Thursday, February 14, 2013

Hay

 
S found some cow hay in round bales over in Maryland.
 Good thing too as with S2's additions to my small herd I need it.
At $40.00 a roll the arena cattle will go through a bale a week or 10 days.
He brought home 6 bales to get us a little closer to grass season.

 
S didn't want to store the bales too far away or in "his " shed since they were for cattle so
he dumped them alongside the arena fence with the tractor.

 
1 bale was put in the feeder right away.
The girls were happy to see it.
I couldn't get phone camera up in time to catch them before they trotted away.
 
Hay is the single biggest cost to feeding animals I think.
You can skip grain if they are in good shape and not needing milk production or body weight.
I only feed a handful daily to any animal to keep them coming around unless they are close to delivery or after delivery up until weaning time.
Hopefully I can get some cross fencing done in pasture field to try to preserve some grass during summer.
A modified rotational grazing I'm thinking I'll try out.
Can't hurt for sure.
 
 
 
 
 
 

6 comments:

  1. We're currently attempting to create pasture so we don't have to feed hay year round. Takes LOTS of time, LOTS of fence and LOTS of work. Good luck on getting your rotational grazing figured out.

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    1. I wish we had more land but DE is so built up we're landlocked. Neighbor has 10 acres field behind us but he won't sell. Ahh the pasture I could have.

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  2. Hay is very expensive here too. I sure hope we figure what to do with dd's horse, or we'll run out of hay.

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    Replies
    1. Hay was $35.00 a round bale so not as $$$ as some. It sat out so couldn't be sold for horses. Cows apprecaite it greatly.

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  3. Yep, the cost of hay keeps goin' up. :(
    We have talked about cross fencing but just never seem to do it.

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    Replies
    1. Fencing is never ending battle. Maintaining exsisting is worse.

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