Post by Tricia on Jan 22, 2007 16:44:08 GMT -5
Picky hay eaters, do we have some here! Last spring we needed 30 bales to get us into grazing season. We got some from the neighbor farm. They would not eat it. They sniffed, pulled it out of the feeders and left it all over the ground then stood there looking at us. The look said, what is this crud! DH said they'll eat it. 2 days later I blew and said they won't eat it, they are starving, get something else. So we did, and they ate it. Come to find out the neighbor sprays a preservative on the hay, not to mention liquid nitrogen fertilizer. We tried tossing a bale of the sprayed stuff in to trick them, nope they'd toss it out. A hundred bucks in waste.
I'm glad you talked to Fertrell, they do have some good people on board. Have you thought to try the Rumicult or a probiotic?
Another avenue is a holistic vet. There is one in PA, Susan Beal, DVM, Big Run Healing arts (homepathic and hebal treatments), she works with livestock. You might be able to do a phone consult with her. I am going to a grazing conf. in March that she is talking at. She is even doing an ask the vet session.
You have some pampered discerning (picky) chickens. Ours will decimate a cow patty in a minute unless it is frozen. And that is with no grain! They go for the fly larvae.
Now it is common here to just feed hay, tricky but it is working. Molly is dried off now and due in March (I should have planned for April and green grass, oh well). We'll see how her body condition does this summer, last year she got skinny when the rains of July flooded us. I started grain and wham, mastitis. I then started giving her beet pulp and molasses and she beefed up. She now is pleasantly plump, okay she is going to have an elephant! HUGE!
Cows were much smaller and produced much less in the "olden" days. An old barn near us that had Jerseys is just barely 5 foot high where the cows were. No big tall holsteins in there!
I was thinking the other day about you and the cool name of Yoda Mae, and wondered what was going on.
I'm glad you talked to Fertrell, they do have some good people on board. Have you thought to try the Rumicult or a probiotic?
Another avenue is a holistic vet. There is one in PA, Susan Beal, DVM, Big Run Healing arts (homepathic and hebal treatments), she works with livestock. You might be able to do a phone consult with her. I am going to a grazing conf. in March that she is talking at. She is even doing an ask the vet session.
You have some pampered discerning (picky) chickens. Ours will decimate a cow patty in a minute unless it is frozen. And that is with no grain! They go for the fly larvae.
Now it is common here to just feed hay, tricky but it is working. Molly is dried off now and due in March (I should have planned for April and green grass, oh well). We'll see how her body condition does this summer, last year she got skinny when the rains of July flooded us. I started grain and wham, mastitis. I then started giving her beet pulp and molasses and she beefed up. She now is pleasantly plump, okay she is going to have an elephant! HUGE!
Cows were much smaller and produced much less in the "olden" days. An old barn near us that had Jerseys is just barely 5 foot high where the cows were. No big tall holsteins in there!
I was thinking the other day about you and the cool name of Yoda Mae, and wondered what was going on.