What are people feeding sucklers over winter?

[tinsheet]

Hay or silage, some outwintered on kale with hay.

 

[harperfarmer]

Wholecrop oats.

 

[Recoil]

Dry silage. Wet silage goes through them too quickly and they eat more, although they do prefer the wetter stuff.

 

[Adam@Rumen]

@TT. Yes, it probably is. We just get on better with the buckets, so we keep using them. Had a bit of a shed shuffle for this year, so may have another look at mineral provision.

"Free Access" minerals in a feeder should end up more cost effective, appreciate it doesn't fit every scenario.

 

[Adam@Rumen]

Do you put sawdust or anything in the cubicles?

Ours on cubicles are on sawdust with a sprinkling of hydrated lime

 

[Bossfarmer]

Do you always make work for yourself?

Our spring calvers get adlib round bale silage and nothing else. The calves are creeped from housing to weaning. Weaned last year in March, first calves born mid April. Been doing this for years now. Works well. If there is an individual cow that's lean we will wean her sooner though but it's only ever the odd one.

what to you creep calves with do you not creep them outside this time of year to stop them going back?

 

[Bossfarmer]

We wean spring calves in November and house them, the cows go back out and fed straw until Xmas time then brought in and fed straight silage.

Backend calvers are housed end of November and fed a silage/straw mix, and fed a barley blend along with minerals, calf's fed with good haylage and plenty feeding in calf creep.

your only feeding straw outside in december? mine would loose condition if i did that are theyy on deferred grazing?

 

[Bossfarmer]

We have to give our backend calvers plenty cake or they don't hold their condition.

this once theyve calved? whed u get your cake? why not just some bruised barley?

 

[Wooly]

Straw and second quality hay for my Sussex cows....... and they still get fat on that.

Then add some silage once they have calves.

Cheap and simple systems are sometimes the best.

 

[Dman2]

Silage and a bucket of rolled oats here

 

[roscoe erf]

Straw and silage adlib

 

[Lazy Eric]

Spring calvers get adlib July made silage, also get a bit of fodder beet after they calve. Don't bother with free access minerals. Bolus twice a year instead with animax things. Housing and turn out
Oh yeah.. they have free access to clean straw in a ring feeder too.

 

[Weasel]

your only feeding straw outside in december? mine would loose condition if i did that are theyy on deferred grazing?

Grazed on the hill

 

[Bossfarmer]

does anyone sell their females for breeding ive been thinking of starting this a good in calf heifer seems to be making £1600 ive got some bit simmentals quiet too

 

[GTB]

Do you put sawdust or anything in the cubicles?

Just a sprinkling of straw daily when we scrape the passages out. Spring calvers at another place with rubber mats get no straw or sawdust.

 

[GTB]

Lack of salt I am told.

I think it's mainly to annoy us!

Ours stop when they have salt.

Ours stop when they get rock salt too.

 

[Henarar]

Ours stop when they get rock salt too.

why not let them drink pee its cheaper

 

[Henarar]

We feed our cows and calves round bale haylage and hay and a sprinkle of mins before/during calving, no hard feed

 

[ajcc]

Forage crops and bale of silage, hay,straw or wholecrop depending on availability and condition no shed space and pretty exposed they have to rough it. They'll be strip grazing fodderbeet from early Nov. to mid April and calving late Feb onwards......fingers crossed just hope it's not too wet for too long cos that can put spanner in the works.
Might be some fat devons who will need confining and starving until festive season

 

[GTB]

why not let them drink pee its cheaper

I'm not that bothered about them drinking pee, it's licking pee and slurry off the floor that upsets me.