Cattle Starter

Category: Farming in General

  • Testing and Measuring the Quality of your Cattle’s Winter Hay – PART 2: Testing Hay Quality

    Welcome to Part 2 of our blog series on Testing and Measuring the Quality of your Cattle’s Winter Hay. Please be sure to read Part 1 – Why should we care about hay quality?

    Today’s post will focus on the methodology of collecting a forage sample, the tools/supplies needed, and where you can send your forage sample for analysis.

    We live in Northern Maine and send our hay samples to Dairy One and their Forage Testing Laboratory, based in Ithaca, New York.

    Their website is extremely user-friendly, and their instructions for collecting a forage sample are thorough and easy to understand. Further, they even provide forage analysis kits and other supplies to help with the sample collection process.

    Forage Sample Submission Form
    Collecting a Forage Sample

    Their Forage Sample Submission Form is available online, as well as a step-by-step guide to Collecting a Forage Sample.

    Forage samples need to be submitted in a quart-sized plastic bag within a Dairy One Forage Analysis Laboratory mailer envelope. For our purposes, we will be discussing the methodology of collecting a HAY sample. Please see the guide for Collecting a Forage Sample, for all other forage types.

    Steps for Collecting a Hay Sample

    Hay Probe Tool

    If you don’t already own one, you will need to purchase a Hay Probe tool. This tool will allow you to bore (or make a hole), through each hay bale. Using a hay probe to collect a core sample will allow for the most accurate nutritional breakdown of each of your particular sample lots. Also, the hay probes on the market today are extremely user-friendly and can be used to collect many samples, both efficiently and effectively by a single person.

    Determining Different Sample Lots (if applicable)

    Be sure to determine your sample lots.

    Let’s say you purchased hay from two different hay producers, and their hay bales are from two different cuttings, a month apart:

    We have Producer A, with cuts from July and August, each from a separate field, and we have Producer B, also with cuts from July and August in two different fields. That gives us 4 LOTS to sample.

    For the most representative and accurate analysis, the lab recommends that you sample 12-20 bales per lot, picked at random.

    Collecting the Hay Samples

    Supplies/Tools Needed:

    Hay probe

    Clean bucket to collect hay samples

    Clean, quart-sized plastic zip lock bags

    Permanent marker to label each bag with Lot Name (e.g., Producer A – July Hay)

    Use your hay probe to bore into each bale in the appropriate location (see here for instructions for square and round bales). Empty the hay probe’s cleanout rod into your clean bucket, and then move to your next bale, adding each sample to the same bucket as you go along. After completing each lot, you should have 1 bucket with all of your samples. Mix the samples by hand in the bucket and fill your sample bag with approximately 1 pound of material (the lab recommends 2-3 good handfuls). Squeeze out as much air as possible and seal the bag. Repeat this entire process for each of your lots, being sure to keep your samples labeled.

    Place each labeled, quart-sized plastic zip lock bag sample into your Dairy One Forage Analysis Laboratory mailer, along with a completed submission form and place in the mail. The lab will test your samples based on the type of forage testing you select. We always select the Forage NIR testing, which is $18.00/sample. This analysis provides us with Crude Protein and Total Digestible Nutrition, as well as a wide plethora of other nutritional information on a Dry Matter and an As-Is basis. Results will be sent to the email that you provide on the submission form. You can also receive copies by fax or mail.

    Please see our final post in this series: PART 3: Receiving and Understanding your Forage Analysis Results

    Also, if you missed Part 1, please check it out here: Part 1 – Why should we care about hay quality?

    Thank you for reading!

  • Testing and Measuring the Quality of your Cattle’s Winter Hay – PART 1: Why should we care about hay quality?

    This will be a 3-part blog series on: Testing and Measuring the Quality of your Cattle’s Winter Hay.

    Today’s post is Part 1 – Why should we care about hay quality? (Part 2 of our series is ready to read as well! Please check it out!)

    Forage costs are arguably the highest expense for any cattle operation, especially for those farmers whom feed-out hundreds of hay bales each winter. When you are budgeting for, and estimating your winter hay needs, it is important (nutritionally and financially) to know the actual quality of your hay. Each hay bale purchased is a small investment into your operation. You are putting forth money (and a lot of it for many of us) into forage/hay purchases and in turn, you hope that your forage/hay will provide the right rations of nutrition for your beef cattle. Ultimately, your “pay-off” will be represented by those same beef cattle thriving throughout the winter hay feeding season and then producing a healthy calf come calving time, and continuing to thrive and produce, year-after-year.

