Hay

[Klause]

We have alfalfa/grass and timothy already in production. Looking to put 300 acres into an annual forage.


What's more in demand? Sudan grass, Millet, Triticale, or a barley/oats/pea mix?

Baled with a hardcore meshwrap baler and cut with a moco.

[grassfarmer]

We have alfalfa/grass and timothy already in production. Looking to put 300 acres into an annual forage.


What's more in demand? Sudan grass, Millet, Triticale, or a barley/oats/pea mix?

Baled with a hardcore meshwrap baler and cut with a moco.

I find most in the forage buying business (ranchers/acreage owners) are very limited in their buying choices - they want "hay". While I would buy any of the above depending on price and analysis I think most would pass on the opportunity. I think you are cutting out a lot of potential buyers in a regular year trying to sell these things - in a drought year it would all sell but likely still be discounted.
Lots of cheap feed here this spring - we bought a big pile of oat greenfeed 12.44% protein, 60% TDN for 2.8c/lb delivered from an hour away. Bought another lot of first year alfalfa hay that will be under 2c/lb delivered. That's the kind of feed I like to put up - cheaper than you can grow it!

[perfecho]

Trying more Millet myself, had good luck with Triticale, however the awns can be a problem. Haven't done much Millet, however seems like cutting early has its' benefits in palatability. Also, going to start cutting green feed much earlier....especially oats, so the straw gets cleaned up. Have some supposed "awnless barley" on truck ready to seed....will see how awnless......Like the idea of a mixture. Can never predict price of feed, so try and grow what we need.

[smcgrath76]

We are opportunistic buyers, but would love to have a blend available (Barley/oats/peas) or Triticale.
We always grow a mix in our annuals which has started to include Hairy Vetch. Peas can be tough to dry down.
Interesting comment about the cutting Greenfeed greener as we have been thinking that, but reading the research shows that riper might result in more cow days per acre. We sometimes have bought grain in as the freight around here seems pretty expensive on a lot of feed. Have also bought hay, pea straw, and Soft White Wheat straw to build a ration around. GF, I am envious if you can land feed for that price. I would sell all of my equipment if I could consistently access a feed source like that. This year we will cut some greenfeed early as we are planning to underseed alfalfa. Have also tried some direct sod seeding of triticale after grazing the grass right to the ground. We will see how that works.

[grassfarmer]

Still figuring out the cheapest feed sources here Sean. I'd bale graze every year if bales were always this cheap. It seems in years of large crops, if there is no great demand from out west there can be a pile of feed left here as we don't have the cow numbers or feedlots locally to bid things up. Guys want to dump it late spring before the new crop comes on the market. We are growing more corn to graze, making some alfalfa/grass silage to manage the spring flush, looking to forward buy wheat short pellets as they are a lot cheaper here than Alberta, especially in summer. Buy hay, straw or greenfeed if the price is right. Variety is the spice of life for my herd!

[perfecho]

Believe the research about more cow days on a more mature crop....for me, it is more about waste management and possible effects from awns.......the triticale I used was awesome..fairly ripe, but hints of green, however I had a couple of cows with jaw problems....so, trade offs.