bales per cow

kerry cow

Hi I was wondering .how many round bales of silage would one want to budget per month , for say 100 cows .
Would 200 bales be too much or what ?? That way I could definitely know how many I need by extending or shorting the months housed .
Any ideas welcome .
Maybe it's 150 or 250 ??

TalkingBull

you'd want to budget at least 2bales/head/month, so 200bales/month minimum required. depends on quality too.
sucklers?

edit; fodder calculator http://www.aurivo.ie/wp-content/themes/aurivo/documents/fodder-supply-calculator.pdf

im assuming 2bales = 1.4ton

Water John

Think you are near it at 2/month. Good dry stuff, less.

Years ago, out wintered bought in 17 suckler cows. Didn't want to mix them with the rest. Fed them good 2nd and medium 3rd cut bales.
Lot very happy on the following day, perhaps not quite finished after the 2nd cut bale. Would be roaring at you if you had given them a 3rd cut bale, the day before.

Bales now heavier with the chopping. Dairy cows might be diff.

freedominacup

kerry cow wrote: »

Hi I was wondering .how many round bales of silage would one want to budget per month , for say 100 cows .
Would 200 bales be too much or what ?? That way I could definitely know how many I need by extending or shorting the months housed .
Any ideas welcome .
Maybe it's 150 or 250 ??

Bil does all bales. His rule of thumb is 1 bale to 15 cows per day. He is in winter milk though so maybe higher intakes with those.

tanko

kerry cow wrote: »

Hi I was wondering .how many round bales of silage would one want to budget per month , for say 100 cows .
Would 200 bales be too much or what ?? That way I could definitely know how many I need by extending or shorting the months housed .
Any ideas welcome .
Maybe it's 150 or 250 ??

20 sucklers eat a bale every day here so 100 would eat 150 bales per month. I assume dairy cows would eat more.

Sam Kade

freedominacup wrote: »

Bil does all bales. His rule of thumb is 1 bale to 15 cows per day. He is in winter milk though so maybe higher intakes with those.

I had 27 dry dairy cows in a shed last winter and 2 fusion silage bales would only barely last them a day, they would need 2.5 bales at least.

The Cuban

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/toolbox/fodder.php

Water John

From that, 15% more for the dairy cow.
Thanks for that tool, Cuban.

As the man said one time: 2 and a bit. to which the reply is; How much is the effin bit?
Looks like 2 and1/3. per cow per month.

Irish Beef

tanko wrote: »

kerry cow wrote: »

Hi I was wondering .how many round bales of  silage would one want to budget per month , for say 100 cows .
Would 200 bales be too much or what ?? That way I could definitely know how many I need by extending or shorting the months housed .
Any ideas welcome .
Maybe it's 150 or 250 ??

20 sucklers eat a bale every day here so 100 would eat 150 bales per month. I assume dairy cows would eat more.

My rule of thumb was always 20 suckler cows would eat a bale a day, a good big chopped bale now from a fusion Baler.

tancoman

Anyone feeding Dexters over the winter? Roughly how many bales of silage per month for 5 Dexter cows and their calf's outwintered, feeding no meal.

zetor_buyer

depends whether they are dairy of sucklers , was raised on a dairy farm but keep a few sucklers now , angus and hereford type sucklers eat at least a third less than a holstein cow when it comes to grass anyway , no comparison

a decent dm bale should do twenty sucklers per day

tancoman

The Dexter cow would probably eat around the same or a bit less than the Angus. There would also be a bull running with them. A bale should do them about 5 - 7 days. What do you think?

tanko

tancoman wrote: »

The Dexter cow would probably eat around the same or a bit less than the Angus. There would also be a bull running with them. A bale should do them about 5 - 7 days. What do you think?

I'd be thinking about 5 or maybe six days, it depends on the weather too. I notice outwintered cattle eat more when it's cold wet and windy and less when it's dry and mild.
Also if it's really good tasty stuff they tend to eat it faster than lesser quality bales.

Pidae.m

kerry cow wrote: »

Hi I was wondering .how many round bales of silage would one want to budget per month , for say 100 cows .
Would 200 bales be too much or what ?? That way I could definitely know how many I need by extending or shorting the months housed .
Any ideas welcome .
Maybe it's 150 or 250 ??

1 bale does 15 cows per day.... do the mat

squinn2912

tancoman wrote: »

The Dexter cow would probably eat around the same or a bit less than the Angus. There would also be a bull running with them. A bale should do them about 5 - 7 days. What do you think?

They should need less than the angus cow but be careful you don't underfeed them. If there are calves on them you want them producing and if you want them back in calf you don't want them getting thin. I'd have thought every 3rd day maybe 4th (calves will take a bite too, ideally from their own feeder) and an odd smidgen of meal would be no harm