NEMO | JAnderson - 9/3/2024 19:39
Playing devils advocate here. What TMR is capable of processing and feeding straight hay in a timely matter?
Hay “here” can be sub $100/ton easily in high production years. Big rounds at a conservative 1500lbs is 3000lbs for $100 which is $66/ton.
TMR needs bedding (which has a cost as well), I need very few dedicated bales for bedding from Nov-March due to frozen ground and hay “waste”.
There isn’t one perfect system for everyone. I’m amazed at how many on here end up fighting mud, one of the perks living in the north where it’s froze for ~6 months out of the year I guess.
To play along with devil's advocate: Some types of hay fall apart or explode in a TMR and require little to no processing to feed in a timely manner. Mainly second or third cutting legume hay that is short.
Every year's cost structure will be different. Hay was expensive last year, this year not so much.
A few months back, maybe it was last winter, several argued on here that their cows didn't need bedding in the dead of winter, even with a few inches of snow on. So a TMR takes the outer 4-6 inch layer of natural bedding from a hay bale and mixes it with the good hay, thus turning bedding into feed!
Yes, no one system works everywhere. Here we can have 6 months of mud instead of 6 months of frozen.
With that said, on a more serious note, we feed in a combination of ways. We like to unroll junk hay bales, or at least the outer layer, so the cows have something to lay on, then put the rest of the bale in a ring. We also mix straw, silage, wet cake and some hay in a TMR for a base ration to feed the cows. We love it when the ground is frozen so we can feed the mixed ration anywhere we want in a pasture.
When we try to set out, or feed, 2 or 3 days worth of hay in rings at one time so we can skip some groups of cows for a weekend or a Holiday, the waste is huge! If we preload the TMR and silage truck we can feed in a few minutes and be done without the waste.
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Talking about bale rings…
