Managing a cattle farm on a budget can be quite challenging. Several things can go unplanned that may disturb your entire budget. However, one thing that will surely challenge your budget is feeding your cows in winter. During winter, animals feel more hungry as they need the energy to keep themselves warm. Secondly, managing hay in extremely cold weather can be difficult as older hay may not be as appetizing for cows as fresh hay is. Therefore, animals waste food.
If you want to keep your budget in control this season, then here are some effective tips that you can follow.
1. Know The Sequence Of Stored Feed
You should know in what sequence to feed your cows with the stored hay. Cows prefer eating food that is delicious and fresh. Therefore, they will always prefer eating freshly-cut hay or hay that has been stored indoors. Hay stored outdoors may lose its charm.
Always make sure that you give the outside stored hay to your cows first in the season and then offer the one stored indoors. If you do the opposite, cows may have developed a taste for good hay and they will waste the one stored outside.
2. Invest In Efficient Feeders
When you are giving the feed to your cows for the entire day, invest in large hay feeders so that no amount of food goes to waste. Animals waste food and soil the hay when they have access to large quantities. This can disrupt your entire budget for the winter feed.
Make sure you install feeders that minimize food wastage. You should set such a system that cows can have access to enough food at a time without encouraging them to waste anything.
3. Provide Footing At The Feeding Place
Always make sure that the feeding station is properly made for the purpose. If there is mud in the footing, it will not only destroy the land for you but also waste a lot of food. Animals throw the hay on the ground and trample on it. Soiling food means wasting food, which ultimately leads to a disoriented feed budget.
You should consider changing the feeding station throughout the farm. However, if you have designated a specific place for the purpose, provide concrete or gravel footing for the animal so that they can not soil the feed.
4. Store Hay Wisely
You should also learn to store the hay in such a way that the taste remains unaltered. This means that you might have to keep the hay bales indoors. The best way to make things easier for yourself would be to construct a shed or a purpose-built room for storing hay inside before the season starts.
The hay bale stored outside loses its charm for the animals, hence it starts to waste it. This will only increase your food budget during the winter season.
Final Thoughts
Cows may waste a lot of food during the winter season. This wastage of food can disrupt your budget and decrease your profit margin. To avoid this situation, find the best possible solutions to reduce the wastage of food.
