Winter feed budget

Rujib1

As a rule of thumb, how many cows would 1 bale feed for 1 day, assuming good quality stuff, baled 14 June in good weather. Cows would be in good condition going into the winter, having been dried off early October and on good grass from then till around 10 December.
I'm figuring 1 bale = 14 cows for 1 day! Would I need to feed meal with that to keep safe?

R

sobs

This may be of some help

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/2008/1213/farmmanagement/beef/feature.shtml

Rujib1

sobs wrote: »

This may be of some help

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/2008/1213/farmmanagement/beef/feature.shtml

Thanks. Seems I am fairly right on my estimate of 1 bale per 14 cows per day.
The article above suggests it could go up to 1 bale per 18 cows, but I think that is too restrictive.

R

reilig

Rujib1 wrote: »

As a rule of thumb, how many cows would 1 bale feed for 1 day, assuming good quality stuff, baled 14 June in good weather. Cows would be in good condition going into the winter, having been dried off early October and on good grass from then till around 10 December.
I'm figuring 1 bale = 14 cows for 1 day! Would I need to feed meal with that to keep safe?

R

I find that if cows are in good condition, and that the bales of silage were wilted and baled dry, a good quality 4x4 bale should be fed to 20 cows per day. That's what I feed anyway. My cows get the bale put in front of them - at least 1 foot from the barrier. As they eat, I push it closer. If they overeat, they do without. Its no harm for a cow to go hungry for a few hours.

If your cows are in good condition and you are feeding good quality silage, then there should be no need to feed meal. It might be necessary to sprinkle a little bit of mineral mixture on the silage on a daily basis.

Personally I am short on silage this year and intend to make up my shortfall with meal. I bought a 3 way mix - barley, citrus and soya with minerals added for €170 per ton (I took 12 ton from them). I am currently feeding 60kg of meal per day to 20 cows and making a bale of silage last 3 days. Its as cheap as buying silage at €15 per bale - if you can get it. I know I can't.

pakalasa

Yep, a Good bale per 20 cows per day is what I tend go go for too.

It's a good idea also to give a little bit of meal to those cows in poor condition. If you wait untill too near calving (within 6 weeks) then you will only be feeding the calf and have a difficult birth. Feeding after calving only gives the calve too much milk = scour. Nows the time to do it. If they calve down in good condition, they will come back in heat a lot quicker.

Rujib1

pakalasa wrote: »

Yep, a Good bale per 20 cows per day is what I tend go go for too.

It's a good idea also to give a little bit of meal to those cows in poor condition. If you wait untill too near calving (within 6 weeks) then you will only be feeding the calf and have a difficult birth. Feeding after calving only gives the calve too much milk = scour. Nows the time to do it. If they calve down in good condition, they will come back in heat a lot quicker.

Ok, lets quantify a GOOD BALE. Do you mean chopped and good quality stuff.
Mine is unchopped, old meadow grass (not reseeded), but good green stuff when cut. I allways graze the silage ground bare in spring, before fertilizing for the silage. Fertilize around 14 April and cut around 10 June.
Think a chopped bale might have 25% more grass in it.

R

reilig

Rujib1 wrote: »

Ok, lets quantify a GOOD BALE. Do you mean chopped and good quality stuff.
Mine is unchopped, old meadow grass (not reseeded), but good green stuff when cut. I allways graze the silage ground bare in spring, before fertilizing for the silage. Fertilize around 14 April and cut around 10 June.
Think a chopped bale might have 25% more grass in it.

R

My bales aren't chopped. They're just well packed. When tipped on their ends they measure 4"6 high. Old welger RP 12 bales were never any bigger than the 4ft. Modern bale sizes depend on both the baler and the driver
A wet bale or an unwilted bale (chopped or not) will contain less feeding than a dry wilted bale.

Your quality sounds good enough - by eating the silage ground bare and then fertilizing it, you are ensureing that the grass that comes up will make good quality silage. (ie no white sole from old grass in the bale).

Cows in good condition do not need meal on this type of silage. As pakalasa said, only feed poorer cows with meal and stop feeding meal at least 6 weeks before calving.

irish_bob

Rujib1 wrote: »

As a rule of thumb, how many cows would 1 bale feed for 1 day, assuming good quality stuff, baled 14 June in good weather. Cows would be in good condition going into the winter, having been dried off early October and on good grass from then till around 10 December.
I'm figuring 1 bale = 14 cows for 1 day! Would I need to feed meal with that to keep safe?

R

depends what kind of baler made the bales , bales from a mchale baler and grass that was wilted for an extra day would easily feed twenty cows per day , im talking silage which is 30% DM and well over 70% DMD

Rujib1

irish_bob wrote: »

depends what kind of baler made the bales , bales from a mchale baler and grass that was wilted for an extra day would easily feed twenty cows per day , im talking silage which is 30% DM and well over 70% DMD

Wilted for 36 hours. Krone Combi baler! Definitely not as well packed as McHale I would think. I am going to assume 17 cows for 1 day per bale for my planning exercise.

R

irish_bob

Rujib1 wrote: »

Wilted for 36 hours. Krone Combi baler! Definitely not as well packed as McHale I would think. I am going to assume 17 cows for 1 day per bale for my planning exercise.

R

i dont like krone at all , 17 seems like a conservative estimate , the cows will soon let you know anyhow

k mac

As regards quality of silage i have bales that were made wet unfortunately and will be of poor quality for weanlings i am feeding over winter. I will be feeding mail with it but am afraid there will be alot of waste, someone suggested using molasses. I remember when making pit silage in the past putting on molasses from a drum when making the pit but how would i go about it now ,pour it on the bale when opened or forked in ?

reilig

k mac wrote: »

As regards quality of silage i have bales that were made wet unfortunately and will be of poor quality for weanlings i am feeding over winter. I will be feeding mail with it but am afraid there will be alot of waste, someone suggested using molasses. I remember when making pit silage in the past putting on molasses from a drum when making the pit but how would i go about it now ,pour it on the bale when opened or forked in ?

I have some wet bales too - made on July 10th - cut deep tracks in the meadows, but had to get it picked up. There runs a couple of gallons of water from each bale when you take the plastic from it. It was good grass but just very wet when baled. Have found that the cows go mad for it and don't live a bit. Although there isn't much feeding in a bale. I'm using them first because i have found in the past that wet bales don't keep as well as dry bales when wrapped.

locky76

k mac wrote: »

As regards quality of silage i have bales that were made wet unfortunately and will be of poor quality for weanlings i am feeding over winter. I will be feeding mail with it but am afraid there will be alot of waste, someone suggested using molasses. I remember when making pit silage in the past putting on molasses from a drum when making the pit but how would i go about it now ,pour it on the bale when opened or forked in ?

i used molasses last year and it reduced my silage requirements substantially.
i poured it onto the silage they had pulled in from the bale (the bale is about 1 1/2 feet from the barrier)
the cows go mad for it
if memory serves me correctly the silage requirement reduced from 10 bales a week to 7 bales a week for about €25 of molasses per week.