    When I talk about a cow thriving and producing, I am thinking in terms of this: “thrive and produce” = a gestating cow that can maintain her body condition (as best as possible) during the winter, by consuming forage/hay that is a high-enough quality to allow for healthy fetus development of her calf, lactation production, and delivery of a healthy, strong calf. Then, post-calving, she needs to come into estrus/start cycling and be bred-back, all the while nursing her calf. AND for first-calf and second-calf heifers, we expect them to do all of this, PLUS continue to grow themselves. A tall order, indeed!

    We expect a lot out of our beef cows, and therefore, we need to provide them with the quality of forage/hay/feed they need to thrive and produce.

    So, how do we test our winter hay? (Please check-out Part 2 of this blog series, where we discuss this in more depth)

    How do we measure the quality of all those winter hay bales out in our fields or barns? (Please check-out Part 2 of this blog series, where we discuss this in more depth)

    Does quantity equal quality? No, it does not. You can have all the hay bales that you require according to your calculations (see here for calculating winter hay) but if the hay quality does not meet the nutritional demands of your animals, you very likely will need to feed out more forage/hay/feed supplement per day/per head than you initially calculated for.

    And, what do we mean by the term “quality”?

    Have you ever looked a bale of hay and wondered, “what really is in this hay?” “How nutritional is this hay? And how does my hay meet the nutritional demands of my animals?

    We have only been in the beef cattle business and thus, dealing with hay, for six years. As such, we continue to learn and grow in regards to what we look for when buying hay. We have started to get a very small sense of the quality of our hay by sight and smell. Hay that has more of a “fresh-cut smell”, than a “musky, moldy smell.” We have had some bales with mold all the way through. Moldy hay will likely provide your cattle with little, if any, nutritional value, and more importantly, may not be safe to feed your your pregnant cows (moldy hay has been known to cause fungal abortions in pregnant cows). The more hay bales you look at, the more you can start to develop a visual basis, for which you can compare to bales from different producers/fields/times of year. We can look at two different hay bales, from either two different producers or the same producer but different fields and/or different cut, and visually see a difference in what we perceive is the quality of those bales. Then, we can discuss those differences until we are blue in the face. In the end, we could think we feel confident that we are feeding our mama cows hay with the right nutritional break-down but are we really????

    What nutritional break-down are we looking for in a bale of hay?

    Throughout this 3-part blog series, I will be referring to several nutritional terms:

    Dry Matter (DM): Simply put, the term dry matter is the amount of hay, that when tested, is moisture-free. When a hay sample is tested, you will receive a forage analysis report, and one of the variables quantified, is the amount of moisture in the forage sample. Say that a particular sample of hay is 15% moisture and 85% dry matter. When making beef cow feed ration calculations, you need to use the dry matter composition. We will discuss this in more-depth later on in this series. I will refer to Dry Matter as DM.

    Crude Protein (CP): Crude protein is another variable quantified in a forage/hay analysis. The percentage of crude protein tells us how much nitrogen is present in a given sample, representing both true protein and non-protein nitrogen. For example, a 1200-pound beef cow, in the pre-calving stage (60-90 days before calving) will require a diet of approximately 8.6% crude protein. (https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/400/400-012/400-012.html). This value will vary depending on the age of your cow (first-calf heifer versus mature cow, time of year, weather conditions, and where they are in the production cycle (pre-calving, postpartum, lactating (nursing a calf) and pregnant (bred-back after calving), and gestation (pregnancy stage after weaning calf, not lactating). This publication, by the Virginia Cooperative Extension, provides an extremely detailed and very useful guide for nutritional requirements (CP and TDN) for beef cows throughout the entire production cycle for mature cows, 1st-calf heifers, and more.) I will refer to Crude Protein as CP.

    Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN): The TDN percentage in a forage analysis tells us all about energy: The total amount of the digestible protein, lipid, carbohydrates and fiber components present. Knowing the TDN percentage allows us to better decide if our forage is meeting the energy requirements of our cattle, and further, is a key component in determining and balancing winter forage rations. I will refer to Total Digestible Nutrients as TDN.

    Continuing with our example from above (Crude Protein needs) of a 1200-pound beef cow, in the pre-calving stage (60-90 days before calving), this cow’s diet should be comprised of approximately 54.6% TDN. Our hypothetical, 1200-pound beef cow, in the pre-calving stage (60-90 days before calving) will require around 24.4lbs Dry Matter intake/day, with a nutritional break-down of approximately 8.6%/2.07lbs/day Crude Protein and 54.6%/13.2lbs/day Total Digestible Nutrients. (https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/400/400-012/400-012.html).

