Raising cattle without hay

[adamtheha]

I'm just curious. Haymaking seems to be such a time consuming chore. I want to have a few cows for my own use in the future, but I don't want to make hay. I don't care about fat content of the meat, or other "sale" factors. I just want healthy animals that taste good!
1. How much land do I need to forage one cow the entire year? Assuming somewhat dry conditions in southern alberta.
2. What breeds would be ideal for this?
3. Does anyone else raise cattle exclusively on forage grass? Where and how?
Thanks to everyone in advance. I'm interested in raising cattle in the most natural way possible, and then eating them.

Adam

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[arabian knight]

I am on my 2nd steer that I will only give grain to no hay NON. The first one I just got butchered and the steaks are soooo tender that you can cut it with just a cerated butter knife~! And now I am starting another one. But I don't know on a bunch grain is high in cost I know my steer before I got it butchered was going through 500#'s a month and this was ONLY a 14 month old Jersey at that when butchered~! I ended up with over 440 pounds of meat for my freezer~! YUM

[genebo]

Adam,

It isn't how much land it takes to feed them, it's how much nutrition they can get from the land. In the dry western part of the country, it may take several acres to support a small cow, while in the lush southeast, it can be done with a single acre per cow. It also depends upon whether the cow is nursing or is pregnant.

There is some difference in the breeds. In general, the older, closer to wild breeds seem to browse better. Size is paramount. A 600 lb. cow will eat 1/2 what a 1200 lb. cow will. A cow that gives 6 gallons of milk per day will eat much, much more than a cow that gives 2 gallons per day.

Your best bet is to touch base with your local agricultural extension agent. He can help you figure it out for your location.

Actually, sometimes the growing seasons don't cooperate to provide adequate nutrition year-round. If your pastures provide enough forage during the winter and the dry summer months, you'll probably have to mow them to keep them healthy during the spring. That's one reason why people cut hay. To transfer the excess from plenty into the times of need.

I try to keep just a few more cattle on the land than it can support during the lean times and supplement with bought hay. It cuts down on the work and waste of having too much during times of plenty.

If you're raising Dexter cattle for beef (not milking them) and live in a section of Virginia that is not drought-prone and have really good grass, you can do it on an acre for every 600 lbs of cow.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[wr]

If you're in Alberta, you may want to check into the roping the web website through Alberta Agriculture. You could look into silage but I don't know of too many ways you can get through winters up here without some serious effort. Some folks do a bit of swath grazing but that's not totally proven effective and you have to be able to make sure you can get in and expose the swaths for them. With as deep as our snow can get, cattle can't paw for feed like a horse can and hay doesn't provide fat content for your animal as far as taste, in our country, those fat stores keep them from freezing to death. What part of southern AB are you in. My family has ranched for several generations from Gem/Bassano to Cluny/Gleichen area and my uncle has a good many years down by Longview and into the south country. The OH has some success with winter grazing but they are leaving entire sections of land open, and they are in long grass country but they still retain a certain amount of hay for times of deep snow.

[agmantoo]

I produce feeder calves from broodstock fed nothing but fescue and clover yeararound. No grain or baled hay, no purchased feeds. I am in western North Carolina. I hardly have a clue to how to manage the same in your climate.

[adamtheha]

Yeah, everyone had a good point about snow. The area where I want to live would get deep snow rarely, but it would happen. I'm thinking around Medicine Hat, either south or north. It's dry, but we've had excellent rain so far this spring, so I imagine the grass will turn out pretty good! I would probably put one cow on at least 3-4 acres of native fescue.
Thanks to everyone for your wisdom!

[wr]

You had best check with the DA. That's short grass country and I really don't feel that you are going to see the height of the grass to allow for cattle to simply graze through winter. I would think for one or two cows it would be easier to purchase your feed than to cut hay but you must remember that a cow must be able to wrap their tongue around grass to be able to graze and when it gets Alberta cold, they do need a fair amount of feed to get by. What do you have in place for wind shelter and thoughts on water? I'm a bit concerned that you have a bit of an old west image of raising cattle.

[ArmyDoc]

Originally Posted by adamtheha

I'm just curious. Haymaking seems to be such a time consuming chore. I want to have a few cows for my own use in the future, but I don't want to make hay. I don't care about fat content of the meat, or other "sale" factors. I just want healthy animals that taste good!
1. How much land do I need to forage one cow the entire year? Assuming somewhat dry conditions in southern alberta.
2. What breeds would be ideal for this?
3. Does anyone else raise cattle exclusively on forage grass? Where and how?
Thanks to everyone in advance. I'm interested in raising cattle in the most natural way possible, and then eating them.

