As if you don't already know how big a problem it is to feed cattle in wet conditions, try this test.

• Watch what happens 10 - 12 minutes after you have fed hay or silage on the ground.
• Look to see which are the first animals to leave the line.
• Did they leave because they were full or because there was no feed left?
• Probably neither.
• They left because there were no longer effective feeding spaces for them!
• There is now a group of animals around each of the thicker patches of feed and the shyer cows are shunted out to "make your own arrangements - this is ours!"
• Same animal, same problem yesterday, today and tomorrow. Result is severe reduction in production or growth rate.  All this in addition to the huge loss of hay - and leaf - and damage to pasture.

Now consider this. 

 

Imagine feeding silage rolls to the milkers in the middle of winter without getting the vehicle bogged.
Imagine feeding out every two or three days and extending the "runout" date of your silage supply by three weeks or more.  And imagine the cows eating ALL the feed without wasting ANY.

As a bonus, imagine if this system ensured that EVERY animal ate her fair share - especially the heifers - and as a result you lifted the "tail" out of your herd, or promoted all the "skinnies".
Also imagine that your production "only" jumped 2 litres per cow per day at a time it usually flagged.

These are among the benefits that NE Victorian farmers have found since they started using their  "Waste-Not"  Feed Pad.
The silage savings and waste reductions were planned and expected, but the increases in production were very surprising.

These farmers also found that the Feed Pad system enabled them to reduce the meal feeding to half of last years figure and to have better control of their grazing rotation.

Terry Allan, designer of the original "WASTE-NOT" Stockfeeders has designed a range of systems which solve many of the problems associated with the usual "Willy Nilly" methods.

Problems  with feed pad systems traditionally include :

• Very long feeders needed for larger mobs.
• Needing a feeding space for every animal.
• Not suitable for rolls.
• Needing an expensive and time consuming feed out cart.
• Very expense concrete.
• Very inflexible in types of feed used or classes of stock fed.