Cows in. What to feed

john mayo 10

All the cows went in today. I used to fork silage (bales) up to this year but have decided to push the bale up tight to the barrier and let them self feed. Up to this I would give the cows a grain of nuts but might not bother now as they have silage adlib. Planning on giving them oats before they calf. What is everyone else doing

Who2

john mayo 10 wrote: »

All the cows went in today. I used to fork silage (bales) up to this year but have decided to push the bale up tight to the barrier and let them self feed. Up to this I would give the cows a grain of nuts but might not bother now as they have silage adlib. Planning on giving them oats before they calf. What is everyone else doing

Silage pushed up and a shake of seaweed on top. A small shake of soya for a month pre calving.

satstheway

Who2 wrote: »

Silage pushed up and a shake of seaweed on top. A small shake of soya for a month pre calving.

Do you chop the seaweed??

Who2

satstheway wrote: »

Do you chop the seaweed??

No I buy it in 20 kg bags dried and chopped

TooOldBoots

Its a long winter ahead, I wouldn't be feeding them adlib just yet unless they are in poor condition or have a calf in under them

john mayo 10

TooOldBoots wrote: »

Its a long winter ahead, I wouldn't be feeding them adlib just yet unless they are in poor condition or have a calf in under them

The reason I'm feeding adlib is I work 12 hr shifts and dad had a health scare recently so he has to take it easy.

_Brian

john mayo 10 wrote: »

The reason I'm feeding adlib is I work 12 hr shifts and dad had a health scare recently so he has to take it easy.

You’ll know consumption soon enough.
Keep a count and budget forward to make sure you know how long your stuff will last.

Cows on ad-lib can eat a shocking amount of stuff.

john mayo 10

_Brian wrote: »

You’ll know consumption soon enough.
Keep a count and budget forward to make sure you know how long your stuff will last.

Cows on ad-lib can eat a shocking amount of stuff.

I might have to drop the bale a bit further from the barriers and push them in as they eat them

hopeso

Who2 wrote: »

No I buy it in 20 kg bags dried and chopped

What's the benefit of seaweed? I never heard of it been fed to cows before.. Where do you buy the bags?

Who2

hopeso wrote: »

What's the benefit of seaweed? I never heard of it been fed to cows before.. Where do you buy the bags?

Serious lively calf. The animals calve no hassle, cows clean and go back in calf straight away. The bit of soya brings up the milk and helps also with giving them a high quality colostrum. Different people have different opinions but that’s my routine. There’s three or four places along the west coast manufacturing it for years now and I’ve been using it 20 years plus at this stage.

Still waters

Who2 wrote: »

Serious lively calf. The animals calve no hassle, cows clean and go back in calf straight away. The bit of soya brings up the milk and helps also with giving them a high quality colostrum. Different people have different opinions but that’s my routine. There’s three or four places along the west coast manufacturing it for years now and I’ve been using it 20 years plus at this stage.

Has the seaweed to be processed or could you pick it yourself and feed away

Who2

Still waters wrote: »

Has the seaweed to be processed or could you pick it yourself and feed away

I honestly don’t know but I’m fairly sure it’s used by some lads. It’s a certain type as well as far as I know.

TooOldBoots

john mayo 10 wrote: »

I might have to drop the bale a bit further from the barriers and push them in as they eat them

That`s my system, I usually put 2 bales/pen with 7 hungry mature cows/pen. I leave them just under a foot from the barrier. This is done on Sunday evening so that I can get to Tuesday evening before pushing in the bales, then again Friday evening I might have to fork in the remainder. If I see some shiny concrete in front of some of the cows its not the end of the world as I have some of those big Simmental cows that I swear never pull there heads in from the feed barrier for the whole winter!
If I need to extend the feeding I usually go for a cheap beef nut or else Barley at 1-2kg/head depending on the price.
Never tried the seaweed, I use pre-calver mineral dust along the silage/ on top of the bales at the time of pushing in the silage. I find the lick buckets great except if you are feeding them silage ever second/third day then if they run out of silage a hungry cow can lick a bucket near empty in a few hours!!

hopeso

Who2 wrote: »

Serious lively calf. The animals calve no hassle, cows clean and go back in calf straight away. The bit of soya brings up the milk and helps also with giving them a high quality colostrum. Different people have different opinions but that’s my routine. There’s three or four places along the west coast manufacturing it for years now and I’ve been using it 20 years plus at this stage.

Sounds good. Do you feed it to them the whole winter, and roughly how much per cow per day would you give them? I spent a small fortune on pre calfer buckets this spring, and saw no benefit what so ever.....

