world wheat yield

[ASRG]

I am intrigued by the straw/pellet thing. There is a guy a few miles from me who feeds his cows nothing but straw/pellets. His cows always look to be in good shape.
He has a tank on the side of the processor that lays the pellets on top of the swath.
He told me it costs less than bought hay hauled in. He bales straw close to his place.

[ALLFARMER]

Pellets figured out to cost$ 0.88 per cow per day.
Seems like cows eating about 1 an 3/4 bales per
day of straw $15 x 1.75 is $26.25 / 110 is $0.34
so $1.12 :day

Hay feeding was close to 3 bales a day recently
so 1.63/day

So hay would need to be less than $41/bale to bet
pellets.

[grassfarmer]

Allfarmer, do you know the analysis of the alfalfa
pellets or the straw? My guess would be that you are
going to be short of energy for late gestation/post
calving cows. Depending on the straw you could be
anywhere from 42-52 TDN, alfalfa depending if it is
sun cured or dehydrated will be in the 60-66TDN
range. Feeding 2:1 straw to alfalfa pellets would give
you a total ration TDN of 48-56 where you need to be
closer to 60 TDN.

[ALLFARMER]

Dehy alfalfa pellets 3.3 kg tdn for each kg of
protein. Made from fresh cut alfalfa.

The Legal Alfalfa plant has some ration emails
they send out. 1-877-253-2832

I am for certain no expert on ration building. I
should check with AB Ag info centre.


Basic Rations:
• 1500 lb cow
•- 8-9 lbs/head/day with free choice straw •
- 6-7 lbs/head/day with free choice hay •

1200 lb cow
- 7-8 lbs/head/day with free choice straw
- 5-6 lbs/head/day with free choice hay

[grassfarmer]

Something like this for a 1200lb cow at or after
calving:
27 lb DM intake × .59 TDN required = 16 lb/day TDN
required

23 lb straw × .50 TDN = 11.5 lb/day TDN from straw.

7lb alfalfa pellets × 0.649 TDN = 4.54 lb TDN from
alfalfa

11.5 lb/day TDN from straw 4.54 lb/day TDN from
alfalfa pellets = 16.04 lb/day TDN

A cow will struggle to eat that much straw in a day
though. I guess it depends how much hay you are still
feeding and how good the analysis is but I would
guess you are still short on energy.

[ASRG]

If you are paying between 10-11 cents a pound for alfalpha pellets at 8 lbs/day, how would barley compare? It would certainly up your energy and at 13% protein and straw at 4% protein, it would satisfy the protein requirements?
The Alberta Beef Herd Management Binder has a straw/barley ration for an 1100 lb pregnant beef cow as follows:
16.5 lbs straw
3.3 lbs barley
1.32 lbs 32% supp

From my own experience about 20 lbs good 2 row straw and 9-10 lbs whole barley works on a 1400 lb cow (might get a little fat).Rolled barley would increase efficiency about 20% in a mature beef cow.
Of course barley is pretty expensive right now, but barley is rated at 1.7 Mcal.lb while alfalpha is 1.18 Mcal/lb.

[ALLFARMER]

No sure about the barley ASRG and I don't have a
roller mill yet so...

Their are about 4 or 5 guys up here that I know of
feeding alfalfa pellets. One guy was warning me
the cows would get fat feeding much more than 8
lbs.

Grassfarmer. I have been shredding one hay
bale ontop of the straw every other day so not
much. I am glad we have the bunk fence for
feeding because cows get a pretty even
opportunity to get at the pellets. Plus their not
walking & crapping on the pellets.