Producers got a close look at several of those approaches during a Jan. 12 winter grazing tour at the Bos family farm. Jordan Bos demonstrated how cover crops, straw and silage pile grazing fit into the operation’s winter feeding plan.

Rather than relying heavily on chopped silage, the operation is grazing a mix of feed sources through the winter. These include pea straw, barley straw and hay at roughly 20 pounds of dry matter per head per day.

“Three times a week we come out with a rack of straw and just roll it out for them so they all have access,” Bos said.

WHY IT MATTERS: Experts say that using cover crops, straw and silage grazing can help cattle producers manage winter feed costs, as long as rations are carefully balanced to meet herd nutritional needs.

Cover crops on the Bos farm cost about $35 an acre to establish, with funding support for a water site provided by a local watershed district.

“It’s nice if you can get some funding and cut the cost,” Bos said.

The farm typically fertilizes its corn but not its cover crop.

The tour included a demonstration of the farm’s feed truck and TMR mixer, which they call “Mad Max.” The truck reduces labour during the winter.

“The idea is to use that truck as much as we can for a good part of the winter,” Bos said.

Silage pile grazing in practice

Silage pile grazing was another stop on the tour. Cattle are grazing the pile with minimal waste, Bos said.

“I don’t think they’re wasting much. They’re eating it right down to the dirt,” he said. “It seems to be working good.”

The silage pile is about 70 feet wide, with both sides exposed, providing roughly 140 feet of space for about 300 head. Electric wire is adjusted daily to control access and manage utilization.

“You get pretty good utilization like this,” Bos said. “It’s cheaper than hauling it out.”

The winter feeding system appears to be meeting cattle needs, Bos said.

“The animals seem pretty content and full.”

Importance of feed testing and balanced rations

While alternative feed sources like pea and barley straw can help manage costs when available, provincial livestock and forage extension specialist Kristen Bouchard-Teasdale said that it’s important to ensure proper feed testing and balanced rations.

“Winter feed supplies are our biggest expense in these cattle productions,” she said. “How people feed and what proportions they’re able to mix into their ration is going to be dictated by the quality of the feed ingredients that they have on hand.”

Producers incorporating straw into winter rations need to ensure cattle receive sufficient protein and energy, particularly during extreme cold periods like the one that has been gripping most of Manitoba for the last few weeks.

“Cows can’t eat enough of those fibrous feeds, like the pea straw and the barley straw, to be able to meet those energy requirements in particular,” she said.

That’s why feed testing is so critical for developing effective winter feeding strategies, she added.

“Get your feed tested, know how much you have of something and exactly what’s in it, and then you have that information. It makes it much easier to be able to change your strategy if need be,” Bouchard-Teasdale said.

The post Winter grazing strategies offer cost relief for Manitoba cattle producer appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The choice can depend on the size of your operation, but Todd Botterill, a salesperson with AllAgParts, says that’s what he’s seeing and hearing.

Cost aside, Botterill says the Feed Eazy Pro 3020 tub grinder also significantly reduces the time it takes to grind up round bales for feed.

WHY IT MATTERS: Easily availabile equipment that offers an economy of operating cost is important for farms where the economies of scale aren’t top priority.

“What we’ve been finding here lately, the market had really been pushing towards the large TMR mixers,” he says, “but when you start grinding bales with them, quite often, you’re sitting there for an hour, hour and a half using a fairly large tractor … it’s a job that a tub grinder can do in five minutes.”

Botterill and his colleagues from AllAgParts were at Manitoba Ag Days in January, talking up the benefits of the Feed Eazy Pro 3020, a first-place winner in the Animal and Livestock category in the farm show’s Innovation Showcase.

The 3020 is the company’s mid-size machine, capable of grinding hay bales, silage bales or straw bales, Botterill said, although operators are not limited to these types.

The company produces a smaller and larger version of the 3020 as well.

“We can actually put in an attachment to grind grain as well for people who want to add grain to their mix,” Botterill says.

Livestock producers have been looking for alternative systems to speed up bale processing time and reduce operating costs, he says.

“They may still put (feed) in the TMR,” he says. “Some guys are actually going back to the less-expensive horizontal mixers, so it allows guys to reduce the cost of the machinery they’re using.”

Keeping costs low was key to making the Feed Eazy accessible to producers.

To achieve that, the 3020 unit is imported from overseas for finishing at Winkler, Man.