Who2

hopeso wrote: »

Sounds good. Do you feed it to them the whole winter, and roughly how much per cow per day would you give them? I spent a small fortune on pre calfer buckets this spring, and saw no benefit what so ever.....

About 1kg per pen once a day

jd06

john mayo 10 wrote: »

All the cows went in today. I used to fork silage (bales) up to this year but have decided to push the bale up tight to the barrier and let them self feed. Up to this I would give the cows a grain of nuts but might not bother now as they have silage adlib. Planning on giving them oats before they calf. What is everyone else doing

What's the idea of the oats before calving
Iv heard it said here before

dohc turbo2

jd06 wrote: »

What's the idea of the oats before calving
Iv heard it said here before

Keep the calf hardy and stops the calf swelling from what I remember being told ,

john mayo 10

Where do you purchase the bagged seaweed

Who2

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Where do you purchase the bagged seaweed

Frank Ryan used to call around selling it, he’s with Mayo health now as far as I know. There’s a place in donegal and two in Galway that process it but I can’t think of the names Some of the feed merchants sell it. I buy in my local feed merchants and sometimes buy a pallet from the plant down in carna in Galway.

grassroot1

hopeso wrote: »

What's the benefit of seaweed? I never heard of it been fed to cows before.. Where do you buy the bags?

IODINE

Say my name

grassroot1 wrote: »

IODINE

And a hell of a lot more minerals and vitamins.

At least we know of a source of minerals now in case the buggers out in germany turn off the taps.

Base price

Say my name wrote: »

And a hell of a lot more minerals and vitamins.

At least we know of a source of minerals now in case the buggers out in germany turn off the taps.

As you, I and many know, Irish seaweed has been used as a source of food, fertiliser and minerals by us for eons. We have to be very careful to maintain this natural resorce as a habitat for inshore marine species and not deplete it for the sake of our livestock.

In fairness I reckon our marine fishing fraternity have given up more than enough in the past to their land based cousins for the better cause

Say my name

Base price wrote: »

As you, I and many know, Irish seaweed has been used as a source of food, fertiliser and minerals by us for eons. We have to be very careful to maintain this natural resorce as a habitat for inshore marine species and not deplete it for the sake of our livestock.

In fairness I reckon our marine fishing fraternity have given up more than enough in the past to their land based cousins for the better cause

Our marine based cousins are delighted to have a potential income from an otherwise resource that goes to waste.

The beauty of a plant is that it's a renewable resource that can be harvested year after year after year for time unfathomable. That's if it's harvested in a sustainable way with a suitable rotation on sites. There's another trouble though and it's nothing to do with our marine based cousins but our corporate land and even foreign based cousins who are buying harvesting rights from under the noses of our marine based cousins and using foreign labour for harvesting with produce exported to various parts of Europe and north America.

As a global resource though there's no end to it evidenced by the large growth in the Atlantic and washing up in the Caribbean this year.

Base price

Say my name wrote: »

Our marine based cousins are delighted to have a potential income from an otherwise resource that goes to waste.

The beauty of a plant is that it's a renewable resource that can be harvested year after year after year for time unfathomable. That's if it's harvested in a sustainable way with a suitable rotation on sites.There's another trouble though and it's nothing to do with our marine based cousins but our corporate land and even foreign based cousins who are buying harvesting rights from under the noses of our marine based cousins and using foreign labour for harvesting with produce exported to various parts of Europe and north America.

As a global resource though there's no end to it evidenced by the large growth in the Atlantic and washing up in the Caribbean this year.

I'm trying to be a good poster with no expletives as far as possible. However - Bollocks your trying to wind us up :mad:
Do you know how much our marine fisheries contributed to the EU/EEC coffers since we joined in '73

Odelay

Base price wrote: »

I'm trying to be a good poster with no expletives as far as possible. However - Bollocks your trying to wind us up :mad:
Do you know how much our marine fisheries contributed to the EU/EEC coffers since we joined in '73

I think you may have read that wrong... to me that is not what he meant.

ABitofsense

What's the name or brand of Seaweed bags? Might try it this winter as an experiment/something different

john mayo 10

Thanks for or all the replies lads. Starting leaving bales close to the barriers. Great job. Less skull dragging of silage and I was push within with the tractor.

What's her thoughts on feeding oats prior to calving. Hear good and bad things

jd06

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Thanks for or all the replies lads. Starting leaving bales close to the barriers. Great job. Less skull dragging of silage and I was push within with the tractor.

What's her thoughts on feeding oats prior to calving. Hear good and bad things

Was thinking of doing the same myself
Rolled or whole oats

john mayo 10

jd06 wrote: »

Was thinking of doing the same myself
Rolled or whole oats

Heard rolled oats but not too sure