Feeding: hay, grazing, supplements

In short

• Hay is the base. A 550–650 kg cow needs roughly 12–15 kg of hay a day in winter, and for a 180-day winter roughly 2,300 kg, plus 10–15 % reserve.
• Good hay and grass cover maintenance and roughly the first 6–8 L of milk. For each litre above that, roughly 0.4–0.5 kg of concentrate.
• Every change of feed takes 7–10 days, and the move onto young clover and lucerne (alfalfa) 2 weeks.
• Water 50–80 L a day, a milking cow in summer over 100 L. Cattle mineral mix roughly 75 g a day, salt always available.
• Never give free access to grain; at most 2–2.5 kg in one feed.
• Wire, nails and sheet metal in hay kill cows. Walk the meadow before mowing; think about a rumen magnet.
• The norms are rough (the cow isn't in the 4freelife holding plan) and in line with H15 and H33.

What's inside

Chapters

1. How a cow eats
2. Daily ration by type of animal
3. Body condition: fat, thin or just right
4. Hay: how much and what kind
5. Grazing and rotation
6. Concentrates and supplements
7. Silage, haylage and succulent feeds
8. Minerals, salt and water
9. Poisonous plants and swallowed metal
10. Feeding through the year
11. Common mistakes
12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Winter hay calculator
• Concentrate and feed cost calculator
• Daily ration and condition
• Grazing and rotation plan
• Feed stocks and meadow check
• Feeding and grazing calendar