Winter Feed

[BRG]

We nearly have our haying done and it is only about half a crop of what we normally get. We do have a really good field of oates we plan on chopping in a week or so and our corn looks good but needs a drink pretty bad. Hopefully it will get one next week so it will make some silage as well. Anyway, we are pretty short on hay. We just locked up quite a bit of corn stalks that we will grind, but still need some other hay. What is everyones plan this winter?

 

[Anonymous]

While some of the hay crops in this area are getting ate by bugs- we have had plentiful amounts of moisture-so have lots of native grass and the grain/wheat crops are really looking good... Hopefully we can graze later this winter- and get a plentiful amount of that wheat straw baled up and use that to supplement the hay....

 

[eatbeef]

Took 250 bales off of our alfalfa first cutting. Picked around and got 19 bales the second cutting. Places that we cut a second time have already bloomed out 10 days after cutting. Brome yielded 25% of last year and we will start haying native grass next week. Doesnt look great but hopefully 50% of normal. Baled up alot of wheat straw, so the we plan on grinding more straw and feed wet cake.

 

[leanin' H]

With hay at $200 per ton and going up, i hope to bale about 200 tons of dust, which i should have a bumper crop of! I plan to supplement that with ash from range fires and sage brush. Thankfully we have some hay left in the yard and we will put in some good alfalfa along with some grass/meadow hay. Hopefully enough rain falls to make some fall/winter pasture but who knows.

 

[eatbeef]

With hay at $200 per ton and going up, i hope to bale about 200 tons of dust, which i should have a bumper crop of! I plan to supplement that with ash from range fires and sage brush. Thankfully we have some hay left in the yard and we will put in some good alfalfa along with some grass/meadow hay. Hopefully enough rain falls to make some fall/winter pasture but who knows.

Looking at it that way, we are sitting damn good.

 

[Denny]

I just got home from a trip to western S.D. a friend asked how it looked out there and my reply was bale everything we can find.The area around Belle Fourche looked real tough to me. It seamed like things looked okay from Murdo east but that was just on the interstate. Best corn I seen was around Mitchell and southern Mn then Near Sauk Centre Mn but alot of drowned out fields that looked tough.The small grains looked pretty well whereever we traveled but I don't know much about small grains. Our AC quit so those plus 100 degree days sucked.

We carried over 400 bales and most likely will put up another 2000 this year.I will need around 1200 bales plus silage.I'll have another 100 acres of stalks to graze this year which I normally don't.

You can buy hay here at $40 to $50 a ton pretty easy

 

[gcreekrch]

A lot of hay left over from last year in BC. Most of it was cut late and grew in too much moisture so protien isn't great (7%-) Guys are buying some of it up @ $10 per bale.

Not sure what new crop is worth yet as there is not much made yet north of Kamloops. Been raining enough in the irrigation areas that most have shut off the pumps for a few weeks now.

80,000 less cows in BC since 2005, hay could be tough to sell.

 

[Soapweed]

I just got home from a trip to western S.D. a friend asked how it looked out there and my reply was bale everything we can find.The area around Belle Fourche looked real tough to me. It seamed like things looked okay from Murdo east but that was just on the interstate. Best corn I seen was around Mitchell and southern Mn then Near Sauk Centre Mn but alot of drowned out fields that looked tough.The small grains looked pretty well whereever we traveled but I don't know much about small grains. Our AC quit so those plus 100 degree days sucked.

We carried over 400 bales and most likely will put up another 2000 this year.I will need around 1200 bales plus silage.I'll have another 100 acres of stalks to graze this year which I normally don't.

You can buy hay here at $40 to $50 a ton pretty easy

Be sure to save enough feed for 200 yearling heifers. They will be on the way later today. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

I am in the Belle Fourche area and if you are not irrigating it is dry! I run a cow herd and sell hay and grain. I have already sold hay at $200/t as stated in another post and have no dought it will go much higher.
Most of you seem to have most of the roughage but need better protein sourses. BRG I am not sure where you are located but do you have access to sunflower seed or distillers grain? If you are feeding silage you must have a feeder wagon.
Another thing I have done in the past is add urea to corn silage. Some people will immeadiatly scream crazy at me but I have added 2 points protein value to my silage without any problems. Anyone trying it I would recomend doing your homework and manage it carefully. It can save a lot of money through the winter. I have never used anhydrous ammonia on straw but it is suposed to add a lot to the feed value of straw. I know there is university research out there.
With the hay shortage this year it will pay big time to be creative.