    How we approach the management of our cattle herd is an ever-evolving work in progress, and there will never be a one-size-fits-all mold. What worked last winter may not work this winter and so forth. Thus, I think part of the draw and challenge for us is that there always is and always will be new things for us to learn. The all-important topic of Winter Hay/Forage/Feed Quality is always on our minds, no matter the time of year. On that note, I thank you for taking the time to read this post. Understanding the importance of – and how to test for – the quality of our cattle’s winter hay is critical in ensuring top performance and production of our beef cattle. I encourage you to please check out the rest of this 3-part series, as we post it. Thank you!

    Please head over to PART 2 in our Testing and Measuring the Quality of your Cattle’s Winter Hay blog series and take a read! PART 2: Testing Hay Quality

    Please see our final post in this series: PART 3: Receiving and Understanding your Forage Analysis Results


  • Thinking Ahead to the Beef Calving Season

    Apparently, it is springtime now. It sure doesn’t feel that way on the farm.

    1st day of Spring 2019!

    For us, spring doesn’t really emerge until April or May. But, spring will arrive to our neck of the woods soon enough and with it, preparation for our 2019 calving season. We pushed back our breeding season last summer by one week and therefore, we anticipate calves to start hitting the ground around the 2nd week of May or so. Calving times vary by regions and individual operations, and we realize that many producers are already in the midst of their calving seasons.

    Today’s post highlights two previous posts, related to the calving season.

    The Calving Bucket

    This post breaks-down what we consider to be our “must-have” items for your calving bucket. As with all things, be sure to tailor your calving bucket for your specific needs.

    Make sure your calving bucket is cleaned-up, re-stocked and ready to roll well before your calving season starts. It is no fun and very stressful to be scrambling at the last minute, trying to locate items, while you have a newborn calf in the field ready to be worked. For us, we only have a short period of time to be able to catch that calf before they are able to out-run us.

    For a calf born in the morning, we better have worked it by the end of that day or else we won’t be catching it! With that being said, though, we always allow the mother and newborn calf to develop a bond and to nurse to their hearts content before we work the calf.

    This calf is standing for the very first time and by nightfall, he probably will already be too quick for us to catch.

    That Cow is Gonna Calve Soon! – Signs of the Onset of Labor

    This post has been our most popular post in the history of our site. We still find it to be very relevant and informative for those seeking information on what to be watching for as their cow approaches calving time. The signs of the onset of labor in cows that we see today are probably just the same as they were from the beginning of time.

    I am a very big visual learner, and when I was outlining the content for this post, I wanted to make sure that it was descriptive, both with text and visual aids. There is incredible value in providing a detailed write-up for folks on this topic. Just a quick search on the internet proves that. By adding descriptive visual aids (i.e., pictures) the reader is able to take that text description to the next level and hopefully, apply it to real-life situations.

    I say this a lot in my posts and I will say it again here, spend time watching and getting to know your animals. The more in-tune you are with your animals, their mannerisms, their behaviors, the herd dynamic, the more advantage you will have in detecting the signs preceding labor. That has been my experience these last six years. I can walk out to the cows and scan the herd and get a pretty good idea if someone is in the early stages of labor. By that, I mean if they are going to deliver a calf that very day. Some signs are more obvious than others (water sac has emerged or a cow is bedded down, pushing! ha!). It may be a very slight lift in the tail (right before the water sac is pushed out, that tail will be lifted HIGH and usually bent to the side and there will be NOTHING subtle about it by that point in labor) or a shift in personality that you are only going to recognize if you know your cows and their normal dispositions and behaviors. I have had times where during the 1st check of the morning I have noticed that a particular cow was holding her tailed ever so slightly lifted. You have to really pay attention to notice it. By my next check, a few hours later, that cow is usually in labor or already delivered her calf.

    Be sure to check out
    That Cow is Gonna Calve Soon! – Signs of the Onset of Labor for more information and plenty of pictures.

    In closing, here are a couple pictures from seasons past of births I was blessed enough to be able to witness.

    Incredibly zoomed in on my camera from
    my watch point.
    Zoomed in….
    Calf from delivery in picture above…

    Happy Calving!

  • Raising Beef Cattle in Brutal Winter Conditions and Sticking to the Routine

    Hello from windy, northern Maine!

    Spring/Summer 2018 Calves at their winter hay bale site.

