Wow did I burn allot of fuel this winter. LOL

[ALLFARMER]

Feed on average 100 animals at the bunk fence
feeding every day or two (crazy talk I know).

Pulled string off of 2 bales for the 4h calves what
a friggin pain!

By bunk feeding a likely save 30% feed waste.
Feed roughly 3 bales/day worth 45$ each so
saved about $40/day in feed waste compared to
bale feeders.

I have a element block heater and a circulating
block heater plug them in for on average 2 or 3
hours and she's runnin. Took the 2 - 6 volt
batteries our of my JD 4440 resided it and put in
2 - 850 ccs 12 volt. This winter never bothered to
switch to ow40 oil

Never treated one animal this winter for any
sickness.

O how much fuel did I burn????? Started
feeding Oct 22 and it will end up being 2 and 3/4
tanks. About 385L cost $340 saving $40/day x 5
months 150 days = $6000 in feed saving

Corral cleaning I can do myself in 3 days

Highline 8100 bale shredder run at full shred
length slow turn speed on average 1600 to 1700
rpm

[ALLFARMER]

Automatic spell check can be a pain

Took 2 6 volt batteries out rewired for 12 volt,
did this years ago, vast improvement

[smcgrath76]

We are enjoying the same kind of winter.
Burned just over 1/2 tank in the 4240
since the first of November feeding 150
calves and just over 150 cows. That even
got us some post pounding done today...

[grassfarmer]

That's the worst of paradigms allfarmer, we are
always trying to convince ourselves what we are
doing is right! I do the same thing myself. Not
saying my system is right or better than yours but
here are some thoughts to get you to challenge your
paradigm.

Could you manage things different so you don't
need to start feeding as early as October 22?

You must have very good bunk fences and very poor
feed rings if the difference in wastage is 30%

How much bedding does it take in corrals over 150
days and at what cost?

What about nutrient management? Recent research
is showing that you lose the majority of the
nutrients in a bedding pack/spreading scenario. If
you lose 30 cents of nutrients per cow per day that's
$4500 over the winter in your scenario.

[ALLFARMER]

Ya I would agee if you don't clean your corrals
when it's fresh your loosing nutrients as opposed
to cow applied.

We only try and keep real good bedding when
it's colder than minus 25 We likely only used 30
to 40 bales this winter.

[ALLFARMER]

Was at my mechanic buddies shop pestering him
today to my stuff. In the shop he has a D9T with
3500 hours on it clutches slipping in 2nd gear. I
wonder if trying to cut 4 to 5 foot frees has
anything to do with it??? Said 6 or 7 cuts/runs at
it from each side 2nd gear and the trees still don't
want to go down.

This unit has Sirius satellite radio, John Deere
auto steer and Garmin gps with farm field maps
showing the quarter section survey lines. Had the
tranny out in 3 hours charging $200/hr and can
she burn fuel! For me just getting my D6 out of
the shed was awesome 2 miles more of new
perimeter fence line to clear!

[BTO_farmall]

Thatta Boy AllFarmer, Give er' Hell!!!!!!!!!

[ALLFARMER]

Whoops it was a D8T not a 9 and I should have
mentioned it has a v - cutter to cut the trees off

Cheers

[gaucho]

Sounds like work to me Allfarmer... we wintered over 700 cows, and 400 calves... 300 liters of fuel for the tractor and probably the same amount for checking the bale grazing and cattle around the place... we used 17 bales of straw and there is no manure hauling nor any electrical bill for heating water bowls for the cows.. on top of that calves just got weaned and the cows held up awesome.... weight coming off the cows 700 lbs.... By the way All-farmer where does it make sense to push and burn that kind of big timber... would it not make more sense to log some of that?

[forage]

gaucho I was just wondering where do you winter your cows and calves? Must be California, we use a lot of bedding for our herd that is half the size of yours. Keeps bulls from freezing off where it counts, and utters on cows. Clean utters less calf scours.

[gaucho]

We never bed bulls and or cows.. provided they have space and shelter they are good at finding clean places to lay... Calves get bedding when things get cold. The cows nursed calves till Thursday last week. we have never froze a nut yet but I am sure if they were locked in feedlot pens that could happen... key element is lots of space

[gaucho]

We live in the peace Region and the cows calve May/ June... no manure on udder issue when you calve on grass

[ALLFARMER]

Apparently no frozen udders either?

There is a bio digester / power generation plant
supposed to get built starting this spring. It is
supposed to use all the "tops" from trees, they
are cut off as waste in logging, stuff currently
being burned.

[ALLFARMER]

That is a pretty good calf weight Gaucho.

I know Ole Farms / Kelly Olsen at Athabasca
sells allot of bulls and they only pamper with
straw the top most expensive ones.

I my view/opinion there has to be more feed
waste with swath and bale grazing. I tried swath
grazing oats and they left lots behind, maybe I
could gave swathed it a little sooner but lots of
material that would gave been eaten if in a bale.

With the minimal fuel I use and maximum feed
control I am reluctant to switch. Glad you
mention the fuel used checking the herd that I
think is often understated when cattle are a ways
away. It takes me about 17 minutes every time I
feed, time also observing animal condition.

[gaucho]

We have found to make bale grazing work effectively on cows and bred heifers is to make very tight bales, use a bit more sisel twine, so that the cattle have to work harder to break them open and so clean up better. We also now bale graze on 4-5 quarters and rotate cattle like they were and will be rotated in the summer through pastures. None of this bale every 20 feet BS... better for nutrient management as well... bulls and calves get their feeders topped once per week...