Feeding cattle silage all year??

johnzer6889

Well just wondering, well we're beef farmers and we have land in different places, we buy the bullocks around a year old and sell them to the factory. It takes up a lot of time checking the cattle everyday. Could you leave the cattle in the shed all year long by feeding a mix of silage, straw and nuts by the wagon feeder. ( not zero grazing ). It would also stop cattle running around, and stop the fields from being tramped on, and saves fencing etc for rented land! what do you's think?

49801

costs far too high in this economy for a beef enterprise.
that model would be more suited to year round dairy and even then they would be trying to utile cheap grass in the field. Countries like Holland come to mind for what your talking about.

bob charles

johnzer6889 wrote: »

Well just wondering, well we're beef farmers and we have land in different places, we buy the bullocks around a year old and sell them to the factory. It takes up a lot of time checking the cattle everyday. Could you leave the cattle in the shed all year long by feeding a mix of silage, straw and nuts by the wagon feeder. ( not zero grazing ). It would also stop cattle running around, and stop the fields from being tramped on, and saves fencing etc for rented land! what do you's think?

I have an ally

severeoversteer

bob charles wrote: »

I have an ally

so you agree with this scheme of beef farming bob ?

if you had your own silage gear it would significantly reduce silage costs

but you'd be spending twice the time and money on the slurry stuff

Sharpshooter82

severeoversteer wrote: »

so you agree with this scheme of beef farming bob ?

if you had your own silage gear it would significantly reduce silage costs

but you'd be spending twice the time and money on the slurry stuff

you could sell it

CrinkElite

I'm not a Farmer but from time to time I lurk on this forum out of pure interest.

Might sound silly but would that not be bad for the cow's well-being?
Would a cow develop muscle properly if it was confined indoors all year round?

severeoversteer

CrinkElite wrote: »

I'm not a Farmer but from time to time I lurk on this forum out of pure interest.

Might sound silly but would that not be bad for the cow's well-being?
Would a cow develop muscle properly if it was confined indoors all year round?

slat mats needed, or loose outdoor pad, or large straw bedded sheds, or best of all you could have cubicles like dairy setup, keeps them clean aswell