Ramsey County

February 2, 2009

Howdy!!!

This weather just does not want to give up on being on the cold side.  Grain to haul, cattle to feed, and just keeping us warm can be a struggle although last week we had some very nice days but this morning my thermometer read -18 degrees.  Every chore we do becomes more difficult with cold temperatures but luckily we are getting to the time of year the real cold weather should be starting to leave us.

I have had many cattle producers looking to buy hay, this winter.  This seems a bit strange to me but I know we had areas that was really dry and we had areas that was really wet.  The areas that had an abundance of rain meant poor quality hay or forages and those where it was dry meant good quality hay but not much of it.  Cattle producers that I have talked to do seem to have a fair amount of straw on hand.  With that being said, we could take a different look at feeding our cow herd and getting our cattle to pasture without buying much hay.  We could feed additional amounts of grains in the diet and reduce the amount of hay being fed and we could also add a molasis to either our straw or in the lick tub.  Some of these items can add to the cost of producing a calf but if we are short of hay buying hay can be very costly.  Generally most hay for sale this time of year could likely be of poorer quality and thus, in some cases, may have less TDN than good straw.   An example of substituting is corn.  Grain corn is worth 1.9 times as much as average quality prairie hay.  Prairie hay in this example includes alfalfa in the mix.  This means that one pound of corn will replace just about two pounds of hay.  Barley is fairly close at 1.8 times as much as hay.  REMEMBER, meeting the nutrient requirement of the pregnant cow is the basic underlying objective of any type of winter feeding program.  I have a chart that I found that indicates Comparative value of hay and grains for wintering cows.  This chart tells us that $50/ton for hay could be switched to $4.25 corn, barley would equate to $4.00 bushel.  You must also keep in mind that a good feed analyze always helps in the equation. 

One last thing to remember is Don’t forget to feed a good mineral package to your cattle.  Vitamin A could become deficient in older hay or winter range or if grains make up a large portion of the cow diet.  Pregnant cows need 25,000 30,000 I.U. of vitamin A per day before calving and 40,000 I.U. per day during lactation.

Just remember, it is always a good practice to substitute a part of the roughage with grains and not all.  Feed at least one-half pound of hay per 100 pound of body weight (5-6 pounds of hay).  Most importantly when determining the use of grains in the cow diet do your calculations.  Producers have been known to get caught up in the feed grain no matter the cost but we still need to look at the bottom line.  Calendar:

                                February 20                        Ramsey County Crop Improvement annual meeting

                                March 5                                Commercial applicators training  (Devils Lake)

                                March 9                                Private Pesticide training  (Edmore)

                                March 18                              Edmore Soybean days

                                March 23                              Private Pesticide training (Starkweather)

                                March 26                              Private Pesticide training (Devils Lake)  

524 4th Ave NE #5, 2nd Floor Ramsey County Courthouse
Devils Lake  ND  58301
701-662-7027
email - NDSU.Ramsey.Extension@ndsu.edu

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