    The wind has been whipping through our area like a bull on a mission during the breeding season. ha! We have had wind gusts up to 50 mph, with the potential for wind chill to reach -40 F today. It makes a person want to hunker down and hibernate for the day. Hiding is not an option when you operate a farm or ranch, even during the most brutal of winter conditions. Snow, sleet, wind, polar vortex induced cold, rain, ice, and sometimes, sweltering heat (starting to believe, though, that that option may not longer exist up here! ha!)……..the farm…the ranch…your animals…need YOU! My absolute favorite person in the world did the morning check on the snowmobile this morning. Thank you, Jer!

    On a normal winter day the daily routine looks like this:

    Heading out, on the AM check.

    AM Check: After putting our oldest on the bus, I make the rounds around the farm. When the weather really kicks up, like these last few days with our windstorm, Jer will take the snowmobile and zip around the farm checking everyone. On a normal day (less and less normal days this winter!), Jer is getting ready to go to his 40+ hour a week job that is separate from the farm and I do this AM check. I check the calves and the cows. As I mentioned in the previous post, we currently manage these two groups separately during the winter. During this AM check, I want to make sure everyone is alright, and then, address any damage that may have occurred overnight.

    Good morning, girls!

    This can range from something as simple as some insulators that popped off or as complex as wires ripped down and cattle during a dance in forbidden territory. More and more this winter, we have found ourselves also having to do some serious shoveling as well around the bales. After finishing any needed fixes and/or shoveling, I then make sure everyone has access to hay by adjusting wires and rods as needed.

    At the calves bale site, adjusting wires and rods on a hay bale that has fallen-part.

    Afternoon Check: I do my second check of the day in the afternoon, before our oldest gets home from school. I do this check while our youngest is napping. This check is more involved, as I feed out mineral for the calves and the cows, plus barley malt sprout tailings for the calves. For our 30 spring/summer 2018 calves, we feed out 8, full-5 gallon buckets worth of tailings during this afternoon check. Our tailings are stored in huge, industrial-sized totes. The totes are a little distance from the calves, so we use a sled to bring the tailings to the calves.

    Ready to haul! Sled with barley malt sprout tailings and mineral.

    We spread-out the feeding of the spouts between two large, feed bunkers. In addition to supplying mineral and tailings, the same check-list from the AM check applies for the afternoon check as well.

    The teenagers – as our eldest likes to call them – waiting for their sprouts!

    1 of 2 feed bunkers for the calves.
    Good afternoon!

    After finishing the afternoon check, I usually have just enough time to store the sled and mineral containers away and then it is down to the bus stop to meet the school bus.

    A little sidenote: My daily uniform this winter has been my insulated Carhartt bid overalls, 2 winter coats, neck and face cover, hat, multiple pairs of gloves, and my Mucks. I finally broke-down this winter and invested in some good quality insulated Carhartt bid overalls. I had been putting it off for 5 winters, using a combination of ski pants/rain pants/any pants. Well, this winter broke me and by December 1st, a month after winter came rip-roaring in, I was rocking in my new overalls and much warmer! Having the right equipment is crucial to running a farm and the right equipment applies just as much to your clothing and choice of shoes, as it does to your choice of tractor or squeeze chute. Here on the farm, we are all about thrift store and second-hand shopping. We relish and anticipate for months prior to the next farm equipment auction. We are all about saving money, buying something still in good condition, but used. But, the thrift-store train stops when it comes to outfitting ourselves and our children for these brutal Maine winters. We need gear that is going to keep us warm, dry and free from hypothermia ideally! We invest in good wool socks, insulated jackets and overalls, and boots! Mittens, gloves, neck and face covers, and hats galore! You open our front door and you will be greeted by a mountain-filled, over-flowing chest of winter gear. It really does take over the house. As much as I love my overalls, I will be more than ready to hang them up for the season! I know that Jer and the kids feel the same way.

    Stay tuned for my next post on calculating winter hay bale/feed needs for your cattle herd!

    Stay safe and take care!

  • Does Agriculture HAVE to be BIG???

    Chuck Jolley recently wrote an opinion piece on modern agriculture for Drovers Cattle Network, defending the large-scale farming model we have in most of America today.  His basic point?  Farming has become BIG, BIG, BIG, and has to remain BIG to supply food for the nation and the world.  He defends the bigger-is-better mentality as a necessity.  For instance, he describes the high costs of farming as a reason farms must be big.

