How can I stop our cows wasting silage?

[Cows 'n grass]

I think it's just about all been said above but we use this to cut bales in half.

Then we put a shear grab of wholecrop on top which falls around the sides. We've found keeping feed lower in the ring is key to reducing waste but it's only possible if you have space for enough rings.

I think having bales nearer 30%DM than 40%+ helps reduce the amount they drop.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

View attachment 1010902

Round bales contain double what they did 30/40 years ago - but some ring feeders are still only 7 foot wide.

Shhh. Don't say that too loud or our baler man will be asking for more money.

 

[Farmer Keith]

When we were bales years ago we had two ring feeders in the yard, spiked a bale dead centre with a single bale spike then suspended the bale over the first feeder and pulled half off by hand then put the centre carefully in the second one. Emphasis on carefully or the second half of the bale drops off before you reach the feeder! Bit of a faf but less waste and you don’t need any fancy gear.

 

[Fendt516profi]

When we were bales years ago we had two ring feeders in the yard, spiked a bale dead centre with a single bale spike then suspended the bale over the first feeder and pulled half off by hand then put the centre carefully in the second one. Emphasis on carefully or the second half of the bale drops off before you reach the feeder! Bit of a faf but less waste and you don’t need any fancy gear.

Ok till you start dealing with chopped bales

 

[Farmer Keith]

Ok till you start dealing with chopped bales

Good point they’ll just fall to pieces you’d think. We did feed 70 cows with no machinery but a David brown 990 then. Miss the simplicity of the feed out system back then more than the weeks in the summer making and wrapping bales.

 

[Bucks Boy]

I think that's the trouble, it can't help but fall out. I clean the feeder out every week but it builds up a little each time so the bale doesn't sit down enough. Next summer I'm hoping to rearrange the shed to make a feed passage and have some barriers to feed from. Just don't want to have the same problem when I do that.

Gave up using ring feeders years ago. They wasted as much as the cattle ate. Diagonal feed barriers much better. Make sure there are more than enough spaces so cattle don’t jostle for position and keep pulling back with trailing mouthfuls of silage. Feed twice a day so there’s not too much in front of them. Keeps it fresh and appetising. Less waste.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I was thinking maybe a feed trailer that has diagonal feed barriers would cause less wastage

 

[tr250]

Will always get waste from bales only way to stop it is chop it into a clamp

 

[glasshouse]

Our few Jerseys are loose housed through the winter and fed baled silage in a ring feeder which is on an area we scrape clean daily. Previous years we'd noticed how much silage they dragged out of the feeder when eating so when we changed our baler last year we went for one with a chopper in the hope we'd stop this. Unfortunately it hasn't helped as much as I hoped, they are still pulling silage onto the floor and it seems like every day we are scraping half of what we've put in, back out. Any ideas how we can reduce this?

Leave the top foot of net on

 

[Oliveau]

Gave up using ring feeders years ago. They wasted as much as the cattle ate. Diagonal feed barriers much better. Make sure there are more than enough spaces so cattle don’t jostle for position and keep pulling back with trailing mouthfuls of silage. Feed twice a day so there’s not too much in front of them. Keeps it fresh and appetising. Less waste.

As well as diagonal bars, have the sort that are also angled forward into the feed passage.

 

[Sheeps]

Problem I had when feeding them in the ring feeder was put the bale in this evening and go out tomorrow and the bull would fight with it until he had it lifted over the bale. That led to a lot of waste.

 

[jimmer]

Leave the top foot of net on

This

Was advised to leave one string on square bales when feeding, we now leave then all on and waste is minimal
Just pull strings out of bottom of feeder every few days

 

[early riser]

Leave the top foot of net on

good idea until it all gets dragged onto feeding yard and wrapped round slurry mixer/muckspreader beaters/loader front axle

contractors must love coming to your place

 

[glasshouse]

good idea until it all gets dragged onto feeding yard and wrapped round slurry mixer/muckspreader beaters/loader front axle

contractors must love coming to your place

I dont have cows
I dont use contractors
I leave some net on to stop sheep wasting hay outside
After a day or two i take it out of the ring

 

[early riser]

I dont have cows
I dont use contractors
I leave some net on to stop sheep wasting hay outside
After a day or two i take it out of the ring

But this is a thread about cows wasting silage, not sheep

 

[MattVal147]

I know it seems tedious but have you thought of the option of the watsonfeed trailers, proper handy as can keep more grub in and tow them around to any field or other farm etc, the heifers that I look after make very little mess with this system!

 

[glasshouse]

But this is a thread about cows wasting silage, not sheep

Yawn

 

[Mr Mackay]

We are all bales
We use an expensive tub mixer to chop the silage and put it out at a barrier or into 2 feed trailers with straight bars.

If the cows were short we sometimes dropped a bale in the trailer to let the cows not go short.
Always ended up with a mess on the floor and we had to remove it with a fork rather than block the slurry channel and the separator.
We never do it now if we can avoid it as its a pain in the arsh
Mind you, we have mchale straw shexder that can chop silage and blow it but that's more mess or expense.
Diagonal feed slots sounds the best way
Good luck

 

[upnortheast]

@Tim G any chance you could create a bunker, chop the grass, problem solved & you don`t have to buy all that wrap, which looks like it could be subject to a tax in the near future.

 

[Tim G]

@Tim G any chance you could create a bunker, chop the grass, problem solved & you don`t have to buy all that wrap, which looks like it could be subject to a tax in the near future.

I have clamps here, the problem is finding someone to chop it. Bales work too well for us.