Feeding in a Drought

I hope you are all enjoying the warm, dry weather this fall! Unfortunately, it has not been good for grass growth. In fact, we are currently experiencing moderate drought conditions in the northwestern part of Yates County. We generally supplement a bit of dry hay in October to increase fiber in the cow's diet when the grass is very lush. This year, due to the drought, baleage is making up more than half the cow's diet, and will soon be all their feed.

When cows are grazing, it is a relatively simple chore to walk out to the field and move them into the next paddock for more grass. When we are feeding a bale a day, chores take more time and we have to use the tractor to carry the large round bales out to the fields.

Here is the bull getting a good head scratch and looking for a bite before the hay goes into the feeder.

The ring feeder is easy to pick up and move with the tractor, so we can feed hay anywhere on the farm. This allows us to spread out animal impact and manure over a large area, rather than concentrating our feeding activities in one spot.

The ring feeder surrounds the bale. This prevents animals from walking on it and reduces the amount of hay that gets wasted. 

This past month we weaned all the lambs and are now feeding them in the sheep barn. The sheep pastures still have plenty of grass for the ewes to graze over the next few months. We set aside half of the sheep farm to make hay in the spring and summer. In the fall, we add the hay fields back to the sheep grazing rotation. The extra acres give us feed in case of drought, and let us graze into the winter on a normal year.

Thanks for reading,

Leith, Mary Kate, Norah & Edith MacKenzie