    Equipment is as expensive as those high dollar Italian supercars. A new tractor? Think a Ferrari-like $300,000. A combine? Think a Rolls-Royce Maharaja Phantom Drophead Coupe at $400,000. And the cash to pay the monthlies? It comes once a year if the weather holds and the farmer made all the right choices along the way. Like every other worthwhile business pursuit, farming is a ‘pay-to-play’ corporate pursuit which means it has to be big to generate the income needed to play another day. Small farms tend to be hobby farms; few generate the cash needed to be self-sustaining without outside income. People who operate them often live hand-to-mouth and are called ‘richer in other ways,’ a polite old phrase meaning they’re going broke but it still feels good. Regardless, banks still say ‘show me the money’ at the end of the month.

    What Mr. Jolley fails to point out, however, is that a large reason for high equipment costs is the profitability of farming at large scales that has driven these costs through the roof.  Also, government subsidies have helped these farms grow to such a high level and produce food at a much lower cost.  This has certainly made us more productive, but at what cost?  Many can argue our food is less healthy and nutritious, more difficult to trace, and heavily subsidized by the taxpayer – so how cheap is it, really?

    For better or worse, we’ve created a situation in agriculture where one has to be BIG to be profitable.  But is that really the case?  While one can argue that high production agriculture is a good thing, I would argue that Mr. Jolley’s presentation of modern farming is NOT the only way to be profitable in agriculture.  A small but rapidly growing movement of small scale, local farmers have found a way, working with nature and keeping costs down, to provide healthy, wholesome locally raised food at a generous profit. Here’s how Jolley describes today’s small farm:

    The nostalgia surrounding small farms certainly plucks at the heart strings of an urban America without an even distant memory of what life was like way back when. Returning to an imaginary era of a more sustainable time when fresh eggs could be plucked still warm from the nest, chickens for a family Sunday dinner were scurrying around the back yard, a hog was slaughtered in the fall, and fresh-picked and canned vegetables were kept in the cellar? That nostalgic image of carrying the family through the harsh but Norman Rockwellian, cover-of-the-Saturday Evening Post winter puts a smile on everyone’s face but it ain’t real life, folks. It’s a pleasant, back-to-a-simpler-life fantasy created early in the twentieth century by Norman Rockwell and Walt Disney to sell magazines and movies. Large corporate but still family-owned farms using the latest technology are what feeds America and the world today. Owners of most of those idealized small farms can only feed themselves and a few friends. They’re the people you see at farmers’ markets in the summer, selling their excess produce during the height of the picking season. The very small profit they hope to make helps tide them over until next year. Year around ‘in town’ jobs help them pay the monthly utility bills and cover expensive necessities like health insurance.

    While Jolley’s description is accurate in some ways, he fails to mention the success stories that are providing a model for how small scale farming can be both efficient and profitable.

    Joel Salatin works with nature on his beyond-organic Polyface Farm in Virginia to produce enough annual calories on 10 acres to feed 9 people. (for perspective, the Farmland Information Center shows over 900 million acres of farmland in production in the U.S.)  Salatin’s farm takes no government subsidies and produces, if I remember right, about $100,000 of product per salary employed by the farm.  The farm produces poultry, eggs, pork and beef, among many other products.  They operate with almost no mechanized equipment and no chemical inputs.

    Gabe Brown’s ranch in North Dakota produces sustainable grain, among other products.  He uses holistic management, 100% no-till, no chemical fertilizers and non-GMO grains.  And he makes money doing it.

    Cody Holmes uses a holistic management mindset to run his profitable livestock farm in Missouri, while his neighbors struggle to maintain hobby farms.  Greg Judy does the same.

    Countless others are making the small-scale, holistic farms work and produce a profit.  Can small-to-moderate scale holistic agriculture feed the world?  I’m not sure.  It’s a small and growing movement that hasn’t yet reached anywhere near its potential, and is being suppressed by many aspects of conventional agriculture.

    Chuck Jolley might be right.  Large scale industrial farming might be what we need to feed the world.  Or it might be an unsustainable practice that drives future generations to destruction and poverty.  How do we know which model is best?

    I propose a test.  Let’s take away all of the government subsidies for all agriculture.  Let the little guys and the big guys compete on a level playing field.  Let’s get an understanding of the real cost of food in America.  Let’s work together, but compete.

    Okay, I’ll admit that’s fantasy land.  In reality, most things farming will continue as they are.  But, Mr. Jolley, it would do us all good to recognize the fact that large-scale production agriculture isn’t the only way to survive, profit, and thrive as a farmer in America.