Mel

 

[4Diamond]

I can't justify paying $200 a ton for marginal hay, so if push comes to shove it will be time to dump some animals.

 

[BRG]

I am in the Belle Fourche area and if you are not irrigating it is dry! I run a cow herd and sell hay and grain. I have already sold hay at $200/t as stated in another post and have no dought it will go much higher.
Most of you seem to have most of the roughage but need better protein sourses. BRG I am not sure where you are located but do you have access to sunflower seed or distillers grain? If you are feeding silage you must have a feeder wagon.
Another thing I have done in the past is add urea to corn silage. Some people will immeadiatly scream crazy at me but I have added 2 points protein value to my silage without any problems. Anyone trying it I would recomend doing your homework and manage it carefully. It can save a lot of money through the winter. I have never used anhydrous ammonia on straw but it is suposed to add a lot to the feed value of straw. I know there is university research out there.
With the hay shortage this year it will pay big time to be creative.

Mel

We feed modified distillers to the feedlot cattle, but have never fed it to cows. We graze our spring calving cows as long as we can, ussually close to Christmas before they need fed, and our late spring/early summer calvers graze all winter if mother nature lets us. But we have close to 1000 animals in the feedlot over the winter. That is where we plan to use most the corn stalks.

Their are several people who are worse off than we are, so I was just wandering what everyone elses plans are.

 

[mrj]

A few miles north of I-90 (1880 Town area) we finished an alfalfa/hay mix hay field yesterday and had about 300 bales where we had over 1500 last year. That was a phenomenal year, though. The rest of the hay ground isn't going to be much, either, but we did have quite a lot left over.

We need another mild winter so cows can graze without hay!

Pastures are holding up better than we expected, though.

I am wasting some expensive water in my yard as it would be sad to lose the few shade trees we have, and seeing a little patch of green grass lifts spirits a little in a drought.

mrj

 

[leanin' H]

I can't justify paying $200 a ton for marginal hay, so if push comes to shove it will be time to dump some animals.

Same boat here. (Maybe boat is the wrong word) Time to cull pretty hard when hay is this high. Looking at lots of options from leasing more grazing if possible to non-conventional feedings methods.

 

[PureCountry]

Really wish we could distribute moisture more evenly in the world. We've got more grass than we can handle this year. Looking at haying some to make use of it and stock up on feed because you never know when these good years will come to an abrupt halt. We've had 3 decent years for grass, counting this one, but before that was 8 years of drought or well below average.

I really hope rains come to those who need it, and sun for those who are flooded right now. Always bear in mind that there are more important things in life than feeding cows, so please don't stress yourselves to the point of illness. Ask for help in creating a grazing plan, or de-stock if need be. Good luck.

 

[Doug Thorson]

I just got home from a trip to western S.D. a friend asked how it looked out there and my reply was bale everything we can find.The area around Belle Fourche looked real tough to me. It seamed like things looked okay from Murdo east but that was just on the interstate. Best corn I seen was around Mitchell and southern Mn then Near Sauk Centre Mn but alot of drowned out fields that looked tough.The small grains looked pretty well whereever we traveled but I don't know much about small grains. Our AC quit so those plus 100 degree days sucked.

We carried over 400 bales and most likely will put up another 2000 this year.I will need around 1200 bales plus silage.I'll have another 100 acres of stalks to graze this year which I normally don't.

You can buy hay here at $40 to $50 a ton pretty easy

North and West of Philip is pretty dry. We are still short of 4" since the 4th of July last year. I have a neighbor that turned down $100 ton for his wheat field, know several people who took cash to let people hay wheat. A lot of people are haying just because it is haying time, burning fuel to get a bale every 3 acres or so. Last year I was asked what hay I was going to sell, said I would sell hay when I forgot about buying hay the last dry stretch. I went into last winter with 15 bales per cow. I guess I can last at least one year before I start selling cows.

