COLUMBUS, Ohio If not man
aged properly, more than 60 percent
of the hay fed to cattle could go to
waste, said Steve Boyles, Ohio State
University Extension beef specialist.
“Because of a cow’s behavior, it
may eat a certain amount of hay then
lay on the rest, or stand on some hay
while it’s eating and then won’t eat the
soiled hay,” Boyles said, “Using a
bale feeder or some other method to
restrict cattle’s access to hay wouldn’t
allow them to stomp as much into the
ground and could greatly reduce hay
wastage.”
Hay is the most widely grown me
chanically harvested crop in the
United States, with more than ISO
million tons of hay harvested from 60
million acres of forage crops each
year. Annual production is valued at
more than $l2 billion. But it’s esti
mated that the total value of hay stor
age and feeding losses exceeds $3 bil
lion annually. On some farms, losses
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Boyles said.
“Some hay losses during feeding
can be expected with any feeding sys
tem, but the amount of loss varies with
methods of feeding,” he said. “In re
search trials, feeding losses have rang
ed from less than 2 percent when great
care is taken to more than 60 percent
when no attempts were made to re
duce loss.”
The biggest waste during feeding
occurs when producers allow live
stock to have unlimited access to hay.
Wastage can be 40 percent or more
when cattle are allowed free access to
large round bales without feed racks.
Boyles said. When rings or feeders are
used to restrict access to large bales,
average hay wastage is lowered signi
ficantly to 9 percent. Only 7 percent of
hay is lost when smaller square bales
are fed in a rack.
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Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 12, 2000—Page'25
Wastage is greater with low quality
hay than with high quality hay for all
feeding systems.
Limiting the amount of hay fed to a
one-day supply also reduces losses.
Boyles said. Cattle with free access
waste 11 percent of hay when given a
one-day supply of 20 pounds, 25 per
cent when given a two-day supply of
40 pounds, and 31 percent when given
a four-day supply of 80 pounds.
“Intermittent feeding may be neces
sary to reduce labor, and time is
money, so some producers may have
to balance out how often they feed
with how much hay they’re willing to
waste,” he said. “If substantial quanti
ties of hay must be put out at one time,
putting a barrier between the hay and
the cattle will reduce waste.”
The barrier could be an electric
wire, feeding racks or rings, panels,
wagons, or gates. Feeding racks and
rings are available in a variety of
shapes and sizes, and blueprints ot
homemade bale protectors are avail
able through Ohio State University
Extension, Boyles said.
Altering hay bales before feeding,
such as unrolling a bale to enable live
stock to line up and eat like at a feed
bunk, can reduce waste. But unrolling
a bale and allowing free access still re
sults in an average hay loss of 23 per
cent.
When feeding hay in a pasture at
various locations, cattle waste less if
they have solid footing. Dry, well
drained or frozen sites should be chos
en when feeding hay outside, he said.
More hay is trampled and uneaten
when feeding at wet or muddy loca
tions.
Feeding hay in only one area allows
producers to select convenient feeding
locations that are easily accessible and
minimize the areas where sod is
(Turn to Page 26)
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