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Feeding methods to reduce hay wastage

published: October 3rd 2008
by: Twig T. Marston
source: Kansas State University

Producers concerned with lowering their feed bills need to evaluate and optimize their hay handling techniques.  Kansas farm management date from 1980 to 2006 indicate that the total annual cow cost (both variable and fixed) has risen to over $550 per cow and that feed expenses are 47.1% of the total costs.  In these budgets, summer grazing was costing nearly $150 leaving $125 to $150 for winter feeding expense.   No wonder producers are looking to changes in their feeding management.  Producers have always priced diet ingredients to minimize nutrient expenses.  They should reduce feed delivery and wastage costs as well.
    Amount of hay delivered and fed has been shown to affect the amount of hay actually wasted by cattle.  When hay is supplied at more than two days of consumption cows will waste a greater percentage of hay delivered.  I once had a good cattlemen tell me “the first day is the dining room, the second day is the living room, and the third day is the bath room when feeding hay”.   Anytime cows have the ability to sort on their feed, they will always eat the preferential pieces first and consume the leftovers only if forced.  For those of you that unroll hay for your cows this will be especially true.   Unrolling round bales is an excellent way to minimize sacrificial acres (mudding up and tramping out) of pasture and grass through winter and spring feeding seasons.  Unrolling will minimize spring clean up, manure hauling, and breeding areas for summer flies.  However, studies have shown that unrolling a two to three day supply of hay can result in wastage of 22% or more.
    One of the common ways to feed round baled hay is with ring feeders.  Several studies have been performed looking at the efficiency of hay retention within the different types of feeder designs.  In trials that compared no feeder to any type of feeder, just allowing cows to maul round bales at will has extremely wasteful, resulting in over 50% of the hay never being eaten by cows.  Between the different types of feeders, those that placed barriers between the cow and the hay bale were more efficient at saving hay.  Rings without slanted bars will allow cows to waste up to a third of the hay.  Slanted bars will reduce that amount of wastage to between 6 to 15%.  Hay feeders which cradle the bale to the inside of the feeder, allowing cows to drop uneaten hay inside the outer ring of the feeder have been shown to be the most efficient feeder type.  Wastage as low as 3 to 5% have been reported in university trials. 
    Before you replace all of your existing round bale feeders with newer, more efficient models, calculate the cost or savings these feeders.  If a newer feeder will safe 5% more hay in a year’s time, and you normally feed 10 tons of hay yearly through it, the annual hay savings is 1,000 pounds.  With an expected life of 10 years on the feeder; the total hay savings will be 10,000 pounds or 5 tons of hay.  If you expect the average hay price to be $100/ton, the lifetime benefit of the feeder is going to be $500.  Sending more than $500 for the newer style will need to be justified by more than just hay savings.  Examples would be fuel saving from less clean up, improved water and land quality, and reduced labor from feeding time.
    In addition, reducing hay wastage around feeding sites can assist in fly control.  Kansas State University(KSU) studies show that hay:manure ratios of 1:1 to 5:1 provide ideal media for developing stable fly larvae.  KSU researchers have measured over 350 stable flies emerging from a single square foot of a hay feeding site.  This can result in more than one million stable flies being produced at a single round bale feeder site!