Post by Shelley (whistlingtrain) on Jul 14, 2006 21:12:58 GMT -5
I know Joanne wrote a bit in her book about using plants other than grass and hay for cows, but I plan on doing a lot of non-grass feeding now that our pasture has dried up AND in the winter when it's too wet (we are in Western Washington).
Because my husband and I operate a 15-acre organic vegetable farm and harvest 10 months of the year, we will have a lot of vegetable "waste", as well as plenty of cover crop through the winter. I'm feeding grass and alfalfa hay now, plus feeding our spent pea vines which are still mostly green, with a few pods attached. My piggy cow loves everything so far and dives into every new food with relish, but Beauty has been more selective. It takes her about three feedings to decide anything is edible. Luckily Skunky's steer calf follows his mom's example, so he should be cheap beef.
I have been careful to make sure they have been eating hay for about 15 minutes before adding anything new. But it is summer and we've got a lot of "waste" to offer. Fava bean pods are another new treat--I couldn't believe how quickly they disappeared today. We usually try to give all the cull squash and cucumbers to the pigs and chickens, but pigs are actually not crazy about greens, so I'm happy to have someone to feed them to.
My concern is how much experimenting I can get away with. If we feed half hay, do I need to be careful about how much succulent stuff they get? If the vegetable stuffs are somewhat dry and fibrous can I give them more? I'm trying an experiment, cover cropping about an acre right now with cowpeas and oats, to see if they will eat it while improving our soil for fall planting. In September we will be able to plant acres of winter peas and rye, I really hope they like that, and it's nutritious for them.
Would you think they need much hay if they can have all-you-can-eat long stem peas and rye during the winter, plus some kale, etc.?
Thanks for any advice,
Shelley
Because my husband and I operate a 15-acre organic vegetable farm and harvest 10 months of the year, we will have a lot of vegetable "waste", as well as plenty of cover crop through the winter. I'm feeding grass and alfalfa hay now, plus feeding our spent pea vines which are still mostly green, with a few pods attached. My piggy cow loves everything so far and dives into every new food with relish, but Beauty has been more selective. It takes her about three feedings to decide anything is edible. Luckily Skunky's steer calf follows his mom's example, so he should be cheap beef.
I have been careful to make sure they have been eating hay for about 15 minutes before adding anything new. But it is summer and we've got a lot of "waste" to offer. Fava bean pods are another new treat--I couldn't believe how quickly they disappeared today. We usually try to give all the cull squash and cucumbers to the pigs and chickens, but pigs are actually not crazy about greens, so I'm happy to have someone to feed them to.
My concern is how much experimenting I can get away with. If we feed half hay, do I need to be careful about how much succulent stuff they get? If the vegetable stuffs are somewhat dry and fibrous can I give them more? I'm trying an experiment, cover cropping about an acre right now with cowpeas and oats, to see if they will eat it while improving our soil for fall planting. In September we will be able to plant acres of winter peas and rye, I really hope they like that, and it's nutritious for them.
Would you think they need much hay if they can have all-you-can-eat long stem peas and rye during the winter, plus some kale, etc.?
Thanks for any advice,
Shelley