alfalfa hay question

ihuntgsps · #1 01/10/12, 12:52 PM

I have a chance to buy some 1200 lb round bales of 1st cutting alfalfa. it is billed as being stemmy and course but OK for cows.
Price is $50/bale and i would haul it 4 miles to my house.
I have a dexter bull and 2 Dexter heifers I am feeding and they are used to eating pasture (brome and orchard grass mainly) and grass hay. The grass hay they are eating now I have had in my leaky barn for over a year and parts of the bale are moldy but cows have been eating it just fine.
Based on the above info would you look for more grass hay or would the 1st cutting alfalfa be better? I just drop the bale in bale ring inside my cattle shed for feeding so it stays out of the weather so not easy to mix the two types. Never fed alfalfa like that so looking for opinions. Not great grass hay is the same money per bale but about 15-20 miles away vs. 4 miles.

JimB · #2 01/10/12, 01:18 PM

I would buy and feed the alfalfa the only thing you will have to watch for is scours but in older cattle it is not as bad as calves. It comes as extra runny poop for a bit til they get used to it. If the are still grazing grass or whats left over on the lots I think it would be ok. If you wanted you could feed them a alfalfa bale and sub a little with the grass hay til they get used to it.

springvalley · #3 01/10/12, 02:43 PM

So do you have enough of your own hay? Cattle can handle more mold than most animals, so if you have enough of what you have been feeding, keep feeding it. You realy dont need the alfalfa hay, but I know what you mean when it`s close by. > Thanks Marc

haypoint · #4 01/10/12, 03:55 PM

I'd run a hose into the new hay and see if I could get it black and moldy, so the transition from moldy hay to stemmy course hay won't be so drastic.

ihuntgsps · #5 01/10/12, 04:24 PM

i probably have enough grass hay stored to get through this season but was thinking of buying the close by alfafa to stock up and maybe get myself a year ahead. Big concern was never using it and wondering if it would be "too hot" for the cows or hard to adjust from cruddy grass to alfalfa.
I appreciate all the help...this forum is awesome!

ihuntgsps · #6 01/10/12, 04:30 PM

hoping you are joking haypoint!
The mold in the hay they are eating now is
white and not much of it. mostly dusty and
some wet. not much black mold anywhere

G. Seddon · #7 01/10/12, 05:13 PM

I hope you have enough hay to make it through the rest of the winter. This is not the best time to be looking for hay as it will be very costly. Changing the cows' diet must be done gradually.

Please talk to your extension agent and maybe you can get a referral to a hay producer in your area with good grass hay for cattle. There are considerable risks with feeding moldy hay, as you probably know. Can you get your barn roof repaired and/or cover the hay with a large tarp in the future?

ihuntgsps · #8 01/10/12, 05:22 PM

yes, barn roof repair is something I am saving $ for.
I had all the hay tarped but had some wind issues and several bales ended up wet and then got a little moldy.
will probably skip the alfalfa and just look for grass hay to avoid issues.
thank you all for your input

Reed77 · #9 01/10/12, 06:46 PM

$50 for 1200lbs of alfalfa? I'm paying $16 for 135lbs

Skip · #10 01/10/12, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ihuntgsps

... it is billed as being stemmy and course ...

This is the type of hay I bought for my dexters last spring early summer. They would not eat the coarse stems. Left me a royal mess to clean in their paddock. It was baled in large square bales, and I would feed it to them by sections so I can't blame the mess on excess. Never again.

I can buy small square bales of alfalfa and they eat all of it. It is pricey in my opinion, $7-8 bale. People buy it at the local nursery and feed stores for the wild deer.

haypoint · #11 01/10/12, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skip

This is the type of hay I bought for my dexters last spring early summer. They would not eat the coarse stems. Left me a royal mess to clean in their paddock. It was baled in large square bales, and I would feed it to them by sections so I can't blame the mess on excess. Never again.

I can buy small square bales of alfalfa and they eat all of it. It is pricey in my opinion, $7-8 bale. People buy it at the local nursery and feed stores for the wild deer.

But you've got to remember ihuntgsps's cows are hogging down two year old moldy, dusty hay. They might not be as fussy as your cows.

Oxankle · #12 01/10/12, 09:57 PM

LOL; reminds me of the first year I was out here. I had some calves and needed hay, answered an ad. Bought big round bales, turned out to be sorry hay, moldy and old.

Calves got hungry and developed a taste for that moldy hay---it went down like candy. Never again.

A hay barn would be nice; mine sits out in the weather and by spring the top two inches is waste. Right now I am feeding hay that has sprouted seed in the outer layer. Brother built a hundred foot barn, sixty feet wide and high enough that he could stack round bales three high--as high as big tractor would lift them. He's gone now, and the fellow my sister in law rents the place to would like to use it, but he had no hay to cut this year. No cattle on the land, no grass.