Cropping Systems Management Projects
Managing Mountain Meadows for Sustainable Forage Production
Hay
production for the long winter feeding period is a major cost for high elevation
livestock producers and a logical area in which to cut costs. One problem
producers face during the haying season is the difficulty in putting up
high quality hay due to frequent afternoon thundershowers. Not only does
forage quality decline under these conditions, but some ranchers are faced
with paying large haying crews for extended periods without the benefit
of actually putting up any hay.
One potential solution to this problem is to put hay up as big round bale silage or baleage. Essentially, putting up hay as baleage takes weather out of the equation because baling can take place at moisture levels up to 70%. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of steers that were fed either baleage only, dry hay only, or a combination of baleage in the morning and dry hay at night. During this study, steers were fed free choice hay with no other supplements from early December to late March. Gains over the entire feeding period averaged 1.06, 0.90, and 0.86 lb/head/day for the steers fed a combination of hay, baleage only, and dry hay only, respectively. The real advantage of feeding the combination of baleage and dry hay came during March when the steers fed the combination of hays gained 1.74 lb/head/day compared to 1.41 and 1.08 lb/head/day for the baleage and dry hay only groups, respectively. Based on results to date, it appears that preserving and feeding mountain meadow hay as baleage offers a viable alternative to normal dry hay. Even though there is a cost associated with preserving hay as baleage (plastic wrap and additional equipment), part of that cost can be offset by the improved weight gains on calves that are possible from feeding a combination of baleage and dry hay.
FROM THE GROUND UP agronomy news is a monthly publication of Cooperative Extension, Department of Soil & Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.
Web Site: http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/SoilCrop/extension/Newsletters/news.html
The information in this newsletter is not copyrighted and may be distributed freely. Please give the original author the appropriate credit for their work.
Troy Bauder, Technical Editor
Marjorie Nockels , Student Editor
Direct questions and comments to:
Deborah Fields
Phone: 970- 491-6201
Fax: 970-491-2758
e-mail: dfields@lamar.colostate.edu
Extension staff members are:
Troy Bauder, Water Quality
Mark Brick, Bean Production
Joe Brummer, Forages
Betsy Buffington, Pesticide
Pat Byrne, Biotechnology
Jessica Davis, Soils
Jerry Johnson, Variety Testing
Raj Khosla, Precision Farming
Sandra McDonald, Pesticide
James Self, Soil, Water, & Plant Testing
Reagan Waskom, Water Resources
