Oh

[65284]

so much for "stockpiling" grass to save some hay. I do some rotational grazing and saved a small pasture for the Jerseys to graze this fall and early winter. Turned them in on it last weekend and now it is unavailable to them, buried under a layer of ice/snow/more ice. And there is more ice expected for several days to come.

[Ronney]

I think we might all make those climatic mistakes and get the timing wrong. We farm mainly on kykuyu here which is summer safe and frost tender. Last autumn I shut a paddock up as saved feed for my milkers and we got an early frost. Kykuyu burns off with frost within four days so a paddock that I had intended to strip feed over a week had to be chewed off quickly and no real benefit was got from it.

Right now I'm having a similar problem but this time it is constant rain that is mucking up my plans. Same paddock ironically and I was going to do the same thing with it but if I did the cows would pug the paddock up into mud and it would be next winter before it recovered. The grass is getting past it's best and much of it will be wasted before I'm able to put cows on to it.

Sometimes you just can't win for losing

Cheers,
Ronnie

[RosewoodfarmVA]

It'll be fine. Once the storm clears out the grass will still be edible. Take them off of it now so that they won't trample it all, and after the stuff melts off, put them back in.

[agmantoo]

Ditto what RosewoodfarmVA said!

[glenn amolenaar]

We are between Joplin and Springfield, we try to stockpile but do as other poster said, when it gets bad pull cows off and we also keep some hay in barn for days like today. Glenn

[Oxankle]

I've been trying to adapt to rotation and stockpiling, but there is more to it than routine mechanics.

I keep rolled hay outside, but when it ices over it is impossible to get the twine off it. Since I don't want the cows chewing poly string I just cannot put that hay out, so I have to put some in the barn ahead of an ice storm. Can't let them on stockpiled ground in ice either, and you certainly should not hay them on low ground when it is icy, raining or in the snow. Right now I have hay in the barn, hay in rings on hummocks and the stored hay in the fenced in hay storage area.

Last year I had to put out hay in the ice, so I took a steel pipe and beat the dickens out of each bale before trying to take the string off it. Thought I got it all, but this spring I found a heifer with about ten feet of string trailing out of her mouth. I got hold of it and slowly teased about 15 feet of sting out of her belly.
Ox

[Ralph in N.E.Oh]

Oxankle ... I understand what you are talking about. I switched to a biodegradeable string this past year. I don't have to move my bales around much except for feeding them.

To overcome the ice, I use an axe. I chop down the outside of the bale 3 inches deep in about 3 spots. I peel the outside of the bale off and feed the rest. Now, since switching to the sisal string that rots, I just push the frozen outside pieces into my compost pile. It has worked well for me so far this year

[agmantoo]

A suggestion......In paddocks on high ground place hay in the corner of the partition fence. Install a temporary wire diagonally in front of the hay thus creating a fenced triangle surrounding the emergency hay. When weather is adverse just removed the diagonal wire and go back to the house. The cattle can only access the hay from one side and will waste less. In the past, pre-drought era, I found that my cattle did not want to eat the hay as they preferred the stockpiled grass. The cattle managed to push the ice/snow aside and continue to eat as if there was no coverage.

[robin f]

you know i have been thinking about howfarming has changed in the last 40 years, i remember my father getting off the tractor and picking up a couple of armfulls of hay from the end of the row, or bits the rake missed and feeding itin to the baler (40lb square bales), i asked him a couple of times, dad is it worth it, he said , son those two armfulls will feed 3 young cattle a day, if i can save hay i will.
Now adays i see and read about ppl cutting 3 / 4 inches of hay off the outside of big bales, my poor old dad would roll over in his grave if he knew, the amount of hay being wasted it would pay to build an open sided or canvas sided, (or even steel sided on the windward side) roofed pole barn to put the hay in, the extra cattle that could be kept will more than pay for the barn over 5 to 7 years, depending what deals you can get on poles, canvas, strapping, roofing, many times you can find good deals at discount lumber yards, ( it don't have to look beautiful, just be useful)
this is a "{homesteading" site, maybe we should get back to homesteading.
anyway thats my museings for tonight, peace to you, far out

[Ralph in N.E.Oh]

Robin,

Your point is well taken. I , however, do not waste those 3-4 inches of hay. I said that I push them into the compost/manure pile. Keep in mind the hay that I spoke about is frozen solid. Other times that 3 inches makes bedding. I don't consider it wasted at all. It goes into my compost pile and rots down to enrich the next crop.

My stocking rates are such that I can graze my farm, make hay, and still stockpile a fair amount to be eaten long after our growing season is finished. Yes, much of my large round bales sit outside as I choose to work on other areas of infrastructure for my farm such as, fences, waterlines, housing for animals and organic soil inputs like lime and Tenneesee brown rock.

There is a pile of logs sitting on my skidway at my sawmill waiting to be sawn into the trusses that will build a hay storage shed. I just need the time and weather to finish it up. My father didn't leave me a farm, so I had to buy what I could afford, then build my buildings and purchase livestock and equipment. I chose a round baler for the time and labor saving that it provides while I work an off farm job to pay for my farm and all that it provides. The baler and the small amount of hay used for compost works very well in my "homesteading plan" ... I'm living my dream.

[65284]

I have moved the cows back to the paddock where they winter and where the barn is. I have big round bales out of the weather in a shed addition to the barn that I store there just for these kinds of icy/snowy situations. I arrange it spaced out in two rows side by side so I can put rings over 2 bales and corral panels behind that so they can only get at the two ringed bales at a time. I'm just a bit annoyed that I didn't get to graze my stockpiled grass a little longer and save the hay until later.

[robin f]

i was not picking on anyone here, only museing, it seems such a waste to leave hay outside, as i drive around i see hay left out nearly all winter, those ppl are losing 1 in every 9 bales, maybe even more, because the outside 3/ 4 inches is the biggest area of a 4ft bale. there are many wrapped in plastic, that helps, but over the years i still think an open fronted barn constructed for this hay will pay for its self.
i too did not inherit a farm, my older brother did, thats why i moved from england to canada, in 1982 and took a career away from farming, although i have kept my hand in, in a small way ever since, i guess once farming is in the blood it takes some shaking free lol.

peace to you, far out

[furholler]

Heck, even Jim Gerrish admits he has to feed hay once in while.

[furholler]

Originally Posted by Ronney

I think we might all make those climatic mistakes and get the timing wrong. We farm mainly on kykuyu here which is summer safe and frost tender. Last autumn I shut a paddock up as saved feed for my milkers and we got an early frost. Kykuyu burns off with frost within four days so a paddock that I had intended to strip feed over a week had to be chewed off quickly and no real benefit was got from it.

Right now I'm having a similar problem but this time it is constant rain that is mucking up my plans. Same paddock ironically and I was going to do the same thing with it but if I did the cows would pug the paddock up into mud and it would be next winter before it recovered. The grass is getting past it's best and much of it will be wasted before I'm able to put cows on to it.

Sometimes you just can't win for losing

Cheers,
Ronnie

Have you considered High Stock Density Grazing? Greg Judy says it solves pugging problems. I haven't done anything like this, yet. So i'm interested in hearing how others fair.