 

[gcreekrch]

I just got home from a trip to western S.D. a friend asked how it looked out there and my reply was bale everything we can find.The area around Belle Fourche looked real tough to me. It seamed like things looked okay from Murdo east but that was just on the interstate. Best corn I seen was around Mitchell and southern Mn then Near Sauk Centre Mn but alot of drowned out fields that looked tough.The small grains looked pretty well whereever we traveled but I don't know much about small grains. Our AC quit so those plus 100 degree days sucked.

We carried over 400 bales and most likely will put up another 2000 this year.I will need around 1200 bales plus silage.I'll have another 100 acres of stalks to graze this year which I normally don't.

You can buy hay here at $40 to $50 a ton pretty easy

North and West of Philip is pretty dry. We are still short of 4" since the 4th of July last year. I have a neighbor that turned down $100 ton for his wheat field, know several people who took cash to let people hay wheat. A lot of people are haying just because it is haying time, burning fuel to get a bale every 3 acres or so. Last year I was asked what hay I was going to sell, said I would sell hay when I forgot about buying hay the last dry stretch. I went into last winter with 15 bales per cow. I guess I can last at least one year before I start selling cows.

I was told once that a true cowman never sells hay. :wink:

 

[4Diamond]

I can't justify paying $200 a ton for marginal hay, so if push comes to shove it will be time to dump some animals.

Same boat here. (Maybe boat is the wrong word) Time to cull pretty hard when hay is this high. Looking at lots of options from leasing more grazing if possible to non-conventional feedings methods.

I would love to lease more but it can't be found here. If it is marginal pasture it has been rolled up into a bale already.

 

[Denny]

I just got home from a trip to western S.D. a friend asked how it looked out there and my reply was bale everything we can find.The area around Belle Fourche looked real tough to me. It seamed like things looked okay from Murdo east but that was just on the interstate. Best corn I seen was around Mitchell and southern Mn then Near Sauk Centre Mn but alot of drowned out fields that looked tough.The small grains looked pretty well whereever we traveled but I don't know much about small grains. Our AC quit so those plus 100 degree days sucked.

We carried over 400 bales and most likely will put up another 2000 this year.I will need around 1200 bales plus silage.I'll have another 100 acres of stalks to graze this year which I normally don't.

You can buy hay here at $40 to $50 a ton pretty easy

North and West of Philip is pretty dry. We are still short of 4" since the 4th of July last year. I have a neighbor that turned down $100 ton for his wheat field, know several people who took cash to let people hay wheat. A lot of people are haying just because it is haying time, burning fuel to get a bale every 3 acres or so. Last year I was asked what hay I was going to sell, said I would sell hay when I forgot about buying hay the last dry stretch. I went into last winter with 15 bales per cow. I guess I can last at least one year before I start selling cows.

I was told once that a true cowman never sells hay. :wink:

I would entertain feeding some cows this winter but I'd want to buy all the hay. It would bother me to sell my own hay stocks.

 

[WyomingRancher]

Really wish we could distribute moisture more evenly in the world. We've got more grass than we can handle this year. Looking at haying some to make use of it and stock up on feed because you never know when these good years will come to an abrupt halt. We've had 3 decent years for grass, counting this one, but before that was 8 years of drought or well below average.

I really hope rains come to those who need it, and sun for those who are flooded right now. Always bear in mind that there are more important things in life than feeding cows, so please don't stress yourselves to the point of illness. Ask for help in creating a grazing plan, or de-stock if need be. Good luck.

I wish you could distribute more rain this way too! Like you, it has been mostly drought over the past decade, but the last two years were good. I thought I would be "smart" and conserve a couple of sections at home to help get through a dry stretch. My observation, the cattle have broke off and trampled more of my "saved" feed, than they've eaten :? . The only feed they are interested in are on the bottoms.

My question, we just moved pastures on the forest (over two weeks earlier than normal), and plan on putting protein blocks out to see if we can get them to utilize some of the old feed in the new pasture better. Does anyone have an idea on how densely to distribute the blocks?

 

[jodywy]

so they can step on them H, running in big country that be hard to say, probally more block then what it says on the lable.