Straw vs Hay

[Howard]

I realise from reading archived posts that this question has been posed before but I am struggling to find a decent hay source for the rest of the winter. I have tried 3 suppliers so far this year only to discover that they all take hay off the ings and that the bales contain a high percentage of reeds that the cows just dont find palatable.

My cows get a Rumivite protine and energy wheel as well as a Rockies lick and are currently finishing off a cattle booster with copper. They get carrots, spuds, apples and fodderbeet too and have access to a building with a barley straw bed and a hayring. The girls who are are all due to calve next summer and their calves of 8months old and one at 5months all look great and I am more than happy with their condition but am concidering replacing their hay with oat straw.

The oat straw is almost a 3rd of the price of the hay and if they enjoy it as much as they enjoy the barley straw that I bed them on then it wont be wasted, unlike the reedy hay that they clearly dont want to eat. So far I have been cutting the hay with hayledge which they love but I want to save my remaining hayledge bales to take my sheep through to lambing in Feb / March.

It's never a great idea to change horse mid race but I like to see my cows relaxed,munching and contented not constantly arguing, bellowing and moping round a ring of expensive, wasted hay.

So my question is, before I bite the bullet and buy in the straw to take me from Jan to March....does anyone else have a better idea?

Sue

[Rob R]

So my question is, before I bite the bullet and buy in the straw to take me from Jan to March....does anyone else have a better idea?

Sue

Hi Sue,

I may not have a better idea, but I do have some decent non-Ings meadow hay spare, 4.5ft bales, that I was about to advertise, £20 collected, £25 delivered. There's also some seeds haylage, £25 collected, if that's any good for you.

[Mark Bowles]

My thoughts....buy the fodder from Rob, its a good price and you wont have to suppliment anything, far superior to straw.

[Saffy]

Hello Howard,

I agree with Mark, that sounds like a good deal to me, no messing about. I would much prefer to feed mine that way.

Stephanie

[Howard]

Thanks you all for your replies, it's interesting to see that a number of you are very keen on feeding hay and your thoughts are most welcome.

As the nutritional quality of hay varies, mine get a Rumivite ad-lib protien and energy supliment to help them make the most of their forage and make up any nutritional shortfalls anyhow so changing their forage source to straw would make little difference from that point of view. With the average estimated protien levels in hay between 7 and 11% and good oat straw containing as much as 7.1 it's possible that my good straw is as nutritious as my poor hay and as the cows find it so much more palatable it's prompted me to concider it as an effective alternative to the forage element of their ration.

Still, I have got some very good hay bales to get me through the next couple of months though so there is time to mull it over I guess. One for next year perhaps.....

Thanks again for your thoughts.

[Broomcroft]

We use straw sometimes if we have to (much prefer hay and so do the cattle) but we always pour cattle molasses over the straw, they eat more and get a good dose on minerals and energy in a controlled manner. We use Rumevite blocks as well, but not for cows in calf because of worry that some might gorge and calves get too big.

[Howard]

Thanks Clive,

yes I have come across other people who use mollasses to sweeten straw and give an added source of energy. In my case the cows love the barley straw and get very excited when I open a new bale or put some more bedding down. In fact it was thier enthusiasm for it and the fact they were more excited about the straw than the last lot of hay that I was concidering a change.

With regards to the Rumivite though I am very interested in your experience of big calves as a result of offering it throughout pregnancy. Mine dont gorge it, though they do get fodder beet, carrots and spuds so they have another source of energy in addition to their forage. I give it mainly because of the yeasts which stimulate the rumen and help my cows and sheep achive the maximum conversion of their forrage and to top up any deficiencies in the winter ration.

It's an interesting observation that you make about the link with big calves though. I work on the basis that as long as the plane of nutrition remains sufficient through out the pregnancy ( and particularly in the first half of the pregnancy) then the placenta will remain a sufficient size to produce a nice sized calf. I aim to avoid deficiencies in the first half of pregnancy to prevent the lack of nutrition to the growing calf causing the placenta to enlarge as this, coupled with a higher rate of nutrition after the placental expansion does indeed lead to large offspring and difficult births.

Lots of food for thought here so thanks again for another viewpoint.

Sue

[Broomcroft]

Hi Sue

I've not got any actual bad experiences with using feed blocks or any feed during pregnancy because we've never done it. I suppose I'd be more concerned about keeping the cow is moderate condition, not getting fat, than the size of the calf. We cross to a larger bull breed so I am extremely careful about their condition during pregnancy. Even though we cross now, the most difficult calving we've ever had (with a normal presentation) was pedigree dexter/dexter. The cow was a bit of a fat sort, the calf wasn't that big.

We do put Rumevite mag booster feed blocks out for the cows during pregnancy if we fear staggers in Spring and Autumn. They take up a lot more than licks IME.

Your understanding of the placenta and calf size is the same as mine. With sheep I was told that the size of the placenta mid-pregnancy was the main factor in lamb size. Whereas a lot of people feed their ewes at the end of the pregnancy to get bigger lambs. We just keep them in good-moderate condition throughout, then feed a few weeks before and after birth to help with milk production and help keeping the ewe in good condition. We often feed out cows after birth and that can be feed blocks, but prefer feed in troughs so I can actually see what's happening and control the amount "precisely".

What I say about take up with individuals is just that you don't know, or I wouldn't, which ones are endulging. It could be just a few having most of it and the rest not being bothered. But maybe they don't need it if they are not bothered? But if it's working for you that's all you need to know.

Your barley straw must be excellent, they only eat mine if they have to!

[SteveM]

we used to feed fodder beet and turnips but have now gone all grass as the last couple of years we didn't get a good crop, and too much work involved in thinning, pulling, cleaning etc.

our cows now get a few nuts in the morning and bedded with straw, then hay in the afternoon.

currently running with 31 dexters of various ages,getting 2 days bedding from a 7ft mini hesston bale of barley straw a lot of which gets eaten in the morning.

penned in groups of 4 to 6 depending on age, and aim to feed 1 small hay bale per pen.

[Howard]

Thanks to both of you for your replies. As always in life their are so many ways to skin a cat that any aproach is the right one if it works.

I seem to have secured a much better quailty of hay from my supplier and if I can guarentee that for the next 3 months then I will stick with hay this year. If my cows wernt so excited about the barley straw I would just have shopped around for some other hay but as their pregnancy advances and winter sets in then the last thing I want them to do is to have less than they need over the next 3 months.

At the sametime my supplier of the reedy hay has swapped them for some nice stuff so as ever the situation is constantly changing. Thanks very much to you all for taking the time to share your experiences it is really apreciated.

Sue