Round Bale Feeders

[per]

Blk, that got me curious about harvesting rice. Kind of like the cotton, it is unfamiliar here. Is anyone involved in growing rice? Can rice straw be fed to ruminants? Is there a lower grade of rice seed that is appropriate for cattle feed? Would it be faster if you used minute rice? :wink: As for bale feeders, we use homemade ones that hold three bales and cradle the bale in the middle to reduce waste. They are only used for about a month of the year during break up. Still in a pasture but too small to feed on a clean spot every day. The rest of the time they either graze or are fed on the ground.

 

[Blkbuckaroo]

Blk, that got me curious about harvesting rice. Kind of like the cotton, it is unfamiliar here. Is anyone involved in growing rice? Can rice straw be fed to ruminants? Is there a lower grade of rice seed that is appropriate for cattle feed? Would it be faster if you used minute rice? :wink: As for bale feeders, we use homemade ones that hold three bales and cradle the bale in the middle to reduce waste. They are only used for about a month of the year during break up. Still in a pasture but too small to feed on a clean spot every day. The rest of the time they either graze or are fed on the ground.

Per-yeah there's lots of rice grown in the upper Sacremento valley,and they sell off the rice straw,mabye if i added a little Soy sauce.There was a article in the Nevada RancherNewspaper last year about alternative feed stuff,and rice straw was one of those alternatives.I don't think there's too much feed value if at all,just filler when trying to strectch feed dollars.I.ve got good hay for the horses and cows,but need some alfalfa helper :wink: .Had to bring the cows home from my lease and am now kickin' hay .

 

[RobertMac]

Blk, that got me curious about harvesting rice. Kind of like the cotton, it is unfamiliar here. Is anyone involved in growing rice? Can rice straw be fed to ruminants? Is there a lower grade of rice seed that is appropriate for cattle feed? Would it be faster if you used minute rice? :wink: As for bale feeders, we use homemade ones that hold three bales and cradle the bale in the middle to reduce waste. They are only used for about a month of the year during break up. Still in a pasture but too small to feed on a clean spot every day. The rest of the time they either graze or are fed on the ground.

I grew rice for 17 years. Leaf and stem are very high in silicon...similar to Johnson grass, but not as bad as saw grass. I would be cautious of irritating the cows mouth by feeding too much. Leaves, most times, are dead or dying at harvest...like Blk said, very little feed value, if any. Rice bran is used in feeds as well as screenings...but that won't help you.

 

[burnt]

Burnt-i was wondering if you're feeding rice straw?I would like to find a way to strectch my hay and have seen some reasonably priced rice straw,i only have a few head of cows,but last year i fed them through the winter in a 15 head slant bar feeder and like the way they cleaned everything up,except the bossy cows pushing everyone around,I'm feeding on the ground right now and it annoys me how they can trample it checking out thier buddies feed.

Nope, No rice grown in Ontario, Canada! Although this year was almost wet enough to try it!

I had a good source for oat straw until this year - he didn't grow any. Still have a few bales left but they will be used up by next week. I am feeding some barley straw that has a lot of alfalfa in it because with all the rain we had, the new seeding almost took the barley crop over. Well, it actually did in places.

So we choked the "barley" with its underseeded alfalfa through the combine then baled and wrapped the straw right the same day. It has a corn silage smell to it and the cows eat it O.K., but clearly prefer the dry, 2 year old oat straw. Clean it up really fast, in fact.

We even cut and wet-baled some of the new seeding this fall and fed it immediately. Anything to stretch the feed supply.