feeding Barley bales?
This barley is smooth awned but getting along in maturity, though still green and leafy underneath.

Any problems with awns bothering the mouths of the cows?
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
I did a search and found this from NDSU:

Nutrient composition of barley is compared to other feed grains and ... to avoid mature awns, which can be irritating to the mouth of cattle.

bserving cattle frequently for the first few days after giving them .... Wheat, oats, barley, triticale and rye hay can be used in beef, sheep and dairy rations. .... Bunch wagons, however, can be an inconvenience when harvesting grain. .... Awns may work into nostrils, mouths and eyes of livestock, causing ..

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Then this:
If yard feeding is preferred, most chaff piles can be collected using a forage harvester ... Some producers have trouble feeding certain types of chaff. For instance, cattle have developed mouth ulcers from eating chaff from rough-awned barley.
 

per

Well-known member
Smooth awns will not give you much to worry about. My cattle get plenty of barley green feed with very few issues.
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
Thanks guys.

Looks like he might get 1800 bales off about 400 acres. Pretty good crop for this area. Not sure if we are going to be baling some for him but wondered about feeding it.

I'm a Oat man myself.
 

jodywy

Well-known member
this was the big thing on the west side of the state when we moved . https://greatbasinseeds.com/product/prosper-3-grain-forage-mixture/
 

jodywy

Well-known member
https://greatbasinseeds.com/product/prosper-3-grain-forage-mixture/ not that company but another seed company same mix
was a big thing for grain hay on west side of the State
 
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