Cattle feeders (hay)

[RayTurner]

I have about 500 cows and I am looking at ways to reduce waste, especially hay waste. Which type of hay feeders would you guys recommend for winter feeding/or do you have any general suggestions on how to reduce waste?

[SFD]

FarmsteadRealty 12:33pm via Twitter for Android
= universities have done plenty of studies on this cones feeders are best

[DGoodrich]

Why bother feeding 500 cows in feeders? Why not bale graze them?

[grassfarmer]

He's trying to reduce waste not increase it Darcy, LOL.

[DGoodrich]

Wasted energy counts for something to, as you and I both know. lol

And what's waste when it's fertilizing your soil? Anyway, not my problem. I just try to go the opposite direction from steel and junk.

[grassfarmer]

Some situations bale grazing may be a viable solution, some it may not. I just laugh that even most of us that like to think "outside the box" are just as guilty of jumping from one paradigm to another without really questioning it. Sometimes steel is both justifiable and profitable.

Lots of times bale grazing is justified because you "don't use a tractor to winter feed" - well often people do actually - they just use it in the fall instead of every day in winter. So you still have the ownership costs of a tractor and are just moving the time you use it to another season.

I've seen some bale grazing sites where the wastage would be 25% more than using a decent feeder. Feeders start to pencil at some point - earlier than later if hay is 4-6c/lb instead of 2c/lb.

Funny with the "no such thing as waste" line of thought - where were the guys touting that when the research showing wastage of fines from bale processors came out? I mean if it's all good organic matter and not waste that should apply to all systems shouldn't it?

A system that might interest me if I had 500 cows to feed and wanted to use hay - have a bale unroller (not a processor) lay out how ever many days feed you want at a time and then feed it behind a tumbleweed electric fence system. I think you could really control wastage that way and still have the benefit of limiting daily work through moving one fence on hundreds of cows.

[RayTurner]

Thanks guys.

I think that I need to do some more research on my own and figure it out. But I do think that I’ll go with feeders.

[kato]

We just use plain old round bale feeders, and move them often. They don't seem to waste that much, and they sleep on what they don't eat. That's when they're not grazing corn. Have you ever looked into that? We find it cheaper than hay.

[grassfarmer]

Some simple numbers. Good quality new ring feeder $700. Use and depreciate to zero after 7 years (reasonable in my experience). Feed 20 cows per feeder for a 150 day winter for 7 years. Total cow feed days per lifetime of the feeder totals 21,000 days. Daily cost of owning the feed ring is 3.3c/lb so to pay for the actual ring you only need to save 1lb/day of hay, less if your hay is worth more.

If we assume the 1lb/day saved pays for the feeder and you save another 5lbs/day per cow (reasonable compared to bale grazing) that would mean you would save another $495 per 20 cows/one feeder per winter. Over 500 cows that would start to add up.

I know hay "wasted" has a fertility value to the soil but is it the most economic way to improve the soil especially when hay is dearer? If you "waste" 5 or 10 or 15lbs a day per cow that all has to be cash flowed meaning you need to give her still more feed to meet her requirements.

Bale grazing has its merits but I don't think its the no-brainer people make it out to be.

[kato]

Around here, bale grazing makes for a deer feedlot. By the hundreds. As it is, by the time spring comes there is not one kernel of corn left in the field for the cows to go back to. What they don't get to in the winter, they don't get.

That's how you really waste feed.

[T.N.T.]

We tried bale grazing one winter,what a waste of money and feed.What we do is tubgrind a couple big pile and then self feed off the piles with a electric wire and cows are still spreading manure over the field.

[15444]

Where hay is plentiful and cheap, bale grazing is a no-brainer. People who ride the edge on feed supplies, buy all their feed in, or don't have much in terms of snowfall, shouldn't probably do it.

Good quality legume hay here, 1500 lb bale is a hard sell beyond $30 a bale. And 120 inches of snow doesn't lend itself to feeding piles under snow cover, or moving portable tumbleweed fences. Also would love to see what a $700 feeder looks like. We can buy the 1 inch square tube, $200 feeders and after 10 years of use, resell at auction for as much or more than we paid for them. I usually buy them at private estate sales for 1/4 what they are worth new.

[grassfarmer]

I agree with hay at that price bale grazing would easily pencil.
Here is a current ad for hay in AB:

"Price: 8 cents/ lb
267 bales approx 1600 lbs. Alfalfa and grass mix half and half. Put up good with twine. South of Stettler"

That's high admittedly but I can see a lot of hay making 4-6c/lb this year out here.

Here are the feeders I was thinking of - they were well over $600 the last time I bought one and that was several years ago. I like them, they stand up to abuse better than most.
http://hi-hog.com/round-bale-feeders-2/

[15444]

The only abuse I see on feeders is that which comes from the operator using a loader tractor to move them. Have yet to see a mature bull squash a feeder flat, but have seen a few dummies do it.

[grassfarmer]

So do you move them by hand through your deep snow?