Adam

P.eople
E.ting
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I would suggest buying a copy of "Grass fed by Cattle" by Ruechel. It covers everything from breeding, herd sellection, and of course grass / pasture management. He is reporting 2-400% increases in efficiency using an intensive rotation cycle vs conventional grazing plans. From what I've read (I'm about 1/4 of the way through it), his reasoning is sound both from an ecological as well as a practical standpoint.

There are several breeds / breeders that are supposed to be better on grass alone. But what is right for you depends on what you want. Do you want to raise beef or dairy, or are you looking for a both? If you want both, you might want to take a look at Dexter cattle. I'm strongly considering them for myself. They are a dual purpose breed, so you get the benefits of both milk and beef production. Also, from what I've read you should be able to have a a stocking rate that is 1.5 to 2x that of a full sized animal because of their smaller size.

The grass fed only movement is really taking off, and there seem to be more and more people going this route, so it shouldn't be too hard to get information on it. The "Grass fed cattle" book is a good place to start. Two other authors you should check out are Allan Nation and Joe Salatin.

Hope this helps.

[adamtheha]

Originally Posted by wr

You had best check with the DA. That's short grass country and I really don't feel that you are going to see the height of the grass to allow for cattle to simply graze through winter. I would think for one or two cows it would be easier to purchase your feed than to cut hay but you must remember that a cow must be able to wrap their tongue around grass to be able to graze and when it gets Alberta cold, they do need a fair amount of feed to get by. What do you have in place for wind shelter and thoughts on water? I'm a bit concerned that you have a bit of an old west image of raising cattle.

Again, things that I didn't know. All of this is still just "theory" for me, so any and all information helps. I do have a lot of family that raise cattle in that area, so I'm sure they'll have lots of advice. Water and wind will both be solved by a large strawbale barn that will be the first building erected on the (future) land. I plan to use mostly collected rain and ground water.
I do have an old west picture in my head, but I don't have any objection to using modern technology, I just want heirloom cattle.

[wr]

Rain water will help in summer but in winter, you'd need a more serviceable plan because even at -40 they do need to drink. I think the stocking ratio for that area is a cow/calf unit per every 4 acres because it is semi arid and although there are wet years, the dry ones seriously outnumber the wet ones. Native grass has the lowest protein level but also the highest serviceable protein level. If you only plan on having a few head to begin with, you would likely be wise to buy hay, since equipment and costs are high and we usually calculate for one large round bale per animal per winter month so your costs would be nominal. If they can supplement with some grazing and you happen to have a year where the pastures are fairly open, you'd be fine but if it's a colder harsher winter, you're covered because it does take quite a bit for them to keep warm and any chinooks form a crust on the snow and horses often struggle to paw through.

[sammyd]

If corn wasn't so pricey you could let them graze what they could get and feed them nothing but whole shell corn and a product called TendRLean. I used it one year in the fall/winter to finish some out and it made some of the best Holstein beef I've ever had.

[wr]

sammyd, we see very little feed corn up here in Alberta, our growing season is pretty short and rain can be scarce through late July - August although I know of a few guys that have experimented with it a bit with mixed reviews. Up here, cattle are generally finished on hay & barley & most of the big operations are using silage.

[sammyd]

I have no idea about the growing season up there.
Ours isn't the best sometimes either.
I would agree that pasture is easy and a good way to feed an animal but when winter comes whether you have snow covering the stuff or dry conditions causing no growth, hay is almost not an option but a must unless you buy in something that can replace it and options for replacing forage are few.

Another option would be to buy in a smaller supply of better hay for starting calves, buy your animals early spring late winter and get them on pasture at around 4-6 months, then butcher when the pasture runs out and not worry about how much meat per cow you get.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by adamtheha

I'm just curious. Haymaking seems to be such a time consuming chore. I want to have a few cows for my own use in the future, but I don't want to make hay. I don't care about fat content of the meat, or other "sale" factors. I just want healthy animals that taste good!
1. How much land do I need to forage one cow the entire year? Assuming somewhat dry conditions in southern alberta.
2. What breeds would be ideal for this?
3. Does anyone else raise cattle exclusively on forage grass? Where and how?
Thanks to everyone in advance. I'm interested in raising cattle in the most natural way possible, and then eating them.

Adam

P.eople
E.ting
T.asty
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Mainly depends on grass quality, amount, and snow load. Many areas if the American west utilize winter grazing for cows. They usually supplement about 3 lbs of protein cake a day.

If you do this you will want to keep pasture ungrazed during the summer for winter feed.