Straw chopped mixing silage and straw

[dannewhouse]

Anyone feed silage and straw to suckers with a straw chopped,
I'm debating either a mixer wagon or straw chopper, cows don't eat straw if given bale silage bale straw separate but will they if I layer silage and straw together with chopper?
Chopper be handy as currently bedding by hand. But can't warrant both machines

 

[Blue.]

Anyone feed silage and straw to suckers with a straw chopped,
I'm debating either a mixer wagon or straw chopper, cows don't eat straw if given bale silage bale straw separate but will they if I layer silage and straw together with chopper?
Chopper be handy as currently bedding by hand. But can't warrant both machines

There’s a couple of manufacturers sell a straw blower that has a short chop setting for shorter chop ie feeding,I use a roto grind using the tub mixer alone doesn’t get it short enough.

 

[milkloss]

We have a Lucas g (two round bales with the door shut). Have fed a lot of straw and pit silage mixed to eke it out a little. Works well.

run a few straw bales through the machine into a bund made out of bales in the shed. A couple of grabs of straw on the bottom and pit silage using the shear grab on the top. Best to let the blocks break up as they fall out.

we use wheat straw, cows don't seem to think much of oat or barley straw.

 

[Cowpoke82]

I roll silage out over the top of barley straw never have an issue with cows not eating straw

 

[Bald Rick]

Anyone feed silage and straw to suckers with a straw chopped,
I'm debating either a mixer wagon or straw chopper, cows don't eat straw if given bale silage bale straw separate but will they if I layer silage and straw together with chopper?
Chopper be handy as currently bedding by hand. But can't warrant both machines

We feed all our dry cows on chopped (milled) straw as it massively increases intakes and stops sorting from the more tasty forages in the mix.
You will get an OK chop from a mixer wagon IF the blades are sharp and you are prepared to turn it for at least an hour and whilst a straw chopper will be quicker, chop length will be very variable.

Really the only way to get a consistent length of say 5mm or less is to mill the straw. But milling is power hungry (200hp +) and whilst you can buy a cheap hammer mill, the best jobs are from either a Haybuster or Teagle Calibrator but they are £££s and would be difficult to justify for sucklers unless you have a neighbour or contractor close by as they really need to mill an artic load at a time to make it worthwhile

 

[capfits]

Chuck straw in mixer here, tease it out then add silage works fine.
On slats no issue with longer material getting pulled through and dropping into tank.

 

[dannewhouse]

The silage is round baled so rather hard to layer with straw in a straw chopper

By layering I meant run a straw bale down feed fence in chopper then run a silage bale

Not too bothered for a chopped mix if I go the mixer route just mixed enough will the cows sort straw from silage?

 

[som farmer]

we feed straw/silage mix to our transition cows, replaced all the missing knives in the keenan, and it takes time, but works well.

follow u'tube a lot, ground hay, or straw, features heavily on both dairy and beef farms, in N America, and yet mention it to nutritionists here, a sharp intake of breath, occurs.

margins are getting tighter all the time, and learning what other countries do, is worth looking at, may, or may not be of value to us, but if you don't look, you don't know.

we looked at how farmers cope with drier climes abroad, certainly altered our system, for the better, and saved money.

 

[capfits]

Nope

 

[Rich_ard]

I one year put a Heston in the back of the pen. Cows ate away at it then bedded up with it. Put another in. Not sure how much more you could feed though by mixing it all up.

 

[neilo]

Can you feed straw one day, silage the next, or is that not an option? If it’s only for dry sucklers then it’s not like they’re on a productive knife edge.

Do sucklers pay for shiny machinery these days?

 

[HundyMundy]

If you are feeding cows silage through a bedding machine, given them a fixed amount they will fill themselves up on straw. Never known a cow not to eat straw. A ring feeder in the pen would be fine. Just make sure there is enough head space at the feed barrier so each cow gets her fair share of silage. This is what we used to do before we got a diet feeder.

 

[HarryB97]

Layer the straw and silage in the blower at the same time. It’ll self mix to a degree

 

[Old apprentice]

Tub mixer I used to put a mini Heston in and a ton of silage took a bit of mixing and choped the straw well But be wear doing a lot of this can wear the tub straw wheat is quite abrasive.

 

[Hilly]

Put a bale in keenan through spreadabale , works for me .

 

[Sheepfog]

Place I worked at gave ad lib straw in ring feeders. Silage bale blown down the front of the feed passage.

Works well, but only really justified if you already have a straw blower on site (McHale in this case).

 

[hally]

We put a couple of round bales in a diet feeder with 1/3 bale of straw and some minerals, mixes no bother and our suckers eat it with no separating. Very easy to feed out, downside is diesel costs.
We used to put a line of silage down with straw bedder then done straw on top through the same machine bit it was a dusty faff and bales are hard on straw bedders.

 

[dannewhouse]

Think I'm a tad short of feed fence 30ft per 25 cows so just over 14" per cow 365mm.

Baled silage chopped with baler but doubt it will mix much if I put this and a straw bale in a straw chopper?

 

[hally]

Think I'm a tad short of feed fence 30ft per 25 cows so just over 14" per cow 365mm.

Baled silage chopped with baler but doubt it will mix much if I put this and a straw bale in a straw chopper?

No we tried it, it tends to come through separately. Best way to do it properly is a diet feeder.....at a cost obviously.

 

[Gulli]

Run ours through a McHale chopper, works well but only really mix straw with pit silage, bales we feed on their own.
Always used to put a grab of straw in the feed trailer and then a bale on top, sucklers don't sort like dairy cows do