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Wintering cows

M

Maple Leaf Angus

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Joined
Feb 10, 2005
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Location
Southern Ontario
I can put my cows out to feed over the winter for $1.25/day. They would be getting balage and dry hay, grain if I want (I don't) and salt and mineral. Open sheds for shelter and straw.


Seems right to me, only they would need a 7 hr. truck ride to get there. That costs a bit, too.

How does that rate sound to you? I have never had to put cows out before, but hay is really scarce and expensive here this fall. Like 8 - 10 cents a pound.
 
If someone says they can feed yours for $1.25/day, I'd say they aren't paying themselves very damn much. That seems extremely low, but I guess that's there problem, not mine. If you're in a tight spot, it sounds like a good alternative.
 
Maple Leaf Angus said:
I can put my cows out to feed over the winter for $1.25/day. They would be getting balage and dry hay, grain if I want (I don't) and salt and mineral. Open sheds for shelter and straw.


Seems right to me, only they would need a 7 hr. truck ride to get there. That costs a bit, too.

How does that rate sound to you? I have never had to put cows out before, but hay is really scarce and expensive here this fall. Like 8 - 10 cents a pound.
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Sounds pretty good to me MLA-- I know a couple years ago that is what a couple of the local ranchs/feedlots were charging for wintering- they were grazing on hay/corn/grain fields until they needed hay- brush for cover.....
 
I saw an ad in the Tri-State Livestock News where someone would take
cows into a lot for $1/25/day, so guess that fits right with what you are considering, MLA.

Be sure to go look at them from time to time, though. I'd hate for you
to get a suprise when you went to get them in the spring. Just knowing
you will be around to see them once in awhile, might keep everyone a bit
more honest. FWIW...
 
It's usually much cheaper to haul the cows to the feed......just satisfy yourself that there will be proper management of your cows. It may be best to keep any cows (older or heifers) that will need extra management at home. Any chance of finding opportunity feeds such as straw, pellets etc. or even grazing of crop residues closer to home?
 
I decided to buy corn and put up a silage pile and feed it mixed with the oat straw I bought. Silage works out to about 1 1/2 cents per pound - that is cheap feed in my books.

The custom feeding would have been pretty cheap - I don't think I can over-winter a cow for $1.25 a day - but it would involve a few 7 hour trips to keep an eye on the girls during the winter.

Besides, even if it costs me a bit more to keep them home, I STILL HAVE THE MANURE in the spring! :lol: :lol: :lol:


So now I have to learn how to feed silage to black Angus cows with turning them into balls of lard!

Thanks for your advice. Cowsense, I think you had the best idea.
 
Well that did'nt take long to decide 13 hours....

I see here at a local hay auction 7% protein grass hay is selling for $90 a ton.
Top dairy alfalfa $190
 
So @ $90 for grass hay, if the cow eats 35lbs/day, that's $1.575/day JUST FOR THE HAY! And at 7% protein, it won't be good for all cattle. I've wintered my cows on hay like that, but we don't calve until June, so they don't need alot through January-March. Still, that's expensive feed at $90/ton. It's likely that they'd need to eat more than 35lbs too, just to maintain their condition, depending on their weight of course.

My bale-grazing this year will cost me between $1 and $1.20/day. That's with good alfalfa/brome hay and straw.
 
Now I am second guessing myself yet again and think that with the way things are heading in the Ontario beef business, I might be best off selling the cows and taking my lumps now rather than later. Oh well, with the crunch in feedstocks as severe as it is this fall/winter, it probably wouldn't hurt to have a pile of silage to sell in the late winter anyway.

There have been a lot of days in the past year or two where I have asked myself just why, exactly, am I still doing this. What it boils down to is that, unbeknownst to many, farming/livestock raising is one of the few addictive vices that are LEGAL and acceptable! It gets in your blood . . . .
 
Another thing to consider when feeding 7% protein hay, is that they probably can't eat 35 lbs/hd/day so they aren't going to look real good
on just that hay alone. They couldn't digest that much, I don't believe.
That's what causes problems for some ranchers. They put out all this
poor quality hay and when the cows (can't) don't clean it up, the next day they get less. And the next day less. But their requirements aren't being met...so they won't do very well.

10% protein hay is kind of the rule of thumb as solitary feed for a range cow. They can do it on 10% hay alone.
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
MLA have you heard that Better Beef has quit killing at Guelph?
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I don' t think that is the case, BMr. The kill has been reduced by 300 hd./day and there is a strong possibility that there will be a strike this fall. The union is in for a shakeup.

And guess who is going to end up getting hurt the worst? We can't afford to loose any slaughter capacity.

Rail price had dropped from $1.51 two weeks ago to $1.30 this week. Those would have been $1.00 - $1.10 yearlings and $4.00 corn.


OOOwww, oowww!
 
