Feeding silage

[Chimera]

Mornin all,
Haven't really had to feed much silage whilst grazing before, but it looks very much like we will have to. What are people's preferred methods?
Bales through the wagon in lines on the paddocks?
Just bales at the barrier when they come in?
Clamp silage through spreader on paddock?.

My concern with barrier feeding is that there isn't enough room for everyone. And long standing times.(but probably the simplest)

Ta

 

[Tirglas]

If it's very dry maybe have a few sacrifice areas where the cows could access easily from blocks of paddocks. then ringfeeders or something or electric fence line feeding in the paddocks themselves.

Done both in the past and reinstated the feeding areas very easily power Harrow and seed job autumn

 

[frederick]

Mornin all,
Haven't really had to feed much silage whilst grazing before, but it looks very much like we will have to. What are people's preferred methods?
Bales through the wagon in lines on the paddocks?
Just bales at the barrier when they come in?
Clamp silage through spreader on paddock?.

My concern with barrier feeding is that there isn't enough room for everyone. And long standing times.(but probably the simplest)

Ta

Bales or clamp through the straw blower into paddock in as thin a line as possible.
Can mean only first cows out parlour get it but still increases total dm available to all.

 

[Farmer Keith]

I’ve done it both ways and preferred feeding in the yard for simplicity but my paddocks are steep, cows will stay more settled if you feed them in the paddock though. The main thing is to do it early enough before you eat too far into AFC. Ate the farm down to 1800 in the middle of 2018 and took an eternity to get back going again after it rained.

 

[Beef farmer]

Thin lines in the paddock. Very little waste, no sliping over.
Go iver a bigger area with feed than you think. Not a line like your at a feed fence.
We have fed under a fence on the track before. Works well

 

[Chimera]

So, just keep moving in breaks, and top up the DM to meet the demand. Or slow the rotation to get the wedge back? Does strip feeding in the paddock not create a mess?

 

[In the pit]

Always keep grass in your rotation so fresh grass but less of it and top up with silage fed in the paddock
I would give break of grass after an milking then put silage in late morning then fresh break for evening milking
Push rotation out to whatever you think you need 30//40//50 days

 

[Farmer Keith]

Depends where your AFC is but if it’s below 2000 I’d be matching up growth with demand and feeding the difference with silage. The lower you go the less leaves you’ll end up with on platform and the slower the recovery once it rains again.

 

[Tirglas]

So, just keep moving in breaks, and top up the DM to meet the demand. Or slow the rotation to get the wedge back? Does strip feeding in the paddock not create a mess?

Slow it down to say 30 days and hold until well after meaningful rain and growth has picked up going in early with extra feed should help maintain AFC for longer. May be some benefit adding more days especially if you had grazable silage fields

 

[Beef farmer]

Feed for 14 days after the 2nd bout of meaningful rain

 

[Chimera]

As we start drying off next week, demand will fall away, but don't want to get into a corner too soon.

 

[More to life]

All great advice above, the best part about this post is it's the first time you've needed to do it

 

[Sandpit Farm]

Always keep grass in your rotation so fresh grass but less of it and top up with silage fed in the paddock
I would give break of grass after an milking then put silage in late morning then fresh break for evening milking
Push rotation out to whatever you think you need 30//40//50 days

+1 I would have thought this is the best plan. Matching growth with demand and feeding the difference as has been said will only be feasible if you can trust the cows to graze. I think feeding silage straight out of the parlour will cause cows to ask for more rather than graze wouldn't it. So heading into a new break will fire them on to get their heads down, if you know their demand and feed to 95% using silage - that'd keep them keen wouldn't it?

 

[pappuller]

Mornin all,
Haven't really had to feed much silage whilst grazing before, but it looks very much like we will have to. What are people's preferred methods?
Bales through the wagon in lines on the paddocks?
Just bales at the barrier when they come in?
Clamp silage through spreader on paddock?.

My concern with barrier feeding is that there isn't enough room for everyone. And long standing times.(but probably the simplest)

Ta

@Beef farmer has form in this field

 

[Spudley]

When we had to feed silage in 2018 we actually fed it at the barrier. Because of our layout we do hold cows in during milking so they're used to being in anyway. We put out bales for them to have after the evening milking at which point they did go into a fresh paddock. During the next day they would then finish that paddock off. I think I had a 30 day rotation and each day I'd measure what grass was there and we'd put out enough bales to make up the difference. (I won't tell you how much cake they were having as well!!)

 

[Chimera]

Fed out 4 tonne in lines this afternoon.
Cows seemed happy and content.
Good job

 

[Beef farmer]

Before and after. How did you get on?

 

[Water Wheel]

In my view doing as Beef farmer has done above is best, keeps cows settled and grazing, feeding in the yard normally means cows queue up at gate waitingto come in for feed . Works much better on dry ground than wet, keep line of feed long and thin.

 

[Chimera]

that was last night. Not bad for a first time I thought

 

[crashbox]

Organic farm I visited feeds silage at the barrier. I asked about feed space, they said not a bother; it's total dry matter that counts.

So if they need 2 tonnes of DM, and there's only 1t in the paddock, buffer 1t and it doesn't matter who gets it.

Interesting thought.

I buffer with maize in the yard so like to make sure plenty of feed space for all otherwise some hog it and their "ration" goes out of balance.

But it's a lot of extra work (scraping etc.) And if I were using bales I'd be doing lines in the paddock.