Guest guest Posted April 27, 2002 Report Share Posted April 27, 2002 Are our births attended? They are if we are awake. But now that they are out as much as possible, the calves come out running, which is a big difference from the cows standing in the barn as they did for years. Also the whole herd thinks the calf is theirs and everyone knows when one is born. Before they were out much none of the cows really seemed to care if one was born or not, even the mother. our colostrum is of a superior quality and our cows milk goes into the milking line 3 days sooner than it use to given the quality of the milk. All this just from switching to pasture and reducing grain and weaning them off haylage and feeding more dry hay. Tim Clearview soilfertility wrote: > > > We have a mortality rate of 5%- we have 36 cows outside > > as much as possible, eating a little grain as possible , > > 25 miles to the south confinement facility 600 cows calf > > mortality rate 40% all grain no pasture > > Hi Tim: > Are your births attended? > Chi > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 27, 2002 Report Share Posted April 27, 2002 Tim- >All this just from switching to pasture and reducing grain and weaning them >off haylage and feeding more dry hay. I'm interested to hear that dry hay is superior to silage, as I'd always thought that silage (provided it's made from the right fodder to begin with -- i.e. grass) would be superior, preserving more of the moist nutrient content. This isn't so, or am I misunderstanding you? - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 27, 2002 Report Share Posted April 27, 2002 Dear The theory is(from University extension) that haylage is better for cows if you want production of milk. Unfortunately their is a very narrow margin(less as you get further north) to put up haylage in a manner that will optimize the quality. Any variation in the equation either way and the haylage deteriorates to the demise of the animal eating it. This will not happen right away but give it a few years and you have a shortened life of a cow. Also it is very hard to match the size of the silo with changing herd sizes due to dry curves and the rest. this to will reduce the quality of the haylage, it will rot before you get to it if the surface of the silo is to large to keep ahead of the deterioration. You do have to have a good protein source if feeding dry hay, we are switching over to dehulled oats 18.9% protein as the main grain source. Given we are in N Wi we must feed some corn silage and ground corn cob mix just to keep the cows up on weight through the winter. Corn is no longer our primary grain source. Another thing about dry hay it slows down the contents of the feed within a cow and she will absorb more of the nutrients of any grain source that she consumes which in turn leads to less grain needed to get the desired results. We are settling for a reduced herd average but our fat and solids are much higher and our inputs and cost of a silo and equipment to fill them is greatly reduced, so we come out to about the same price net per 100 wt as before. If we were only paid on the volume of milk and not quality as well as our creamery does it would not be to our advantage to feed this way. But pasture and hay has benefits in longevity of our cows which on the spread sheets tell us we are much better off than the old way(1960 to 1999) of feeding cows. If you also take into consideration that a mom will see an average of up to 4 of her daughters in the milking barn we have a large amount of very expensive heifers to sell which also increases the income of the farm as relation to pasture based farming. its a win win situation, to simple for most farmers to comprehend, of course this all depends on health soil to begin with and adequate calcium levels in the soil, which most farmers cannot comprehend. it appears that most will ride the ferris wheel of current practices right into bankruptcy because the neighbor is not doing it as well. The evil known is more comfortable than the one unknown.. See Ya Tim@ Clearview Idol wrote: > Tim- > > >All this just from switching to pasture and reducing grain and weaning them > >off haylage and feeding more dry hay. > > I'm interested to hear that dry hay is superior to silage, as I'd always > thought that silage (provided it's made from the right fodder to begin with > -- i.e. grass) would be superior, preserving more of the moist nutrient > content. This isn't so, or am I misunderstanding you? > > - > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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