Manure prices

[DogPatch]

Thats the beauty of bale grazing in the winter. You set the bales out, cows eat, crap and everything is right there in the field. You don't need to start the tractor in the winter, and you certainly don't have the cleaning bill!

[grassfarmer]

I'm all for feeding out on the pasture dogpatch but what's the breakeven price for hay for this system to be viable? I see people are asking a lot more for hay this year, whether they are getting higher prices remains to be seen. At what hay price do bale grazers fire up their tractors again (most have one already sitting in their yard) and start feeding their winter forage through feed rings, troughs etc out on the pasture? I even know some guys that have feed rings AND a tractor parked in their yard so they can follow the fashion of "bale grazing"

[DogPatch]

I don't really know that answer. Feeding with the bale feeders on the fields will certainly save a lot of feed. The big bill saved in either case would the cleaners bill and the R&M in the pens from confined feeding of our cows.