Feed value of pea haulm?

[Red Fred]

My sister has been offered some bales of pea haulm for her suckler cows as she is a bit short of silage, and she was wondering whether it is a worthwhile feedstuff compared to barley straw. Has anyone any experience of feeding big bales of haulm and what do folks use as an additive? we have not had any experience of it before. Any comments would be gratefully received

 

[S J H]

We feed it, in the years we can get it. Had a fair bit this year, cows like it but I don't know the feed value I'm afraid.

 

[Great In Grass]

If my memory serves me correctly ME 7/7.5 and CP 10%, depends on pea content (CP that is).

 

[S J H]

What would barley and wheat be by comparison @greatingrass ?

 

[Chae1]

I used to haul the waste from pea plant on farm I worked on to dairy farmer. He said it was rocket fuel and lifted yield considerably.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I would think hay a better buy where you are,pea is like very variable , can be awful stuff

 

[Great In Grass]

What would barley and wheat be by comparison @greatingrass ?

I can't find my list of figures but Dairyco quotes "Barley straw, in particular, can be a useful filler for cattle feeding, its low nutritive value making it suitable only for low yielding late lactation and dry cow diets. Like hay, it can be valuable for its scratch factor, especially where included in mixed diets. There is no recognised method for the laboratory evaluation of straw, assessment of feed quality being related mainly to the ratio of leaf to stem, the more leaf (with a typical ME of around 9 MJ/kg DM) to stem (4 MJ/kg DM) the better." I would have thought wheat straw would be slightly higher ME but lower CP?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Oat straw is best for feeding and there's plenty about , pea is better if its good , but poor pea is no use nor ornament

 

[Muck Spreader]

Many years ago we sandwiched pea haulms in the silage but the cows wouldn't touch them, even with molasses poured on them every day. They all stood along the clamp face carefully sucking the molasses out without touching the pea haulms.

 

[Jim75]

Cows at home won't touch the stuff with molasses on it but the calves are going wild for it

 

[borderterribles]

I've used pea straw quite a lot in the past, and has already been said, it can be very variable. From excellent stuff that most cattle would eat , to thistley mouldy shite that you wish you hadn't seen, never mind bought!
I've mainly used it to feed to store cattle, and bulling heifers. Mention of the "scratch factor" reminds me that it usually made some of their muck red, which we put down to it being extremely scratchy as it passed through them.

 

[Great In Grass]

Many years ago we sandwiched pea haulms in the silage but the cows wouldn't touch them, even with molasses poured on them every day. They all stood along the clamp face carefully sucking the molasses out without touching the pea haulms.

If you put a bar of chocolate and a digestive biscuit in front of a person which would they probably choose, animals are no different.

 

[Muck Spreader]

If you put a bar of chocolate and a digestive biscuit in front of a person which would they probably choose, animals are no different.

The molasses was to try and get them to eat the pea haulms as they were undermining the clamp by eating the grass silage only. In the end we had to knock them down every day and throw them out.

 

[Gilchro]

I used to haul the waste from pea plant on farm I worked on to dairy farmer. He said it was rocket fuel and lifted yield considerably.

Is that the stuff from Dundee?
It is a wet by product from the pea viners and is rocket fuel as it has a lot of fresh peas through it.
The pea haulm here though is the dry straw from combining peas.

Extremely variable product. Would suit feeding to dry sucklers

 

[RAF]

What is pea straw worth then in the swath this yr ? In Staffordshire Looks a good crop . £20/ acre I thought? About right ??

 

[Chae1]

Is that the stuff from Dundee?
It is a wet by product from the pea viners and is rocket fuel as it has a lot of fresh peas through it.
The pea haulm here though is the dry straw from combining peas.

Extremely variable product. Would suit feeding to dry sucklers

No. It was when I did harvest in Essex, the farm ran viners too. Imagine it's similar to stuff from Dundee. Was basically what came out after peas were dressed.

 

[Newby]

Was basically what came out after peas were dressed.

The stuff they leave in the field behind the pea viners?

 

[Chae1]

The stuff they leave in the field behind the pea viners?

No they had a proper plant that floated them around with water at farm and separated pods and debris. They sold some of them locally and at farm shop.