Well the silage is in a pile now and I can feed my cows for a long, long, winter! It will be a learning curve for me - balancing silage and straw. Complete change of practices and I'm a slow learner. :wink:

They pulled into the 10 acre field with a 500 hp. Claus 890 SP harvester cutting 8 rows at once!!! Three tandem trucks hauling it in to the pile. Done in less than 2 hours, although the loader is still packing. $1000 later . . . .

Now I will spend the rest of the afternoon covering it with plastic and sealing it. Should be fun. :?
 
How many ton per acre did it run?Tremendous corn here is 18 ton, most runs 10-12 ton per acre.I've fed alot of silage over the years if you dont have a large herd of cows you can feed it with a hot wire just move it back 6 inches per day give or take depending on the height of the pile.I have pictures of cows feeding on a pile if you'd like.

We don't have any corn silage this year.I'm planting at least a 110 acre's next year though.I ordered seed last friday Round up Ready at $102 per bag.We planted field peas and oats this year and it all droughted out I figure I have a $100 a bale into what I got not very good....
 
Well this is very unprofessional I realize, but we did not weigh any of it. And I didn't even count the loads since another chap arrived to do some repairs for us at the same time as the harvester crew drove in.

The pile has 10' (measuring on the angles / \) high sloped sides with an average width of 16' at the top. The pile is 80' long. We tried to keep it as long and skinny as possible.

I found a chart that gives LBS/cu. ft. at various moistures and taking into account the weight of the packing tractor. So on the next rainy day, I will put pencil to paper and figure it out.

This corn was planted fairly late into a pretty loamy field plowed out of old sod and it was probably the best looking field for miles around. I bought it by the acre hoping for 20 T /ac. Silage sells for $30/tonne (out of a silo or pile) around here, and I think that mine cost me well under that.

Typically silage will yield from 15 to 22 tonnes /ac. in this part of the province. Depends on rainfall and how much manure went back onto the field.
 
There is one prime factor which I have not seen in this discussion. With the winter feeding cost on the line, NOW is the time for you to really sharpen your judging and culling eye, determine the individuals in your herd which are NOT going to make you money this year (open cows, flighty-headed, killers, trouble-makers, etc.) Don't be BARN BLIND, and cull the one's that you REALLY don't need, and SHOULD eliminate from the herd. Don't be sentimental. Don't be hesitant. Think positively! You can reduce your winter feed costs proportionately.

NOW IS THE TIME!

DOC HARRIS
 
Maple Leaf Angus said:
Well this is very unprofessional I realize, but we did not weigh any of it. And I didn't even count the loads since another chap arrived to do some repairs for us at the same time as the harvester crew drove in.

The pile has 10' (measuring on the angles / \) high sloped sides with an average width of 16' at the top. The pile is 80' long. We tried to keep it as long and skinny as possible.

I found a chart that gives LBS/cu. ft. at various moistures and taking into account the weight of the packing tractor. So on the next rainy day, I will put pencil to paper and figure it out.

This corn was planted fairly late into a pretty loamy field plowed out of old sod and it was probably the best looking field for miles around. I bought it by the acre hoping for 20 T /ac. Silage sells for $30/tonne (out of a silo or pile) around here, and I think that mine cost me well under that.

Typically silage will yield from 15 to 22 tonnes /ac. in this part of the province. Depends on rainfall and how much manure went back onto the field.
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I would recommend a feed test on that corn silage. I 've had it range anywhere from 6 to 9% protein so sometimes a little bit of hay instead of straw might be needed :-) sounds like you got lots to work with so you should have lots of happy cows :!:
 
DOC HARRIS said:
There is one prime factor which I have not seen in this discussion. With the winter feeding cost on the line, NOW is the time for you to really sharpen your judging and culling eye, determine the individuals in your herd which are NOT going to make you money this year (open cows, flighty-headed, killers, trouble-makers, etc.) Don't be BARN BLIND, and cull the one's that you REALLY don't need, and SHOULD eliminate from the herd. Don't be sentimental. Don't be hesitant. Think positively! You can reduce your winter feed costs proportionately.

NOW IS THE TIME!

DOC HARRIS
Click to expand...

Good point Doc. We culled one last week that abandoned her calf at birth. She's got 14 more days to hang, then I'll have the honor of grilling the first steaks off of her. There's some more that are going next month. We keep our opens/culls and sell them as breds in November/December.
 
We are like the rest of you - - -very short on grass.

I culled all the cows that were not top notch on Aug 6th ( first sale in Aug) and their calves are running the best alfalfa field I have. They did not even hick-up and just went right on growing as I had a creep gate up allowing them in the field for a week while I had their moms on the feed floor.

I will vacinate and preg test in about two more weeks ( depending on harvest) and will cull any open cows left.

The county extention office is paying me $15.00 per acre to drill winter rye on the bean and corn fields - - - I can pasture it after it reaches 6"

They are also paying $0.50 per foot for temperary fences.

With this help I should be ok and might be in the position to pick up some cheap bread animals.
 

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