TimH
Well-known member
The ground finally froze enough that I can get some bales out of the swamp. Most of this area was underwater until mid-August.
At least there is no snow to deal with.
Playin' in the Swamp.
- Thread starter TimH
- Start date
The ground finally froze enough that I can get some bales out of the swamp. Most of this area was underwater until mid-August.
At least there is no snow to deal with.
TimH
Well-known member
Alabama said:
Nope. I couldn't get in there to cut and bale it until September.
TimH
Well-known member
Alabama said:
It's really not very good hay. I just feed it free choice when the cows are on silage. Makes good roughage and is somewhat better than straw. My Grandad used to say, "It's better than snowballs"!!!!
That old swamp has fed a lot of cattle during the drought years ,though.
It grows a lot better hay when it is dryer.Faster horses
Well-known member
Doesn't matter how good it looks, the only way to know if it is good is to do a forage analysis.
I don't understand why more analysis isn't done. It is relatively cheap and can sure save a bundle on protein supplement. We test for our customers and it is amazing what we find. Some CRP hay cut this year was 11.5% protein and some crested that looked good, was only 7%.
When reading the analysis, the numbers that have real meaning is % moisture, protein, energy and ADF. ADF tells the digestibility. The higher the number the less digestible. I mention this as a matter of FYI.
I don't understand why more analysis isn't done. It is relatively cheap and can sure save a bundle on protein supplement. We test for our customers and it is amazing what we find. Some CRP hay cut this year was 11.5% protein and some crested that looked good, was only 7%.
When reading the analysis, the numbers that have real meaning is % moisture, protein, energy and ADF. ADF tells the digestibility. The higher the number the less digestible. I mention this as a matter of FYI.
Manitoba_Rancher
Well-known member
Tim,
Looking at your picture you look to have a lil less snow then us. But still for the middle of January not plunging to the butt in snow is pretty good. I think we must be moving farther south...... :wink:
Looking at your picture you look to have a lil less snow then us. But still for the middle of January not plunging to the butt in snow is pretty good. I think we must be moving farther south...... :wink:
Faster horses said:
FH, when are they going to develop a do-at-home analysis test kit? Seems like a product agriculture folks would want being so independent.
If they can do a home pregnancy test you'd think a grain protein test would be fairly simple.
Mike
Well-known member
nr said:
Forage analysis is done by "Mass Spectometry". The forage is cooked to ashes and the protein is measured by the amount of nitrogen contained therein. Not a home item. Yet.
feed analysis are ok, but I will cut a guy on price who buys on the look of the hay. more often than not, we get guys wanting to haggle on the rfv value....
5th cutting, leafy green hay sells better to the eye than on paper, and the older guys will take it every time they look at it.
had a young guy want to knock off $10 dollars once because the papers said excellent hay, but it looked tough. told him to load it and send it back, he declined real fast, then had the balls to ask for the green hay I told him about.....told the fella "we just sold out of it this morning"
5th cutting, leafy green hay sells better to the eye than on paper, and the older guys will take it every time they look at it.
had a young guy want to knock off $10 dollars once because the papers said excellent hay, but it looked tough. told him to load it and send it back, he declined real fast, then had the balls to ask for the green hay I told him about.....told the fella "we just sold out of it this morning"
Northern Rancher
Well-known member
Thousands of cows winter on that meadow hay up here every year-it's cheaper to feed than cereal straw so most guys just feed enough for them to bed in too.