Cattle feeders (hay)

[RayTurner]

Kato – Yup. Similar problem here…but only with elk.

T.N.T - I am interested in your concept. How does the electric wire work? And how many cows do you run?

[15444]

GF, yes, I move them by hand every 4 days or so. Actually pretty easy with the 1 inch tubing feeders as they fall through the soft snow and don't bring any snow up with them, so you can just push them along, even in 3' of snow. Also light enough to walk on top of the snow/ice when you get a good crust; me not so much.

[grassfarmer]

You wouldn't need a gym membership if you were hand moving feeders for 500 cows.

[15444]

I wouldn't bale graze 500 cows, nor would I ever have that many. Never be that far in debt to have to need such numbers and have no interest in working hard just to pay the tax man.

[RayTurner]

Who says I am in debt 15444. Don’t assume.

[15444]

Wasn't a reference to you in particular. Just in general there has to be a reason why people are of that size herds, whether it be 500 or 1000 cows. Either to support a debt load, a certain lifestyle or some very expensive kids. Or maybe they are just workaholics.

[RayTurner]

Ok. Yup makes sense.

I would agree. Lots of guys I know just want to keep getting bigger and for what? Take care of what you have.

[smcgrath76]

There is always a fine line on cost. The AB Ag work found that a soup dish shaped feeder about 1' high worked well to reduce waste. I am not so sure the waste with bale grazing is as high as folks think. It is kind of like the waste with swath grazing, there can be huge ranges depending on the management of the system.
A lot of folks using processors are spreading on the ground and losing a huge portion of the feed value (15% ). When we bale graze hay we waste very little. Greenfeed has a bigger waste factor. A lot depends on how quick you feel you need to move the fence. For us, it works out to not use the tractor time, for others I am sure that it works differently. At our place, requiring a tractor to feed represents a huge risk factor. With our system I can place all my bales in just over 6 hours (20 gallons of fuel) and not start a tractor again all winter, other than plowing out the driveway after a snow storm. This represents a big savings for us that is offset against the "waste".
We have started seeing elk move into the neighbourhood and if that happens we will either be bale grazing with 3D fencing, or moving to some sort of weekly feeder system.

[15444]

Sounds like a winter full of elk burgers to me.

[RayTurner]

Insightful common smcgrath76.
You’ve given me some concepts to think about. Ultimately, I think on our ranch want to look at switching up our setup to make things easier/improve efficiency.

15444 – HAHAHA… you like hunting buddy?

[RayTurner]

Well, apparently I cannot spell.
I meant to say comment not common.

[T.N.T.]

Why do some grain farmers farm 40000 acres 15444?Same reason we run 1600 cows,because we can and we will continue to get larger.Defiantly not to service debt,and no we don't have or anyone in the family have high lifestyles,unless you call people taking a vacation every year a high lifestyle?We all have a strong work ethnic,and we all want to see the farm continue to get larger for the next generation.And we don't like giving money to the tax man anymore then anyone else does.

[T.N.T.]

Ray Turner we have the cows on 4 different tubground piles that are each 400' long and the base is roughly 30' wide and probably 20' high or maybe more.The end boards are up when we start grinding and we grind one consistant height for the 400' and then put the end boards up at the other end when were done.We run 2 cables down both sides,bottom cable i believe is 34"s top one 4' or so.Run a cable on the end boards at one end and depending on where the pile is located we will either use a electric or a battery operated fencer,the bottom cables for both sides of the pile slide on top of that end cable so you have hot wires on both sides.We had been using 2 tractors and processors for feeding previous to my son suggesting we try this way 2 years ago,wish i would have known about this way of feeding 20 years ago!

[15444]

Ray, not in particular. I just hate most wild 4 leggers and the damage they do to farm assets. Only one I get along with is foxes. If I could have a few dens of foxes in every quarter, I would be a happy camper. Not only fun to watch their antics, but kill a lot of the smaller vermin.

TNT, so your telling me the sole reason to get bigger is because you can? I could never wrap my head around that rationale.

[KoolRanch55]

That’s the line right there! > “we don't like giving money to the tax man any more than anyone else does.” This is the problem with our industry, we fight amongst ourselves.

T.N.T > Interesting that you said your son came up with the idea. I am curious, how did he know about it? Did he go to school for forage management?
And what’s wrong with getting bigger?