By Steve Swigert
How Much Hay Do You Need?
Since most of us in Oklahoma have received or are receiving rain now, it is time to start thinking about baling or purchasing the winter hay that you will need. You might think it is too soon to worry about that, but it is time to ensure that you have enough hay or forage for the winter. The first step in planning is to determine how many animals you plan to take through the winter. This includes cows, calves, and bulls. The second step is determining how many months of hay feeding is needed for your operation. In some cases, you might be able to get by on 1 month worth of hay supply, but in most cases a 3 month hay supply is needed to ensure you have most, if not all, of your forage needs for the winter. The third step is to determine the amount of hay your cattle will require This goes beyond knowing that a cow can eat roughly 3% of her body weight per day in dry matter. Based on 1100-1200 pound cow, it will take approximately 35 pounds of forage a day. When figuring in any storage or feeding loss, this amounts to roughly 1 bale per cow per month of feeding. It is very important to test the quality of the forage to determine if or how much supplement will be needed to meet the nutritive needs of the animals. If you are buying hay, try to buy higher quality hay. In this area, Bermuda grass hay has a better chance to be higher in protein (7%-12%) than native grass hay. (6%-9%) Also, Bermuda grass tends to be more palatable than other grasses that are baled up in Oklahoma. If you have more than one quality of hay, it is wise to save the highest quality hay for early lactating cows in spring calving herds. Also, if you have an opportunity to provide cool season forages for your animals in the winter months that could be advantage for your cattle program as well. Most cattle producers will want to have some level of surplus in case of shortages. If you have barn space, I always liked keeping the hay in the barn as a surplus that could stay there for a few years, while being prepared to feed any that was stacked outside. Hay stacked outside has one, maybe 2 years of useful life before it has limited value to the cattle. Planning for winter feeding during the summer months may seem tedious. But this can save you time and money. Take the time now to be sure you have enough forage to last the winter can help you in the long run. If you have any questions, please contact me at sswigert@gpkubota.com. Steve is the Director of Special Projects for Great Plains Kubota, serving the customers and employees. Previously, he worked for 25 years as an Agricultural Economist for the Noble Foundation. After retiring from Noble in 2015, Steve spent 5+ years developing the agricultural program for the Choctaw Nation.