# Wheat straw vs Alf/grass hay



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Nurtitionist is wanting hay customer to feed wheat straw instead of hay in feedlot ration.Going to save $.011175 per hd/day.He says cattle showing signs of acidosis.

Well they have cut the hay back to .7 lbs hd/day.So I say not enough hay in ration.Nutritionest says feed them straw.

This sucks:mad:


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## IAhaymakr (Jun 4, 2008)

Ain't byproducts great? Local hay grinder claims to have only one feedlot customer left who feeds hay. The rest use cornstalks or straw. I sort of hope the ridiculous biomass thing takes off just to put a premium on thier "cheap" feed.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

We had a nutritionist around our area telling all his customers they had to be feeding western hay. Nothing better than western hay, don't worry about the cost, you have to have western hay, yada yada yada. Wheres a number to call for the western hay. yada yada yada.

After over a year of this the word got out the nutritionists Dad and older brother were the ones out west he was handing the number out for.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Yea,the nutritionist is selling the ddg's.So he is pushing them to the highest level possible and then needs the straw to tone down the ration.









I firmly believe cattle do better with some alfalfa in the ration.There is other things in hay,vitamins,etc.that just isn't in straw.You can't just look at protien level of ration.

I know a guy that has a degree in animal nutrition.He own's 2 feedlots and feeds dairy hfrs.One lot he had on a ration of silage,ground alfalfa,cornstalks and bean straw.The other he tried ground cornstalks,beanstraw and DDG's.Everthing balanced "by the book"He said it just didn't work,cattle health was poorer and conception rates fell.And the cattle just didn't look as nice.

Works on paper but in real life.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Don't worry, what little wheat crop we have in Indiana looks like [email protected], so straw will be higher than alfalfa this year.


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## steve IN (Jan 13, 2010)

Almost all of my dairy customers are feeding straw. They put about 3-4 ponds per head per day in the TMR. Keeps guts full does not lower production. Also helps cut down on DA's. They also still feed hay in the mix.


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## rank (Apr 15, 2009)

We shipped ~250 loads this year. 60 of that was hay and the rest was straw. And yeah, they will need to feed something else because the straw ain't there.


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