Straw

micky mouse

Whats the best straw for feeding barley or oaten.Is one better than the other for young cattle/cows.

mahoney_j

micky mouse wrote: »

Whats the best straw for feeding barley or oaten.Is one better than the other for young cattle/cows.

Wheaten or often straw for feeding and barley for bedding.

bbam

We feed & bed with nothing but barley straw..
Find it very easy to get calves to eat it..

bob charles

whatever is cheapest, any of the straws, it makes no odds as they all have no feed value persay

**All mine goes through diet feeder so makes no odds what it is

mahoney_j

bob charles wrote: »

whatever is cheapest, any of the straws, it makes no odds as they all have no feed value persay

Lots of lads would disagree with you on straw having no feeding value bob,for some lads it was proably better than their silage!!

bbam

Oaten straw is very rough/coarse..
Personally I wouldn't have it about the place..

But then I think its a horror to see baled rushes selling for €10 on DD, it just aint right !!

yellow50HX

sure bob would only get the cheapest crap anyway, tis no wonder his cattle turn thier nose up at it

all barley straw we use, feed it to the cows we drying them off and also when they start into the beet. often mix it with the silage espically if we have sialge from new very leafy grass.

use it for bedding in the calving pens, under the calves and weanlings

have often seen the them eating the bedding. what is great feeding is straw the had scutch grass in the corn, need to be let wilt for a few days before baling or else the bales will heat but cows luv it.

oaten straw is supoosed to be better for feeding but most of the wheat and oats straw round here is baled and shipped up the country.

reilig

bbam wrote: »

Oaten straw is very rough/coarse..
Personally I wouldn't have it about the place..

But then I think its a horror to see baled rushes selling for €10 on DD, it just aint right !!

I know a lad who has a shed full of it (90+ bales). He says that straw is gone too expensive for bedding. It's a great way of spreading rush seed and ensureing that you will have a future supply of rushes all over your land!

bob charles

reilig wrote: »

I know a lad who has a shed full of it (90+ bales). He says that straw is gone too expensive for bedding. It's a great way of spreading rush seed and ensureing that you will have a future supply of rushes all over your land!

What variety of rush is he using? sounds like a brilliant self seeding crop

bbam

reilig wrote: »

I know a lad who has a shed full of it (90+ bales). He says that straw is gone too expensive for bedding. It's a great way of spreading rush seed and ensureing that you will have a future supply of rushes all over your land!

Utter Madness

reilig

bbam wrote: »

Utter Madness

Some of the bales are grassy so he'll put them in front of the cows and let them sort it, then he'll bed with the leftovers! He's really proud of himself :eek:

signinlate

yellow50HX wrote: »

what is great feeding is straw the had scutch grass in the corn, need to be let wilt for a few days before baling or else the bales will heat but cows luv it.

I had straw with grass through it last year and the cattle went mad for it.

F.D

Used Oaten before one great advantage was how dust free it was, you could shake the hell out of it and not come out choaked up
I find no matter what straw we put in front of cattle unless there is no silage in front of them they always nose it to one side and go for the silage, you would need a diet feeder to get the most out of it
agree on the grassy straw we had some bales around the headland and cattle ate more than they slept on

on another note did anyone ever get straw bales chopped while baling to make it easier to feed ? or mix with the silage using a bucket for example

manjou

as long as straw is good quality dosent matter here which it is depends on price.feed with silage bales in for 2 days and when this is gone roll straw down passageway and cows clean every bit as will have nothing else to eat so getting one third straw 2 thirds silage. as regards rushes for bedding might as well get some use out of them guys round here last spring mixed them in diet feeder wiyh meal and fed to cows cows still alive and milking so must have been some feed value in them.