Storing Grain for cattle
 

DH has asked me to figure out how to store a year's worth of grain for our cows. I think the best way is to store the whole grains ather than premixed.
I know some of you mix your own feed anyway.

What do/would you put in your mix? It needs to be grains that store well.
Wheat?
oats?
corn? -would it need to be ground slightly?
barley?

Insects are going to be a major problem. IMO it would be best to purchase your needs at harvest time and just enough to get you through Winter. During periods when pasture is available just pay more for what grain is needed and buy as needed. Major storage areas have means to control the insects such as weevils that hatch during warm weather.

What about mice? Here mice and squirrels are a bigger problem with grain than insects.

But I agree, you should only get as much grain to last you for a few months or one season at a time instead of a year's worth, because you don't know if you won't need more grain than usual or not.

Don't know about the other grains, but we used to chop barley up and put it in one of those smaller old wooden graineries. But the mice get bad in those wood graineries 'cause they can chew through the wood. If you get those small hopper-bottom steel graineries like those they sell for pigs and chickens, that might be a good storage area for grain. Just be sure the grain isn't to high in moisture otherwise you might have the added expense of having to add a grain drier, otherwise you will have moldy and rotten grain, which is not healthy for your animals.

I am storing wheat for my family. I am storing oats for my family. I even store corn for my family. If I can do it for us - I can do it for our calves and chickens. If done correctly, wheat at last, will last up to 50 years.....

Mice aren't a problem if you store it in metal containers.

There is a thread in the Emergency Prep/Survival forum about HOW....(alan uses descant (water absorbing crystals) for outdoor storage of grains in FLORIDA).

I want to know what grains everyone thought would be best. Right now I am feeding a mix of oats, wheat and corn with alfalfa pellets and minerals. The pellets would have to go, but I can feed alfalfa hay instead to replace them. The minerals can be fed separately too.

I buy 18% dairy pellets for my goats and cattle, chickens even love=um. I buy 2000 pounds at a time, stored in 33 gallon plastic trash cans. Never a mouse problem. They remain edible for at least four months, no telling how much longer. Something to think about, although a bit off topic...Topside

how many pounds fit in a 33 gallon trash can? Or, how many trash cans does it take to store 2000 pounds?

(sorry for going further off topic)

What grains would be best, would depend on what you are wanting out of your animals.

I use very little grain this year as compared to years past. But, the grain that I am buying is coming in 2000lb. pecan bags and I'm dumping it into plywood box crates that are used to deliver big equipment parts in. They're tight enough to keep out the mice and loose enough to keep a little air flowing. In order to hold the bugs and spiders at bay I've sprinkled a bag of diamotacieous (sp?) earth around the perimeter. I've not noticed any critters in the feed. (although weevels and stuff like that could be too small for me to see working inside mixed feed) I bought some of it in the summer when feed was cheaper and have been storing it for six months with no problems apparent.

Reply
 

Stick with corn or barley, depending what you can get locally. They're going to be the easiest and most useful to fit into a ration for cattle. Either one will have to be ground or rolled at some point. If you can get yourself a cheap mill you can do it yourself later, otherwise do it going into storage. How to store it depends on how many animals you're feeding and how much you think you'll have to feed in a year. Also you may need to know how much you're going to feed in a day to keep it fresh.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m34/dalek2/corn.jpg

This is some of mine. The truck is unloading into a roller mill, then we put 300 tons of rolled high moisture corn in the silo. The little bin in the front holds 4 tons of protein supplement, lasts me about 18-20 days. That would be a decent way to hold long term grain in smaller amounts if you can make sure it's good and dry going in, or the big tote bags would work nicely if you have somewhere to keep them dry and off the ground.

Happy Dog, the answer is eight cans. At the grain mill you just weigh you truck empty. Then the boys fill the cans, re-weigh your vehicle pay and be on your way. Topside

thanks for your responses. We are just raising a calf for beef and a family dairy cow. We don't need elaborate mixes for more rapid weight gain or max milk production.

Is rolled better? Right now, mine are eating whole wheat and oat groats. Are they better able to use the nurtients with rolled grains?

Do you have to keep the grains in the silos moving with augers or fans? Or when you put them in - is that dry enough? I am not so much worried about storing it. There are several ways to do that. I can't imagine going through 300 tons of grain!

Well, then I would suggest Barley or Corn for you. They are both utelized better if rolled or cracked. If you are using oats, it can be used whole, doesn't make a whole lot of difference, but you will get more bang for your buck using barley or corn.

If grain is put up right (that is dry) your biggest problems will be mice and/or rats. Stored in a steel bin and you reduce the problems with any pests.

I would suggest corn as an energy supplement. If you feed alfalfa you probably have all the protein needed. Grains will be better utilized if cracked. You do not want to finely grind that can lead to acidosis. Grain stored in a steel bin at under 15% should be okay, but steel bins sweat particularly on the sw side. Grain is usually cooled down with a fan is stored over winter ie frozen and in the spring fans are started again so there is not a huge temp difference inside and outside the bin, can cause sweating. Check the top of the bin for hot spots and crusting. Moveing a small amount of grain from the bottom will move a large amount through out the bin. Most corn stored is not agitated during storage if it is not heating.

Here in the South we are plagued with mostly weevils. It is not all that uncommon for grains bought at the supermarket to have insects hatch in the package. Bags of seed are often destroyed with the bugs. My chicken feed will afford the chickens some enjoyment of chasing bugs if I buy too much feed at a time. At grain harvest time when grain is delivered to the storage facility the attendants toss some large hockey puck size tablets of insecticide into the hoppers to prevent hatching of the insects.

Great info. Thanks! Now to find a roller mill.....

My first thought is to make sure your grain is where your cow can't get to it. If she breaks into it, she may die, as too much starch is converted to acid in the rumen. Whole grain would be less dangerous than cracked or rolled.

Regarding having the grain cracked, I was reading a discussion elsewhere questioning whether that was necessary.


http://www.cattletoday.com/forum/vie...t=grain+kernel
http://www.hpj.com/archives/2008/jan...lcorntomyr.cfm

DJ- thanks. I am not worried about them breaking into the grain as it will be in a different building. That is nice to know about whole corn. I will have to crack it anyway for the sheep, llamas and chickens. I think the best way to store any of this is as whole grains.

I am not so much worried about the perfect finishing grain, etc. Just to keep the animals alive and growing - surviving the bitter cold, etc. I am sure whatever we will have won't be the best, but it will be something. I am not sure if I can find barley around here, but I am going to try.

thanks again everyone!

Just a thought - barley has a strong taste to cattle. DH's family used to raise barley & oats, & buy corn to have a custom dairy grain mix milled. The mix was balanced, but there was a definite preference by the cows for LESS barley. I'd hate to buy a year's worth of barley only to find out that the cattle didn't care for it.

You definately don't have to crack corn for the animals you listed, unless you are raiseing baby chicks.

Great. I am all for less work!

Store whole corn at 15 percent moisture or less in a gravity wagon.You can cover the wagon with a tarp and rig the outlet to fill a pail.Whole corn works well for the stock you mentioned.We can buy a 200 bushel used gravity wagon on a running gear around here for 4 or 5 hundred dollars.They are handy.I bought a bottom kit for a three ton round hog feeder years ago that has a slide door to empty into a pail.You have to have an auger to fill it tho.