Is there any feed value in non rolled/bruised barley for cattle

[Daniels1987]

Hello,

Today I was offered a couple of tonnes of barley for free from a neighbour.
I know in previous years we used ‘bruised’ or ‘rolled’ barley for yearlings and it helped massively in getting them in good condition and putting weight on. My question is the neighbour has put this throw his bruiser however I don’t think it’s as well bruised as stuff we would normally use. I was always told the cattle can’t digest it right if not bruised well enough and therefor no use feeding it too them, can someone with greater knowledge than I advise me if this is correct? I can post a picture of the barley tomorrow if that helps also. (If it’s no use for the calves I will just feed it to the chickens)

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Sharpy]

Hello,

Today I was offered a couple of tonnes of barley for free from a neighbour.
I know in previous years we used ‘bruised’ or ‘rolled’ barley for yearlings and it helped massively in getting them in good condition and putting weight on. My question is the neighbour has put this throw his bruiser however I don’t think it’s as well bruised as stuff we would normally use. I was always told the cattle can’t digest it right if not bruised well enough and therefor no use feeding it too them, can someone with greater knowledge than I advise me if this is correct? I can post a picture of the barley tomorrow if that helps also. (If it’s no use for the calves I will just feed it to the chickens)

Many thanks in advance.

Supposed to be if the skin is broken its fine, feed a bit and examine the dung for undigested grains?

 

[topground]

I have fed whole oats to calves and very few have appeared in their dung.There are 20000 grains to the kilo so most are being digested .
15000 grains barley to the kilo so feed some and then have a poke around in the calves dung to see if any is wasted., Depends on age of calves.

 

[Wesley]

I have fed whole oats to calves and very few have appeared in their dung.There are 20000 grains to the kilo so most are being digested .
15000 grains barley to the kilo so feed some and then have a poke around in the calves dung to see if any is wasted., Depends on age of calves.

I didn’t think you needed to roll oats anyway? Barley isn’t digested as easily, but even if it was just cracked/split & not fully rolled it would make a big difference.

 

[crashbox]

I have fed whole oats to calves and very few have appeared in their dung.There are 20000 grains to the kilo so most are being digested .
15000 grains barley to the kilo so feed some and then have a poke around in the calves dung to see if any is wasted., Depends on age of calves.

That's interesting; so oats would make a good organic crop to bolster dairy or beef production?

Just chuck on top of silage for a bit of energy?

 

[Daniels1987]

Thanks all for reply so far

I have attached a picture to see what you think, I would say based on what Sharpy has said the skin looks broken to some degree to me

 

[ISCO]

I think most will be digested but a little wasted.
I remember a long time ago when barley dropped to £60 per ton reading an article saying that it was not worth rolling barley at this price. Although more would be wasted by feeding whole it did not cover the cost of rolling.

 

[serf]

Thanks all for reply so far

I have attached a picture to see what you think, I would say based on what Sharpy has said the skin looks broken to some degree to me

That looks good enough to me

 

[Sharpy]

It looks to me that there are some small grains, these will never bruise properly when mixed with larger grains. Feed a bit and see how you get on.

 

[livestock 1]

Doesn’t look bad at all there’s sweet fa in those small grains anyway

 

[Welderloon]

That will be fine for feeding, they'll sh*t out any that aren't cracked, just introduce it gradually to get them used to it

 

[Nearly]

If your neighbour has another few wagon loads I'll take it.