Cows, calves and veterinary

Feeding molasses

While I can think of about fifty reasons for not feeding molasses this way, there's no doubt it works.

The tank, and a load of molasses arrived nearly a fortnight ago, when I knew I wouldn't see the purpose-built trailer for a long time yet - but the cows were short of feed right now.
So out came the calf feeders, I dumped about twenty litres of molasses in each and parked them in front of the milking bails at the shed. And waited to see what would happen.

Well, some of the older cows recognised molasses, and were keen to feed immediately. 62 (who was bulling this morning :( ) was the first to discover that the troughs *moved*, as she dragged one across the concrete five minutes later, before realising she had to lower her head to back out.
The newly rowed up row thought it was a good time to all turn round and try to run away.
By the end of milking, the troughs were being gaily dragged and pushed and not a cow flinched. Believe it or not, cows are very adaptable. The hay racks had both been removed by the third row to reduce the chance of heads and ears getting caught, and to allow more space. I thought I could expect a maximum of two cows each side, in fact, by about the second day I was starting to see three cows at once with their heads in one side of the calf trough.
It worked better than I expected. While the cows were capable of tipping up (or literally throwing around) the full troughs, they didn't - I only once had to rescue a spillage, and that on the first morning. Only about half of each row could feed at once, but they would take what they wanted and then move on, allowing those that had been hanging back in hope to move in. The biggest issue was not over-filling either trough, because then the bike would struggle to drag them across the rough metal of the tanker track, and there would be molasses left in the troughs for morning milking.

This worked until about the fifth day. The previous night I'd seen 63 (a first row cow - and she's another story altogether!) still hanging around the troughs as I let the third row out. She got sent away, and didn't come back, but the following evening her backside was black and so I sent her on before she'd had more than a taste. But she came back. And back. And back. And finally I got fed up forestalling her before she got more than halfway back up the exit race, and shut the gate. Ever since then, each row has been let out into the enclosed area, the gate opened and the row moved on before the next row is let out. It's time consuming, and an absolute pain when drenching as well but it ensures that no individual cow has longer than five minutes with the troughs.
A hard-core group of about five first-row cows (the ones that really wanted molasses had started all coming in the first row) would hang around on the other side of the gate - they did this for about three milkings before it finally sunk in that they wasn't getting any more.

The troughs are filled in the morning before the once a day cows are brought in. Until this morning (about twelve days after starting feeding) I haven't had to stop any of the OAD herd from feeding, because not all that many take it and those that do, don't hang around. Usually the sixty cows dropped the level in the troughs by about twenty litres, the twice a day cows would then feed at night and if there was any left in the morning, the first rows through got a bonus feed.
Not all cows feed, and there still isn't room for all of them to. I suspect that wheras formerly some of the shyer cows simply waited their turn, now that each row gets five minutes and no more, there are cows that will drink for the full time. And others that probably would like to feed but don't push in.

*If* there were room for a full row of cows to feed at once and an automatic ushering system, this would be close to ideal. An immovable trough twelve cows long, non-slip walking surface, automatic gate opening and an intelligent sweeper gate to 'persuade' reluctant cows to move on - and life'd be sweet. Oh, and of course the troughs would be self-filling.
As it is, I can see when the proper trough does arrive I'll have to sit there in the paddock with it, waving a big stick at the ones that've had enough. That'll be fun :) Getting out of the gate with it without half a herd of cows a whole 'nother issue.

You can tell when the troughs empty in the morning. It's no exaggeration to say that the cows pick them up and throw them around. And not a cow flinches at the noise - they amaze me.

Drawbacks: there's about fifty reasons why this isn't a good idea.
* Slippery concrete - the cows are jostling each other on smooth concrete, and every once in a while half a cow tumbles down the pit steps. It's only time before an injury occurs.
* Mess: both in the feeding area, and in the shed as waiting cows watch the previous rows feeding (and then have to wait half a minute longer while the area is cleared for them). The water pressure the way it is now, cleaning up the mess that results from feeding molasses in the yard means there's hardly any water left to clean the rest of the yard.
*Unsuitable troughs: Plastic calf troughs were never intended for use by half ton cows (or dragging across metal with 50 - 60 litres of molasses in them).
* Oh yeah, and me - I don't think I was designed to drag those troughs the final distance the bike won't take them either. And there's no question that a larger bike wouldn't be able to fit into that space at all.
* Lack of trough space: meaning not all the cows can get a fair feed
* and lack of moving space: meaning there *must* be a rope up behind the row, because there's little chance of being able to shut the gate cleanly after the last cow otherwise.
* Too much time - even five minutes probably allows certain cows (62, 63, 78, 132, 35, 133, 143...) to take far more than their share. The aim is to give them around a litre a cow. I don't want to guess how much a big cow like 78 can drink when she has her head in the trough for four or five minutes. Two minutes would be better.

I did say fifty, didn't I? Well, since the noise apparently doesn't bother them and they've never started throwing around the full troughs (it is, however, quite a sight when three cows are feeding alongside and one of them pulls back without lowering her head so that the whole lot - cows and trough - skedaddle back in unison) that's all I can think of right now. It takes about twenty minutes between herds in the morning to fill the troughs and get them in place.

posted by nellta holdings @ 8:11 PM