# Feeding Reed Canary to cattle--mixing/shredding?



## MFMan (Jul 2, 2013)

I have sections of my fields that grow Reed Canary grass.

As In years past I've raked around the Canary for indication to my baler operator what to NOT bale into hay bales, then after the good bales are cleared from the field we go back and bale the Canary so that it can be handled and stacked separately.

Generally, the Canary bales have been sold for erosion control and bedding purposes.

This year I'm looking at a need for additional feed for my cattle. I've expanded the number of head. I know that some of you cattle guys have had to become creative to feed your animals in droughty areas...

I'm new to the idea of shredding less palatable stemmy grass but I know that some folks do so.

I'm wondering what size pieces I need to reduce the stemmy grass to and what I might need to add to it for palatability....say, molasses? And in what ratio?

I don't own a shredder but have a couple old silage choppers that I thought I might be able to feed the bales thru....bouncing around ideas.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

You can just send me those bales unshredded. . Cattle down here love it.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

JD3430 said:


> You can just send me those bales unshared dead. Cattle down here love it.


Or he can send it further south and watch the cows here dive in.

At times I will have some Johnson Grass on the second cut that has outgrown everything else. It has a large stem by the time it is cut. The cows love it and will eat the blade and as much of the large stem as they can.

Cattle are very efficient critters and seem to like a little variety.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

LOTS of canary grass here. A lot is cut late after it is going downhill due to being in lower areas which need to dry out.

Still tastes better than snowballs. Put up earlier and right it can make some nice hay.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I think my alpaca girls would love some early reeds canary. Has wide, dark green leaves. Heard its a little low on protein.


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## MFMan (Jul 2, 2013)

Hey, I'm totally with you guys. When I can cut the RC grass early it makes great feed...and I will bale it up with the other grasses when I can take it young. Second and Third growth is very nice too.

But, these sections that I take late are in the lower laying wetter ground areas that I delay driving on in order to avoid getting stuck in the soft ground and rutting up the fields. Stemmy like straw. I would attach a couple pics....sure it's nothing you haven't seen before.

When I pitch bales of the late canary into the feeders I observe the cattle will root through it like a bird making a nest looking for the soft stuff and I'm left with a trough full of stems.

So, I'm trying to make a product out of this stuff that they will eat willingly.

On the back of my mind is the idea that there are many fields around here that have been neglected and have overgrown with RC. If I can find a way to make this junk into food then I'm set to take advantage of this supply that nobody else (around here) wants.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

If you can get more for nothing go for it. Even if you use it as bedding they will eat a lot of it. Then come spring push it into a pile and you have some cheap fertilizer.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

We grow about half our hay ground in reed canary. Get most in early but years like this and its late they eat whats good and the rest is bedding. Late stuff is fed to heifers. Cows milk good on early first and latter cuttings dry or silage. People cuss it but it is great for us


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

The key really is when you cut it. From what I have heard it can produce as good a quality of feed as any other grass, but the quality declines quickly as it matures.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Karens horse loves 2 nd cut RC.It will pick it out of the hay I get off a lowland that is mixed grass with RC growing in the lower spots.

most guys tub grind here so it is mixed in with silage or by products so they clean the coarser hay all up.


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## MFMan (Jul 2, 2013)

Interesting bit of information I just learned tonight....I was researching noxious weed control laws in my county... Reed Canary grass is listed as a noxious weed in my county and throughout the rest of Washington State...because it crowds out native plants and grasses and grows so dense that it isn't conducive to wildlife habitat. !!??


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

HERE it spreads where water will sit but doesn't spread to any higher ground.Good chance everything else would drowned out there anyway.It's common in the bottom of road ditches or waterways.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Mow it to the dirt or overgraze it'll kill it.

Have pure reed carnary fields taken over by orchard grass and have some with a mix timothy and some blue grass that came in on its own. We have some fields to wet for any other grass but reed canary

Now if canary came in naturally then it seems to spread and take over but usually where its persistantly wet and other grasses have a hard time


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

Everyone else pretty much summed up my thoughts on Reed Canary. Cows love the stuff. Most of it that I put up is naturally growing in low spots and sloughs. Generally don't get to it till the end of season once things are dry enough to get into. Even if its stemmy our cows seem to clean it up really well. I don't roll out many bales or feed in bale feeders much anymore. All the round bales go through the bale processor and the cows get some poorer crp hay ground through a tub grinder and mixed with ground 1st cutting alfafa with their silage in the mixer wagon.


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