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NW IA | We feed with Smidley Stuffers. I thought about setting up to bunk feed a TMR when planning my new barn.
I was never fond of cleaning bunks after weather events and couldn't get past the idea of feeding the cattle outside of the building and away from the bedded area.
I rarely have more than 125 head on three Stuffers. Being a smaller operation, it's also harder to justify the equipment expense and daily time commitment of a TMR.
We mix whole corn and pellets. This year I am adding 100 pounds per ton of coarse ground oats in the hope that it protects gut health a bit.
For several years I had kept round bales of soybean stubble against the guard rail fence as a roughage source. The cattle loved the stuff, but I don't like how bare the ground is after baling and the straw was very light this fall. I have the oats because we need straw for calf huts.
It's zero degrees here this morning. My chores consist of walking past the pens to check waterers and maybe knocking accumulated frozen slobber chunks off of the self feeders flaps. The calf huts are shut down for the winter, and the pens of small calves also have Behlen type calf creep feeders in them.
I only start a tractor once a week to mix feed. It's nice when all three Stuffers can be filled or at least topped off on the same day.
As a one man operation it's also very convenient for whoever is watching things if I have to be away for a few days.
Being old and lazy was another contributing factor in making a choice of feeding methods. | |
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cattle on self feeder vs bunk fed.
