Is this what you would find?

A.    If you feed 8MJ hay (or silage) in some "willy nilly" feeders down the lane some cows will eat far too much of this medium quality hay for their own good and some cows will probably miss out.

That is unless you allow extended  access to the Feeders. Then the only control you have over hay intake is to fill up every cow. (and then clean up their dung!)                                                                                            
My guess is that's not exactly what you had in mind. But these are  the only  choices you have available with uncontrolled feeding programs:

• ether a major difference between what bossy cows do eat or what shy cows can eat
• or you need to simply fill up every cow with hay.
• Pretty boring choice!

B.    If you feed 8 MJ hay (or silage) in the paddock, the worms end up with most of it!!

Wastage is a huge problem with good quality hay - A quality (10 MJ) or B quality (9 MJ) - are less wasteful, but with C quality hay, the waste is intolerable.

The common reaction to this dilemma is to say:

• I tried some C quality hay but the worms got most of it ...
  
• That was a stupid idea �  I won't make that mistake again ...
  
• I'd better buy some A quality stuff (read expensive hay or silage) ...
  
• Then they won't waste so much!
• Plus all the "Who Gets What?" questions  (LINK)

C.    The Result:

C quality (8 MJ) hay doesn't fit into most enterprises. Not because it doesn't work, but because farmers do not have a way of feeding it properly, accurately or efficiently.

NML   The paddock is too wasteful and too much hay is used, Some cows eat as mush as they want and other shyer cows eat way less than this.

 

The "Waste-Not" Fair Go Dairy Feed Pad can feed a controlled amount  of C quality (or any quality) hay or silage and thus provide a controlled amount of nutrient and a controlled amount of fibre to every cow twice every day after milking and a ration of grain.

To make some very obvious points:

1. If we can get away with a lower quality of feed, we win! as our costs of production come down
2. Plus  Cows will choose to eat less of a lower quality (lower cost) feed in a "Waste-Not" Fair Go Dairy Feed Pad system. (SEE WEB PAGE)
3. At the same time we are better balancing the fibre in the diet as quality comes down  thus maximising production of components, particularly butterfat production and feed conversion rate.
4. Guess you have noticed that C quality hay is pretty easy to come by in most districts in most years.with the "Waste-Not" Fair Go Dairy Feed Pad system C quality hay becomes "Goldilocks Porridge" - the Just Right quality very OFTEN now that we can feed controlled quantities of it to each cow.
5. No point in spending $100,000 to mix some nice A quality hay or silage with some E quality (say) straw to make what � B quality or C quality?!! Chances are you have a shed full of THAT already!

So why not feed straw?

1. Chances are you don't grow straw on your farm and C & D quality are often cheaper
2. Are you sure they choose to eat enough  fibre as straw? People say "I only want them to have a mouthful � about 1 kg DM"

Sorry � a mouthful isn't 1 kg DM.  My estimation is it is only about 1/15th  of a kilogram of DM! AND I doubt is 1 kg DM straw (half of which is digested (D-value is about 50%) leaving only 500 gm of dung fibre (read effective or structural fibre) . Perhaps that is the only/ration/source of fibre today (there being no effective fibre in grain and precious little in winter/spring lush green pasture.)

Are you sure 500 gm is enough? Remember that a cow's belly is pretty big!

We find that tempting cows to eat a controlled amount of 3 kg of oaten hay (with say 8MJ of nutrient) works better - perhaps because it contain (as well as the nutrient) about 2 � times  as much (undigested) "Dung Fibre".

Seems a pity to be feeding so much nutrient just to ensure enough fibre intake when we have plenty of lush pasture available. BT if the cow can't suck the goodies out of the pasture before it all squirts out the back then the pasture isn't REALLY there!

Sometimes we can take 1 kg (expensive grain) from a ration and replace it with a KG of Just Right quality oaten hay - and SELL more COMPONENTS!

PLUS 8MJ of nutrient in oaten or fog grass hay is often much more than 8MJ of nutrient in grain so maybe we can even save some money here!

It all comes back to CONTROL. If the herd is getting 3kg oaten hay per cow on average, but some cows are getting 67kg and some are getting 0 kg are you sure that is what you want?

The average is right, but the "Who Gets What?" question (allocation) is a mess. The "Waste-Not" Fair Go Dairy Feed Pad solves these problems