Bale Grazing: Bale Placement

Time of year and amount of feed placed

Bales can be placed during summer, fall or winter. There are several advantages to placing bales early in the season:

1. There are lower equipment costs if bales are grazed on the hayfield where they are made, or if they are taken directly from the hayfield to the wintering site.
2. There is less wear on equipment and there are lower operating expenses during mild weather.
3. The producer has eliminated the cost of moving snow.
4. There are lowered costs of operating equipment in the snow.
5. The producer has the opportunity to remove plastic twine prior to freezing rain or wet snow.

Some producers have placed the entire winter supply of bales prior to winter. In some cases, this may be relatively high risk because of potential wildlife damage or livestock access problems due to snow drifting. If so, a portion of the bales can be placed in fall and the remainder can be placed during the winter on a weekly or monthly basis from the stack yard. In this situation, some of the cost advantage will be lost because bales are handled an extra time.

Wind protection and watering

Portable windbreaks should be used for wind protection if there is insufficient natural shelter. The windbreaks need to be moved on a regular basis to facilitate uniform distribution of livestock, and subsequently uniform distribution of nutrients from manure and urine.

When possible, avoid the natural shelter of riparian areas. If riparian and upland wooded areas must be used, you may need to limit or stop livestock access with fencing to allow for regeneration of trees and to avoid excess nutrient overloading.

When surface water bodies, such as dugouts and sloughs, are used as a water source, pumping to a winterized system is recommended. This will minimize the risk of cattle falling through the ice. These systems also reduce the potential for manure and nutrient contamination of the water source.

Bale setting and density

When electric wire is used to limit access, the bales are usually placed in rows on a grid system to simplify moving the electric wire.

For example, if 10 bales are needed to feed a group of livestock for three days, then bales are set in rows of 10. Most often, bales are placed on their round side, just the same as when they are ejected from the baler. This way, the bales stay relatively intact after the twine is removed.

If you are using alfalfa/grass hay bales that average 1,300 lbs., current research is suggesting a maximum density of 25 bales per acre. To obtain this density, place bales in a grid on 40-foot centres.

At this rate, an overall average rate of about 75 lbs. per acre of plant-available nitrogen will accumulate in the soil profile the following spring. The nutrients will not be evenly distributed, but overall this is considered an environmentally safe and economically optimum rate for nitrogen application.

In a follow-up year, bales can be placed in the lower fertility areas of the grid.

When straw bales are included on the bale grazing site, overall bale density can be increased because straw results in a lower level of nutrients being excreted by the livestock. On a per-bale basis, assume that a straw bale contains about 25 per cent of the nutrients of an alfalfa/grass hay bale.

Feed rationing: quantity and quality

When planning for bale placement, assume cows will consume hay that has a 10 per cent moisture content at the rate of about 2.6 per cent of body weight per day.

Therefore, a herd of 100 cows with an average weight of 1,400 lbs. would consume about 3,640 lbs. of hay each day (100 x 1,400 x 0.026 = 3,640).

Allowing for 15 per cent feed waste, the herd of cows would need access to 4,186 lbs. of hay for each day (3,640 x 1.15 = 4,186). If the electric wire fence is to be moved every three days, then the herd would need 12,558 lbs. of hay for each move (4,186 x 3 = 12,558).

When all the bales being grazed are of similar feedstuff and forage quality, they are simply placed in rows and allocated to the livestock as needed. As with any winter feeding program, it is recommended to sample and feed test to determine if the feed provides adequate nutrition.

However, when bales are from different feedstuffs and of different forage quality, then some planning is needed. The planning involves the mix of different types of bales and the number of bales associated with each move of the electric wire. Different feedstuffs could include:

• alfalfa;
• alfalfa-grass mix;
• grass;
• greenfeed; or
• straw.

Bales of different feeds need to be weighed to determine their average weights. Each lot of bales needs to be sampled and analyzed to determine forage quality. The information can then be used to calculate the combination of bales required to balance the nutritional needs of the cows.

When bales of different feed quality are placed together and rationed to the livestock, the bale grazing must be managed so that all animals get a relatively equal chance at the better quality feed.

For example, suppose a combination of three hay bales and one straw bale will meet the daily intake and nutritional needs of a herd. However, if three hay bales and one straw bale are allocated each day, the aggressive animals will get the majority of the better feed.

To ensure that all animals have relatively equal access to the better quality feed, allocate nine hay bales and three straw bales for a three-day period. On the first day, animals will have the all opportunity to fill up on the higher-quality hay. By the third day, all the animals will have to eat straw or a similar lower-quality ration.

An alternate option is to place lower-quality bales by themselves in one location, and higher-quality bales by themselves in another location. At any point, the herd can be limited to low-quality feed for a period of time, or can be given free access to higher-quality feed.

This allows rations to be adjusted during the winter in response to the changing nutritional requirements of the cows. These requirements will change over winter in relation to air temperature, body condition score, and stage of pregnancy.

Livestock and electric fence management

Livestock access to the bales needs to be controlled. This minimizes fouling of feed and reduces the potential for partially grazed bales to be buried under drifting snow.

Livestock access is commonly controlled with an electric fence, but can also be accomplished with a series of small permanent paddocks. Livestock access to individual bales can be further controlled using bale feeders.

The optimum time period for each move of the electric fence appears to be three to four days. The electric fence does not necessarily have to be moved at specifically set intervals. With changes in temperature and livestock body condition score, the feed cleanup should be monitored and moving done accordingly.