[hoggsbreath]

how much hay would a fully grown hereford in calf cow get through when inside for winter.going to start with a few cows this year and just wondered how much hay to stock up on?.thanks.mat.

[belgianblue]

at least 100 bales per cow and add another 50 bales for backup as we had 2 bad winters on the trot.

[Rosemary]

Funny, I was looking for this information today.

In John Seymour's book, he says, and I paraphrase slightly, 9kg of good hay will maintain a large cow like a Friesian, 5.5kg will maintain a small cow like a Jersey. For maintenance plus 1 gallon, 12.9kg and 9kg per day respectively.

I'm off to do some sums too.

[SallyintNorth]

We feed 1/2 small bale per day per cow when they are indoors.  We bale our own and they are not lightweight!

Our cows are sucklers, mainly Angus & Hereford crosses out of Friesans.

[jacquip]

how much hay would a fully grown hereford in calf cow get through when inside for winter.going to start with a few cows this year and just wondered how much hay to stock up on?.thanks.mat.

Very good booklet here

http://www.dardni.gov.uk/ruralni/pub41_dpdb.pdf

[Rosemary]

Excellent - I'll have fun with this booklet 

[Hebridean]

Hi SallyintNorth! Would your bales be mini round bales or traditional square bales? I'm going to be baling with a friend this year and am taking 'payment' in bales, so it would be useful to know how many bales I might 'ask' for!

[SallyintNorth]

Hi Hebridean
Our bales are the traditional small square bales.  Ours are generally pretty hefty, BH likes 'em baled tight - although sometimes we have to lighten them a bit or no-one will help us stook and mew!  (Particularly as they are heavier when just made, they lose weight as they dry over the autumn.)
I think BH reckons our small bales (when dried) are 50-55 to the tonne, some people making lighterweight small bales it might be as many as 80 to the tonne.
Hope that helps
Sally

[Hebridean]

Thanks for that Sally. It sounds as though your square bales will be comparable with the mini round bales that we will be making. So I can now 'negotiate' my wages more accurately. My pal is a Yorkshireman, so I expect the negotiations might be a bit tricky!