[highhorse]

hi

i know this is a difficult question to answer but id sure appreciate any thoughts;

how much straw would you say that your calves use........

lets say its young calves from a week upto 12 weeks old or so, what would you use roughly per week for say a pen of ten calves.

also how much do you guys pay per bale, say a round bale.

any estimations appreciated 

thanks
thanks

[SallyintNorth]

We think it's really important to buy the very best straw for calves, because they'll pick on at eating it.

So we buy barley straw from untreated crops / fields, usually has quite a bit of grass and if we're lucky some flower/seed heads in it.

It ain't cheap, though.  £25 / round bale, £4.25 per small square bale, delivered.

East side of Scotland you may get it much cheaper - I've heard about £5 per big round bale, and seen it left rotting in fields. 

I bed my four down in their large pen every other night; I guess I use about three small square bales a week. I think for a pen of 10 you'd be using a small square bale every night, at least.  Figure on 8-10 small square bales per big round bale, so a little less than a big round bale per week - maybe 4 big round bales per 5 weeks, something like that.

You'll need to think about muck disposal...

[F.CUTHBERT]

We are in the East of Scotland and good barley straw is around £70/ tonne just now. A 4 foot diameter round bale weighs just under 1/4 of a tonne so is worth £15-£17 each ex the farm in full load quantities.
At £5 a bale it isn't worth the effort of baling and storing so would just get ploughed in.

[langfauld easycare]

i payed £11 a bale for barley of the field . my uncle just had a load delivered in central scotland was £27 a bale 

[shygirl]

we are paying £15 a bale in aberdeenshire delivered but this is top price from an expensive fodder specialist. our local farmer was charging £6 a bale last year but getting him to deliver isnt worth the effort as im still waiting....