dabeegmon - 7/30/2018 17:13
Breeggy - 7/30/2018 11:48
with our goat herd, we are down to basically minimal waste. We feed X amount in the morning and night instead of through a bale in and letting them eat at for a week, it was a bad setup and had a lot of waste.
with the cattle, we feed in a bunk now instead of bale feeder. with everything cut down to 3-4" pieces, there is less sorting and pulling hay from the bale. cut waste to close to a minimum also.
It does take more time to do chores but with the savings on hay, well worth it for us.
If you want I can send you a link or an actual copy of the study but a hay processor is a WASTE OF MONEY!
The issue is that it is a hammer mill in disguise and all the high quality stuff is blown to kingdom come and their went your $$$.
The hay processor salesman will tell you
(as will your neighbor
) about how the cows/sheep/goats ate all of the the stuff. You bet they did but what about the stuff that was blown away in the wind!!
He would be my recipe for a tough hay year.
Worst case feed straw and grain with some protein supplement.
You have some hay - - - I hope its high quality - - - get a feed test done on it so you KNOW what it is - - - don't guess.
Buy straw and make arrangements yesterday or earlier!!
If you can get DDGS say so.
I have a copy of sheepbytes and could plan you out rations for maintenance, flushing/breeding, and gestation if you wish but you will have to ask for.
Most of the advice you're getting here is from guys who are in corn country - - - that isn't you but I bet that you might be able to get some wheat straw if you ask real quick and all that with some barley/oats/feed wheat and some protein supplement
(DDGS or canola meal in your case
) and maybe some rumensin or bovatech will get you through but you need to manage your pasture for next year which might mean starting your feeding in the next week.
My suggestion is to NOT buy the bale processor - - - use the money for feed instead - - - there are other ways to get that job done!!
(Let the screaming begin!
)
Reducing hay waste and usage
