A friends son has just taken on a hundred cow dairy farm so is spending all the money he can raise on cows and is looking to self feed the cows this winter to save on having to buy a feeder wagon. I seem to remember a discussion a while back re self feed dairy on this forum or the old one and wondered if anyone still did it. I agree with him that as long as he keeps the face moving back fast enough and grabs some out into feeders so they have plenty of feed space it should work. I worked on several farms in the seventies that ran this sort of system and the cattle always seemed very content and healthy. But dairy cattle have changed enormously since then so wondered if the modern Holstein would hack it or he would be better with a Montbéliarde or Flecvieh cross.
Self Feed Silage
- Thread starter Old Tip
- Start date
Yep, 600 cows on self feed here. 300 next door and 250 a few miles away. We all love it. Tell your friend after he has gained a bit of money not to spunk it on a feeder wagon. Allow 9 inches per cow. Make the best silage you can, not too dry, not too wet. If its out side clamps, a lot of effluent will be gained. But it grows grass in a dry time.....do you get dry times?
This year ive bought 10% inclusion of concs to push away with the silage, so hoping to feed cheap straights instead of relying on the cake firms.
This year ive bought 10% inclusion of concs to push away with the silage, so hoping to feed cheap straights instead of relying on the cake firms.
Thanks that’s useful info, yep he’s no intention of getting a diet feeder. There’s two covered pits there already but the feed yard is open to the elements and it can be very wet and windy. I think his best use of any money he wants to invest in the future Is to get that covered. Nine inch per cow was the figure I was looking for, do you grab some into feed trailers as well or just all from the feed face ?
Dont grab any down at all. 7 inches for maize but i guess maize isnt part of his ration. One local herd doing 8500l is larger cows, but does grab down 30% of grub and use feed trailers.
- Location
- East Sussex
This our lot, don’t do it anymore for various reasons. Not a good time for investing in beef cattle so rather than new pit we build it much higher and feed using the bedding machine in the yards. It was getting to the stage that keeping the top of the pit knocked off or fed out was creating wastage and work. Cows won’t eat higher than shoulder height.
Really? Didnt use any manual or mechanical device to feed this clamp. Just slide the wire foward.
Cows will self feed to there highest streched point. They and the human just need training to make it happen
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
- Location
- East Sussex
About shoulder height. This is a while back when the top might have been manky so the cows eat under and it falls on the wire. We were having to make the clamp ever higher, way higher than cows could reach, giraffes maybe!!
But, yes, move the wire up, pull off any manky top and jobs done.
- Location
- Ceredigion
Its ok if you have an abundance if silage ... but there is a big gap with plenty of options between self feed and feeder wagon. Most farms have a front end loader
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
There are a lot of farms in the SE still doing it with autumn block calving. Kay Carslaw was the consultant that helped a lot of these guys. He has a list of idiot rules for building, filling and feeding from the clamp. If you didn’t follow then ran into trouble. Those farms always appeared profitable and had very respectable yields and fertility.
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
- Location
- Ceredigion
You be reinventing the Winfield self feed silage barriers next
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Don’t see why not. Intake controlled by electric wire. Would still need access to straw to fill up.
Zoe.rawlings
New Member
We are considering self feed silage, but would like a farm to come and visit who is succesfully doing it. we are based in North Wiltshire, near Malmesbury, but would be happy to travel a bit to visit a farm. Does anyone do it or know if anyone who does that would be happy for my husband and myself to visit?
Thank you.
Zoe
Thank you.
Zoe
Be more than happy to show you our 2 attempts, also my neighbours.
betweenthelines
Member
- Location
- southwest
If your cows will go hungry when faced with a few hundred tons of silage, you've got some seriously useless animals
newholland
Member
- Location
- England
@Zoe.rawlings and her farm team are excellent visitors and they make extremely good cakes as thankyou presents, so fully recommend offering them a visit!
Hopefully somebody can show them some self feed some where.
@boyo could maybe show you a system?
Hopefully somebody can show them some self feed some where.
@boyo could maybe show you a system?