How do most people feed hay to their cows in winter?

[PureCountry]

Glad you admitted the fact that your assuming 5000lbs would be on one acre, I was ready to hit the reply button as soon as I read that. HAHA! I admire how your mind works Iain. Most people would nod their head and my thread would go in one ear and out the other. You read it and immediately start crunching numbers. When I can get these pasture areas to a point where they're actually growing some forage, I'll start managing them more like you do your pastures. Use a high stock density to lay that litter over, then sufficient rest times in between. It's just that this darn old Battle River sand won't grow much more than creeping cedar, cactus and leafy sphurge. Pretty tough to get litter with that.

[cswilson]

Well you'd have trouble fattening a gopher on what my cows leave behind-cheap feeders are better at breaking legs and catching calves than saving hay as far as I'm concerned. We leave our back gates open and the bucking horses go back to the old paddocks and paw through where we've fed. Yes I run horses with my cows year around-it's amazing when they grow up together how little horse/cow bad interactions there are. I don't believe anybody has ever killed grass by grazing on it-we have spots look like they've been rototilled and the grass comes back strong-anybody whose tried to spike up a pasture and kill it knows what I'm talking about.