Content
How much hay a cow needs for the winter depends on its quality, the type of grass cut and the animal’s appetite. All living organisms have different metabolisms, and the need for food is also different. Roughage can be nutritious or empty. Each owner will have to determine the amount of food that a particular animal needs independently. But there are averages that can be used as a starting point.
Types of hay for cattle
The division of roughage into types is now almost arbitrary. Traditionally they were divided according to the composition of herbs. Nowadays you can find divisions based on moisture level or nutritional value. Which method to choose when dividing hay into types depends on current priorities.
The composition of the hay can be forbs or seed. These two groups are divided into smaller categories. Forbs – “wild” grasses. It could be:
- Mountain, collected in the area of the belt of alpine meadows. Considered one of the best.
- From water meadows, floodplains of rivers that are flooded during high water.
- Forest, collected from the edges of the forest.
- Swampy, harvested in very wet places.
The latter is considered the least nutritious.Moreover, poisonous horsetail is often found in such hay.
Horsetail is found throughout wild grasses, but prefers moist soil.
Sowing can be:
- legumes;
- cereals;
- legumes and cereals;
- forbs from specially selected plants.
The latter is optimal in terms of composition and nutrition.
When purchasing roughage, you need to pay attention to humidity. Under-dried hay will rot, while over-dried hay will crumble badly. The owner will lose a lot when trash falls on the floor and gathers dust. Dividing hay by moisture content:
- Dry, humidity 15%. It feels hard to the touch, cracks when compressed and breaks easily.
- Normal, 17% moisture. Soft, rustles when squeezed. When twisted into a bundle, it can withstand 20-30 turns.
- Humid, 18-20%. Soft, easily rolled into a rope and withstands repeated twisting. There is no sound when compressed. When you touch the inside of the roll with your hand, you can feel the coolness.
- Raw, humidity 22-27%. When twisted forcefully, liquid is released.
The last two categories cannot be stored for the winter. The only exception is haylage prepared using a special technology. But this type requires airtight packaging. Animals should eat the printed roll within 1-2 days.
For the winter you need to stock up on the first two categories. And the best hay is with a moisture content of 17%. It should also be taken into account that the humidity characteristics are also average. “Stick” hay with large woody plant stems cracks even with above-average humidity. And small-stemmed and consisting of leaves “does not sound” even at a humidity below 15%. The same applies to fracture strength. Large, hard stems break more easily than thin, soft stems.
Another division into categories is based on nutritional value.The calculation is made in feed units that contain 1 kg of hay:
- meadow forbs 0.45 feed. units;
- legumes – 0.5.
The nutritional value of cereal hay depends on the time of its harvesting. If the stems are mowed after the grain has ripened, it is already straw with low nutritional value. But cereal grasses cut during the period of milky ripeness are considered one of the best types of hay. In addition, you should always take into account the content of calcium, phosphorus, protein and other elements in roughage.
Legumes are considered one of the most nutritious foods, but can cause fermentation in the stomach
Forbs
Can be wild or sown. The first is harvested by simply mowing free meadows and clearings. For the second, specially selected varieties of grass are sown on the field. But you shouldn’t count on buying seed forbs. If they do this, it is for their own needs. It is easier to plant a monoculture for sale, which is easier to process and protect from pests.
Plus “wild” forbs in a large species composition, providing a complete set of vitamins. But it is also a minus, since no one can say which herbs predominate in such hay. Often there are poisonous plants in it. The cow can eat some of them in small quantities; the poison from others accumulates gradually, but is not removed from the body.
Nutritional and mineral composition can also vary greatly. 0.46 feed units – a very average assessment. “Alpine” has high nutritional value and a rich vitamin and mineral composition. Its opposite, swamp, is poor in vitamins and minerals. The nutritional value is also much below average.Reed, reed and horsetail are plants that need to be fed only in a desperate situation. The cow itself will not eat them if given a choice. And this greatly increases the actual consumption of hay in winter.
Seed forbs
If the owner is puzzled by sowing herbs for the winter, seeds are usually used for this:
- timothy;
- tares multiflora;
- ryegrass;
- common hedgehog;
- bluegrass
Preference is given to those plant species that are adapted to the climatic conditions of the region. In the south, these herbs may also include wild barley. It is not planted, it grows on its own. Its presence in hay is undesirable, since wild barley seeds can cause stomatitis.
In the southern regions, wild barley is rightfully considered a malicious weed; it is suitable for cow feed only until ears appear
Cereal
Oats are usually planted on cereal hay. It grows well even in poor soils. But you need to mow oats at the degree of “milk ripeness” of the grains. If the grain is removed later, the stalks will turn into low-nutrient and tasteless straw. Hay made from still green oats is one of the most nutritious varieties.
In addition to oats, grasses related to the bluegrass are planted: wheatgrass, fescue, brome, also known as brome, Sudan grass, millet, timothy, and other types of bluegrass.
Almost all of these plants in their mature state have little nutritional value. When harvesting for the winter, they need to be mowed immediately after flowering or during it.
Legume
This type of hay is considered the most nutritious, as it contains a high percentage of protein. But fields are usually sown with monocultures. An exception is legume-cereal hay, consisting of a mixture of oats and peas. In other cases, it is more profitable to sow one type of annual or perennial grass.
Due to the paucity of its composition, bean hay is not balanced in nutrients and the cow’s diet in winter needs to be adjusted with vitamin and mineral premixes. To prepare this type of roughage, vetch, sweet clover, peas, sainfoin, different types of alfalfa, and clover are used.
All these grasses need to be mowed during the formation of buds. The exception is clover. Here, clover straw left after threshing the plant for seeds is often used as livestock feed. This straw is rough to the touch, but contains enough protein and calcium to replace hay.
