Post by greenmanfarm on Mar 18, 2008 18:20:37 GMT -5
Hi There-
I'm a first time participant here- although I'm sure my wife Jasper has written a lot.
I have some questions about hay and orchard grass and alfalfa consumption as observed in our 5 year old Jersey milking cow, Hazel. We've had her almost a year now. We are on an island in Puget Sound off Seattle.
Hazel is a picky eater and often lets the stems fall the ground. I built a trough to catch the falling hay and alfalfa so it gets a second chance. But she seems to be totally ignoring the timothy hay and much of the orchard grass. She digs through the feeder (which I usually lasagna layer with timothy, alfalfa, and orchard grass) (do we spoil this girl!?!?) and digs out the alfalfa and lets the rest fall to the ground. It looks like a lot of money we are wasting.
I wonder if it's because the Timothy is very reedy and yellow. Is that typical this time of year? Are 3rd cuttings, which I assume this is, generally unappetizing and unappealing to the cow? I know that with goats and horses, if they are wasting too much, you just cut back on how many flakes you give and after a few days of hunger pangs, they eat more thoroughly. But you can't do that so readily with a cow. We don't want to flirt with her milk production by cutting back. She could loose condition.
Has anyone come up with a clever way to get their cows to not waste and eat more thoroughly? And, how much can I force her to waste less without her loosing condition?
p.s Also, is it typical this time of year for alfalfa to be so shattered? Shattered means that the leaves all separate from the stems very quickly and fall out of the feeder. Hazel digs through the fallen timothy and pushes it out of the trough so she can lick the alfalfa leaves on the bottom of the trough. More waste. She wastes so much hay and grass and alfalfa stems that I haven't had to put down straw for months.
thank you
William Forrester
I'm a first time participant here- although I'm sure my wife Jasper has written a lot.
I have some questions about hay and orchard grass and alfalfa consumption as observed in our 5 year old Jersey milking cow, Hazel. We've had her almost a year now. We are on an island in Puget Sound off Seattle.
Hazel is a picky eater and often lets the stems fall the ground. I built a trough to catch the falling hay and alfalfa so it gets a second chance. But she seems to be totally ignoring the timothy hay and much of the orchard grass. She digs through the feeder (which I usually lasagna layer with timothy, alfalfa, and orchard grass) (do we spoil this girl!?!?) and digs out the alfalfa and lets the rest fall to the ground. It looks like a lot of money we are wasting.
I wonder if it's because the Timothy is very reedy and yellow. Is that typical this time of year? Are 3rd cuttings, which I assume this is, generally unappetizing and unappealing to the cow? I know that with goats and horses, if they are wasting too much, you just cut back on how many flakes you give and after a few days of hunger pangs, they eat more thoroughly. But you can't do that so readily with a cow. We don't want to flirt with her milk production by cutting back. She could loose condition.
Has anyone come up with a clever way to get their cows to not waste and eat more thoroughly? And, how much can I force her to waste less without her loosing condition?
p.s Also, is it typical this time of year for alfalfa to be so shattered? Shattered means that the leaves all separate from the stems very quickly and fall out of the feeder. Hazel digs through the fallen timothy and pushes it out of the trough so she can lick the alfalfa leaves on the bottom of the trough. More waste. She wastes so much hay and grass and alfalfa stems that I haven't had to put down straw for months.
thank you
William Forrester