While there were no flashing lights or wailing sirens, listening to guest speaker Tom Hamilton at the annual meeting of the Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association last Wednesday, one would have thought they were witness to a crime scene.
Using a humorous approach to a usually mundane topic, Hamilton, a beef program lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, told the cattlemen they may have criminal activity on their farms.
Hamilton alluded to cows being criminals—accusing them of stealing feed from farmers.
In actual fact, using research he has done over the years, Hamilton discovered some feeding practises and equipment result in lost or wasted feed.
Citing his first experience as an ag rep in eastern Ontario, Hamilton said that as a graduate of the University of Guelph’s ag program, he felt he knew it all.
“Using my computer, I helped a farm calculate how much hay they would need for their cows over the winter,” he noted.
But after Christmas, he received a call from them saying they were worried that they were going to run out of feed.
“I said that was impossible, the computer says so.”
So Hamilton went to the farm and looked to see if someone had been there to steal the hay. He could find no evidence of that.
Later, he discovered the steel round hay bale feeder was homemade and actually was the problem.
Cows are very good at sifting through their feed and picking out the best. The feeder on that farm allowed them to bring the feed out and drop the undesirable feed on the ground.
They then would lay on the wasted feed and pack it down, or defecate on it after their nap, hence making it wasted food.
So using university students, Hamilton co-ordinated some physical research. They observed cattle using four of the most common types of feeders and how the cattle reacted to them.
They discovered a ring feeder with slanted feeder slots worked the best (it only had 3.5 percent wastage). The cone feeder had 6.1 percent, the trailer feeder 11.4 percent, and the cradle feeder 14.6 percent.
Opposed to no feeder at all, and putting out an entire week’s feed of an unrolled round bale, saw as much as 43 percent wastage.
Hamilton said if a farmer wants to put out the feed without a feeder, the best option is to do a small amount every day.
“That way the cows compete, seeing there is very little feed and want to get their share,” he explained.
Hamilton asked the RRCA members if they know how much their cows were eating. He said a 1,300-pound dry cow, pregnant, should eat about 27 pounds of hay per day.
“Beef cows need to eat about two percent of their body weight,” he noted. “I challenge you to figure out what they need versus what you are putting out.”
Hamilton added cows do not plan very well for the future, so it is up to farmers to reduce feed waste.
“Do your part. Stop barnyard theft,” he stressed.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