Wild alfalfa is usually not specially cultivated, but it is often found in meadow forbs
How to calculate how much hay a cow needs
The daily amount of hay for a cow depends on:
- animal weight;
- type of hay;
- time of year;
- feed quality.
It is not difficult to calculate how many kilograms of hay per day per cow is needed. But then the annual most exciting “quest” begins, which is called “find out how much hay you need to buy for the winter.”
The cow should receive the amount of nutrients and vitamins that are found in high-quality, fully consumed hay. Such an ideal is almost unattainable. For some reason, many harvesters believe that cattle will even chew up logs. As a result, the hay may be “sticky” - very coarse, thick stems of overripe plants. Cut grass caught in the rain once is minus half of the vitamins. If it was overdried under the sun, the nutritional value of the hay decreased.
Under-dried, rolled grass begins to “burn” inside. If there is a lot of moisture left in the hay, the bale begins to rot from the inside or “gather dust” by mid-winter.And this “dust” is actually mold spores. Such hay is poisonous in large quantities, and it has to be washed, simultaneously removing the vitamins.
If the hay has low nutritional value, the cow will eat more hay than normal. If the food is “stick”, there will be a lot of waste, but this does not mean that the animal is full. On the contrary, it remained hungry and did not receive the required amount of nutrients. Leguminous herbs contain a lot of protein and it is better not to abuse them during the dry period.
High-quality alfalfa, which is rarely sold
Rules for calculating hay per head of cattle
Calculating the norm by weight is easy. The average weight of an adult cow is usually taken to be 500 kg. Bulls can reach 900 kg or more. Animals can be weighed on special livestock scales. If this is not possible, the live weight of the cow is calculated using the formula: chest girth multiplied by the oblique length of the body, divided by 100 and the result multiplied by K.
K is a floating coefficient. For dairy breeds its value is 2, for beef cattle – 2.5.
The formula is intended for adult animals that have completed bone development.
The average rate of hay per dairy cow is 4 kilograms for every 100 kg of live weight. During the dry period, the norm is increased, reducing concentrates and succulent feed. Lactation is returned to the previous level, since hay has little effect on the amount of milk, but allows the animal to receive the necessary minerals and vitamins.
Bulls have the same amount of hay as dairy cows. During the breeding period, producers increase the percentage of protein in the diet. This is often achieved by introducing meat, blood or meat and bone meal as an additive.
For meat breed queens, the norm is the same as for dairy breeds. For fattening bulls, you can reduce the amount of roughage to 3 kg, but then you need to increase the concentrates.
But, given that the quality and varieties of hay, as well as the metabolism of animals, often vary greatly, the norms are determined empirically. Taking the average standards as a basis, they look at how the animal reacts. If it tries to gnaw trees and eats sawdust, the amount of hay needs to be increased. If he gets fat, remove the concentrates.
Per day
A 500-kilogram cow needs to eat 20 kg of hay per day. Cattle grow up to 4-5 years of age, so young heifers and heifers need less feed. At the same time, it is difficult to calculate with the required accuracy how many “grams” need to be added monthly. Yes, and you don’t need to do this. Typically, a heifer weighs 300-450 kg, depending on the breed.
Feed losses can be reduced by making feeders for cows
For the winter
The estimated amount of hay for the winter depends on the duration of the stall period. More precisely, it even depends on how long the cow can find food for herself while grazing. Usually the “winter” period is taken to be 6 months. This is also an average figure. In the southern regions, grass appears earlier and fades later. But in summer there can be a dry period, which is almost no different from winter. The grass burns out, and the cow needs to be fed a full ration of hay again.
In the northern regions, the growing season begins late and ends early. The “winter period” can last more than 7 months. The required amount of hay must be calculated based on specific conditions.
If we take the average value, then we need to stock up at least 3650 kg of hay for the winter.But it is dangerous to take it strictly into account. Possible loss or late spring. At the end of winter, it is no longer possible to buy additional hay or its price is very high. You need to take from 4 tons.
This picture can be observed at the end of winter if the bales were not stacked on pallets, but directly on the ground or concrete floor
In year
You can calculate how much hay a cow needs for a year without even using a calculator. It is enough to multiply 365 days by 20. The result is 7300 kg or 7.3 tons. In summer, the need for hay is less than in winter, since the cow eats fresh grass. But 10 kg per day will be required. Considering that a lot will probably be thrown away, this amount may not even be enough.
Features of feeding cattle with hay in winter
In winter, cows do not have grazing, so it is necessary to supplement the “naked” concentrated hay diet with succulent feed. But you need to take into account that a cow can survive on roughage, although it will be impossible to get either milk or meat from such an animal. But on grain and succulent feed alone, livestock are susceptible to diseases of the digestive tract. Therefore, the basis of the diet in winter is hay.
Bulls can be given roughage 2 times a day: morning and evening. Heifers and pregnant cows should be given hay 3 times a day. You can divide the daily norm into 4 cottages if calving is expected soon. In the second half of pregnancy, the fetus puts pressure on the cow’s stomach, and she cannot eat as much feed at one time as after the birth of a calf.
Cows even eat “sticks” in the form of chaff. This fine hay fraction is easier to digest for animals. It can be mixed with mixed feed, avoiding tympany due to fermentation of grains. Juicy feed is also given along with hay. For the same reason, to avoid fermentation.
Since animals usually first choose what is tastier, all feed must be mixed with hay chaff. This simple technique will “force” the cow to eat all the food, and not just the tidbits.
Conclusion
One way or another, each owner will have to decide for himself how much hay a cow needs for the winter. If stored incorrectly, even 10 tons may not be enough. But you should always take with a small margin. Even if the hay is of ideal quality and well stored, the next year may turn out to be a poor harvest. Then last year's supplies will help provide the animals with the necessary amount of feed.