“Overseas production has allowed us to reduce a lot of the costs involved in getting the machine put together, but it hasn’t sacrificed any quality,” Botterill says.

The company they work with has a lot of experience working with North American companies and building to North American standards, he adds. Wear parts such as bearings or hydraulics can be easily sourced within North America when the time comes for replacement.

The result is a machine that’s tougher than its competitors, with a significant price advantage as well, Botterill says.

“There’s not a lot of fancy pieces in it,” he adds.

“I think (for) the majority of the guys we’re dealing with in Manitoba, this unit would be ideal.”

The post VIDEO: Feed Eazy bale grinder tops livestock innovation appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“We’re consolidating and cleaning up the way we present our product,” says Herbert Rabalais, director of sales.

WHY IT MATTERS: A TMR mixer manufacturer says a recent reorganization will make it easier for customers to choose the right model for them.

“We took the good, better, best approach. We put some packages together based around duty cycles of operation. Light duty, standard duty, heavy duty all the way up to extreme duty is how we classify it. That’s the four categories we’ve defined.”

That means the line is now broken up into four different use categories.

The LD Series is the base, lower-spec’d versions. From there the mixers gradually step up in durability to the SD and then HD Series, followed by the extreme duty XD models.

“Cow-calf operations use a mixer a few hours a day, a few months of the year,” says Rabalais.

“They don’t need the most extreme duty mixer we build. The extreme duty customers are guys that run the mixers up to 20 hours a day with barely any down time.”

The previous base-level machine the company had offered under the Segue brand will now be incorporated into the Supreme brand as an LD model.

“It (Segue) was just a (marketing) strategy to be a competitive product line without using the Supreme brand,” says Rabalais.

“We’d rather produce an entry-level Supreme rather than have a totally different brand name. What we did was rolled the product under the Supreme brand. We gave it the fit and finish and the warranty of a Supreme.”

The LD Series machines will be offered with up to a 900 cubic foot tub, while the extreme duty XD models will be available with tub sizes up to 2,000 cubic feet.

There are several versions available in each model series, and the company offers a range of options that will allow a buyer to configure a machine to exactly match their needs.

“The dealers will still have lots of things to choose from,” says Rabalais.

“They have plenty of options to customize one. It’s much easier for our dealers and customers. It’s easy to pick the right product. The new products are in the market already. We started (production) July 1.”

The post Supreme restructures TMR mixer lineup appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

That was the message from participants in a demo held daily in the sheep handling area during Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show 2024.

Michael Richards raises a crossbred Dorset/Rideau flock of ewes and market lambs in Haldimand County.

He was component feeding when he started, feeding dry hay in the morning, top-dressing with grain later in the day, then ultimately cleaning out what was left over in the feed bunk and feeding it to beef cattle.

Seeking cost savings and less feed waste, he bought a Jaylor “mini” TMR mixer. The results have been even better than he expected. Richards told the Wednesday afternoon “Benefits of Feeding With TMR” demo attendees that his feed costs went from $1.50 per head per day to $0.43 per head per day.

Labour savings were also significant.

This came as no surprise to ruminant nutritionist Courtney Vriens. Operator of Arthur-based Vriens Nutrition Consulting, she works with both dairy and meat sheep producers across Canada to fine-tune their flocks’ rations.

“Sheep can consume all these feed components in a very efficient manner,” she said — but not if they’re given the opportunity to sort. If grain is top-dressed for sheep in higher production stages, acidosis risk can increase. But this is mitigated when that same amount of grain is included in a TMR.

Vriens added that TMRs can allow sheep producers to switch away from expensive pelleted feeds and instead use more home-grown or alternative feeds such as corn distiller’s grains.

For the demo, Jaylor supplied a self-propelled, 91 cubic-foot mixer powered by a Honda engine and three hydraulic wheel motors.

“This mixer is quite capable of moving around inside or outside the barn,” explained Ontario/Manitoba territory manager Jerry Van Oude.

Other options in the company’s mini TMR mixer line include stationary, truck-mounted, trailer, or skidsteer-mounted.

A mix of straw, haylage and grain corn was created for the demo. Richards explained he uses corn silage in his TMR for much of the year but currently is waiting for corn harvest. Instead, he’s currently using oatlage, dry balage and some concentrate.

The post Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show 2024: TMR’s can save significant time and money appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.