Feeding pics from this morning

[randiliana]

I was feeding this morning, and took my camera with me for once. It was warming up nicely, and then of course the wind started to blow.

We are feeding about 90 head here, and they are getting an alfalfa bale every other day as added supplement. Other than that they eat at the feed bunk, which is ground Barley straw, hay and kochia/barley bales. it's about 1/2 straw. They also have salt and access to some Promolas. And, of course, water which is chopped open every morning.

My favorite cow, waiting patiently for me to roll that bale out....


Gobbling it up, there is hay in there.....


See, there it is


A heifer


No 5% waste here...


A snowy heifer, she didn't look like this earlier....


The feed bunk, oops, she's not supposed to be IN there


The feed bunk again, that's better....

[agmantoo]

randiliana, I appreciate seeing cattle that are well cared for, particularly when weather is bad. My hat is off to you! When hay is fed in the manner pictured all the cattle get a chance to eat. I detest the hay rings where a boss cow feels she owns the hay and a timid cow can starve to death under those feeding arrangements. The cattle look great and reflect the quality of the care you are giving.

[6e]

Beautiful looking cattle! You're doing a wonderful job with them!

[randiliana]

Thank you everyone. We don't use bale feeders unless it is for around 20 head or less, or if we are just adding straw or something to extend the feed. Pretty much for the reason you just stated. By the time you get up to 30 head, they can clean up an entire hay bale pretty much as good as the picture and there is no point making them fight for it. In fact, we have been known to roll out 1/2 a bale for 15-25 head. We make 1200 lb bales so figure about 40 head to a bale. I find that they waste much more hay with a feeder, than rolling out approx the right amount of feed on the ground. Deep snow is the only time they really waste much and after the first day they pack the snow down so hard that it is like putting it in a bunk feeder.

The cows are not in near as good condition as they were about 3 weeks ago. 2 weeks of -30 to -40 weather is pretty hard on them, and the wind chills were all below -30. We don't feed grain to the cows, don't even have any real amount on hand. But, they were getting an extra bale a day, and in the end we finally strawed them.