East Texas hay

Lucky":1803w310 said:

If you are going to feed in hay rings I'd put out 2 bales at a time and see how long it takes for them to clean it up. My guess would be 4-5 days. Probably feed a sack of 20% cubes every 3rd day except for really cold weather then might do every other day. Plan on feeding for 100 days.

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greybeard":2u3innu1 said:

Lucky":2u3innu1 said:

If you are going to feed in hay rings I'd put out 2 bales at a time and see how long it takes for them to clean it up. My guess would be 4-5 days.

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That would be pretty dang close guess for sure, if not right on the nail.

Probably feed a sack of 20% cubes every 3rd day except for really cold weather then might do every other day. Plan on feeding for 100 days.

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I'd add 'wet' to that 'really cold weather' part, especially if it's wind driven rain, and the slow drizzle type. Cattle can stand out in the cold for a long time. Can stand out in the rain a long time, or the wind. Add any 2 or 3 of them together, and it's really hard on them down here, as they don't grow the same kind of winter hair coat northern cattle do and our winters aren't long enough for them to do much acclimatizing to it either.

IOW, each time it's cold wet, nasty, give 'em xtra cubes before dark.

(you Northerners can stop laughing now)

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Texasmark":11w178r2 said:

Ok, I'm disqualified because I am NE of the Dallas metroplex. Fine.

On when it depends on pasture. This year it looked like feeding would commence in September as things have been arid all summer (1 hay cutting only) and the ground was just arid and cracked open, plants dying.

Then along comes 6" of rain over the course of a week and the ground has been moist/wet ever since. Grasses responded vigorously and there is fresh/plentiful grass everywhere. As a result grazing will continue until it's gone, maybe into December.

We usually get the first frost Halloween (my annual benchmark) and start looking to have to feed thereafter but it depends upon how bad and long the frost impacts the growth.

So, there is no cut and dried answer....as with everything else associated with farming/ranching it just depends.

On how much to feed when feeding starts, depends........weather, condition of available live forage (Ryegrass), acceptance of hay provided, your personal perception of what kind of condition you want to maintain in your herd all play a part in it.

I always wanted to have hay left over. Trying to find hay with starving bovines rolling their eyes at you in the dead of winter is not the thing to do. Usually you can't find anybody to turn loose of any and what you can find is of poor quality and priced out of sight. Yeah it's been raining a lot lately I'm in Winnsboro but it's still grass left I'm going to put another out this week and keep an eye on them and see how they do but it's been raining and starting to get chilly this past week. But there in good condition i usually feed them cubes or feed once during the weekday and once during the weekend. Just depends

HTH.

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Bfields30":50u9v7x5 said:

Does anyone know the price of feeding vs hay. My neighbor is selling hay for 45 dollars a bale

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Lucky":34tm8dq0 said:

Bfields30":34tm8dq0 said:

Does anyone know the price of feeding vs hay. My neighbor is selling hay for 45 dollars a bale

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Feeding what? Grain instead of hay? If it's decent hay $45 is a good price. The recent rains have kicked our grass into high gear but not sure how long it's gonna last.

I'm gonna say 75% of the hay out there doesn't have enough protien to get a cow through, they'll still need cubes or some type of supplements. When you pour a sack of cubes out shake them out in little piles. If you pour them in a line they'll stomp a bunch in the ground, especially if it's muddy.

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Lucky":16u3y2m8 said:

I know some folks that feed 8–10#'s of grain everyday until the first calf is born but they have plenty of standing grass. I fed 3#'s of 14% mix and 30#'s of hay for several years and it worked out great. Bought the 2000# sacks and fed out of buckets for awhile too. Do you have troughs to feed it in?

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MtnCows93":3mmtfqcv said:

do a hay test and see how much protein its got, if it has 7% its good enough for dry cows. i usually keep a bale out about 2 weeks before i think i need to feed hay. the'll either eat it which means they need it or they wont eat it for a few weeks and i keep it out in the spring until they refuse to eat any more. i think its better for the pasture in the long run. times of hay shortage is a different story

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Lucky":f79hojbg said:

If you have green grass like most of east Texas does right now I probably wouldn't put any hay out unless you just have some to feed up. I think you are one the right track with hay and grain. If you can get super sacks for $200 a ton and don't mind buckets you will save some money. A bucket of feed is right at 25#'s so 2 buckets 3 days a week should do them.

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Caustic Burno":2pg8xxuo said:

Mighty late in the season to be trying to get hay. Some of those prices are going to make those welfare cows before winter is over.

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Bfields30":leovfnvi said:

Caustic Burno":leovfnvi said:

Mighty late in the season to be trying to get hay. Some of those prices are going to make those welfare cows before winter is over.

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My neighbor told he was gonna sell me a good amount of his them all of sudden said he didn't have enough to sell me

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Caustic Burno":ubg3t9hw said:

Bfields30":ubg3t9hw said:

Caustic Burno":ubg3t9hw said:

Mighty late in the season to be trying to get hay. Some of those prices are going to make those welfare cows before winter is over.

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My neighbor told he was gonna sell me a good amount of his them all of sudden said he didn't have enough to sell me

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Well you paid the stupid tax on that deal. If you don't have your own hay equipment you need to buy early.
IMO you need to have at least one years hay on hand at all times.

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Bfields30":1toa4jg0 said:

Does anyone know the price of feeding vs hay. My neighbor is selling hay for 45 dollars a bale

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