Late winter can be the coldest time of the year in Australia. The weather has been really variable in the last few weeks. Last Thursday I was in Armidale and it was sleeting, while this week we've had temperatures in the low 20's! The BOM has some great tools to use for farmers looking at the season ahead. Its definitely worth looking at the BOM website http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/temps_ahead.shtml so you can plan ahead for the next few weeks.
Cold, windy weather often occurs over the next few months. In these conditions, hay becomes an important option for farmers seeking to look after their stock more effectively. Hay offers several advantages at this time of the year.
Firstly good quality hay should have reasonable levels of energy (ME / DM). This is handy when pastures are short and green, as it can help meet the energy requirements of lactating cows. Secondly hay is rumen friendly, so it can be fed without requiring an introductory feeding period (which you have to do with grain). Most importantly for cold, wet and windy weather, as cows digest hay, the rumen is working a little bit harder and so generates more body heat.
While hay is a great option for these reasons, it also has another advantage. Hay is fairly easy to handle and to feed out. Cattle don't take long to learn to eat hay, and so it's a pretty simple feeding option.
Just because hay is simple and effective, doesn't mean you can be casual about how you feed it to your cows!
Good hay isn't cheap. Yet some people seem to feed hay in such a way that up to 35% of hay gets wasted. I reckon if you did your sums correctly, you wouldn't be happy about wasting this much money!
So how do you avoid wasting hay? There are a few things you can do. Firstly hay should be fed in ring feeders or racks. Using a feeder can reduce waste from 35% down to around 5%. Secondly you should have more than one feeder. This gives all of your cows a chance to access the hay.
Putting too much hay out will also result in increased losses. Research from the University of Missouri (http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G4570) looked at how much hay is wasted by putting out lose on the ground vs using hay racks. The study also looked at what happened when hay was fed every day vs every 7 days.
When large round or square bales where fed in racks or rings, the waste was around 4.9%. This compared to a rate of 12.3% when fed across the ground. These losses were just on 1 days worth of hay.
For 7 days supply, the waste level in rings went up to 5.4%. But for 7 days worth of hay spread across the ground, the waste was 43%.
Sadly its not unusual to see a round bale dropped in a paddock, or rolled out across the ground. This method of feeding results in waste from trampling and by contamination from dung and urine.
I reckon its a huge waste of good feed, and a really unnecessary economic waste for any enterprise.
Investing in some hay racks, or ring feeders will pay off very quickly once you work out just how much hay you can save.
The other handy thing about investing in hay racks or rings is they will come in handy when weaning comes around or to use with some hay to settle your new bulls into the yards on their first night in their new home.
Don't forget if you want some advice on feeding your cows, or anything to help your beef business become more efficient to give me a call. I'd be very keen to share a few ideas and see how we can achieve your goals more easily.