Hay
 
In my area of the country I don't get snow and hay is somewhat expensive. Because of that I put off looking at hay seriously until the flock grew and the condition of my fields started looking rather lean in the winter. Not only that, but when I started calculating my feed costs during the winter months I knew I was having problems and could make some improvement.

 

Being that I have a relatively small amount of land I use it to its full potential to feed my flock. By late fall my pastures are no longer producing much grass and this leads my fields to being overgrazed rather quickly. Instead of looking like a well groomed park, the pastures begin to look more like a well "trampled" lot.

 

In seasons past I've given my sheep extra rations of feed to compensate for the lack of grass but this year I just couldn't understand what I was doing wrong since there are so many other people making a good living at this and they have snow ! These other ranches also feed hay a good portion of the year as a supplement which is why I thought to take the second look st this. 

 
After the fences, barns, troughs, and other small pieces needed to manage the flock are put into place the only significant cost to raising a healthy flock is feed. Without compromising the basic nutrition of the flock, our main job as good shepherds is to cut our costs and multiply the sheep.

 

 

Question: Does it pay to substitute hay for feed pellet?

 

Neither you or I can answer this question without doing some homework and looking very closely at how we manage our flocks. Once I started learning about hay and doing some serious reading I found that there were countless articles describing every aspect of hay; most applied to my flock and some did not. I started to realize I could easily write a book on the subject given the amount of information available and that's just too much to simplify for a brief web page. 

Let's learn about hay. . . .

 

 

 

Costing Exercise:

 

This is a quick exercise to give you something to think about. This says NOTHING about the quality or type of the hay which you;ll need to consider as you learn more about it.

Question: Should you feed Pellet, Hay, or Both?

I was doubling my feed portion for my blackbelly during the winter months; 1 lb per head verses the 0.5 lb I would normally supply during the summer months (All-stock).

The question I asked myself was If I substituted hay for that extra winter feed, would that save me money? There are two scenarios I chose to look at since the costs were so different. ROUND BALE hay is much cheaper but I'd be buying 1000-1500 lbs at a time or a single bale of hay. The other scenario is to buy the more expensive SQUARE BALES (actually they are really large rectangles). 

The table below shows the daily feed I'd be giving my sheep in the winter months and the costs I now pay (Yours will be different). It showed that Round bales saved me money every day but the square bales added cost to the operation.

	AllStock(1) ($/Lb)	Hay(2) ($/Lb)	Lbs Allstock	Lbs Hay	Total Cost
Round Bale
Current Feeding	$0.15	$0.05	1	0	$0.15
Proposed Feeding	$0.15	$0.05	0.5	1	$0.125
				Savings	$0.025
Rectangle Bale
Current Feeding	$0.15	$0.10	1	0	$0.15
Proposed Feeding	$0.15	$0.10	0.5	1	$0.175
				Added Expense	- $0.025

(1) - Assumes $7.50 per 50 lb bag (this was a great price in 2008)

(2) - Assumes

      WORST price for the round bale scenario - $75 for 1500 lbs

      BEST price for the rectangle bale - $3 for 50 lb bale (this would be the typical price)

 

 

According to my best estimates, it certainly pays to look into larger round bales compared to the smaller rectangle bales of hay. Farmers are charging for the convenience of smaller storage requirements and the ease of handling small square bales. The large bales take larger equipment to move and store the hay and so the smaller ranch may be taken advantage of.

 

Of course, your pricing for both hay and feed will probably be very different from mine. Look around for the best deals and run the numbers. Don't be afraid to knock on a few farmers doors or call on a several hay suppliers for pricing. You may be surprised at the significant saving you'll find by cutting out middle man and picking up the bales directly out of the field yourself. 

 

 

 

Size, Shape, and Weight
 

Generally speaking there are three sizes of hay bales most commonly used which are cubes , standard rectangle bales, and the rolled bale that looks like a giant wheel.

Size Comparison
	L x W x H	Est. Weight (Lbs)	Price (Regional)
Square Bale (Small Square Bale or "Mini" bale)	12" x 9" x 18"	~ 20 Lbs	$1.50 - $2
Rectangle Bale (Large Square Bale)	4' x 24" x 18"	45 - 50 Typical	$3 - $8
Round Bale	6' diam x 6' deep	1500 - 2000 Typical	$50 - $75

**For year-old hay, rule of thumb says to knock these figures down by 50%

Weights will vary in similar size bales for three main reasons 1) type of hay, 2) moisture content, and 3) the amount of compression of the grasses caused by the baling equipment. These factors make it impossible for anyone to place an exact weight on any bale of hay and because of that you'll need to be the best judge over the hay you're buying.  When you're trying to purchase hay, be aware of these things. Get to know your supplier and hopefully you're purchasing directly from the farmer who's baling the hay. If you're dealing with a middle-man vendor then you may never be sure exactly what you're getting for your money in quality and quantity.

 

  

How much Hay?

 

Aside from supplements and higher protein feeds, an average sheep will eat between 1 - 1.5% of their body weight in hay per day. That equates to about 3/4 lbs for most blackbelly ewes and up to 1.5 lbs. for adult rams. It's been proven that sheep will eat more hay than they need which means that if you want to reduce your expense then careful management of your hay might be needed. This might include catch trays for hay feeders (there aren't any in the picture shown), less time in contact with the feeders, and/or measuring what is being given on a daily basis. 
 
 
Types of Hay 

  
Hay, like the bulk plant matter in your pellet feed, is providing protein nutrition as well as other plant bearing minerals and vitamins. Hay provides a very good and natural source of protein as well as calcium needed for strong bone growth and phosphorus which is needed for energy production and storage. Protein is not only essential for proper cell growth in your sheep but also a necessary component for rumen bacteria aiding in the digestion process. When hay is old or has a low protein content then sheep can actually starve to death even though they may have their stomachs full of it. Without the protein the hay may be indigestible.

 

As you might travel across this country you will discover that hay varies from region to region. In the south you'd find that Alfalfa is strictly imported and it would be more common to find coastal grasses or Bermuda. But in the cooler climates you may find a wider assortment to choose from or that some hay is impossible to locate. The important factor to understand is that these hays have different protein, calcium, and phosphorus contents and you'll need to adjust feed rations accordiingly.

Just for comparison to hay types I listed the my "all-stock" content so that you could see the comparison between hay and pellet feed. The only thing lacking from the hay are some of the trace minerals (Mg, Se, Zn, Vitamin A, D, & E) which are added to pellet feed.

	% Protein	% Calcium	% Phosphorus
10% All Stock, Sweet	10	0.4 - 0.9	0.4
Alfalfa	15 - 20	0.9 - 1.5	0.2 - 0.35
Red Clover	13 - 16	0.8 - 1.5	0.2 - 0.35
Bermudagrass (aka Coastal Hay)	6 - 11	0.25 - 0.4	0.15 - 0.3
Fescue	5 - 9	0.3 - 0.5	0.2 - 0.35
Timothy	7 - 11	0.3 - 0.5	0.2 - 0.35

 ** National Research Council, 1989; Equine Nutrition Program, 1999

Maturity	Fiber	Characteristics
Early (1st Cut)	20 - 21%	Very loose, soft texture hay where broader grass leaves can be clearly seen in bundle. this is higher in nutritional density and highly palatable  .
Mid Season	24 - 26%	Bale will contain a noticeable amount of stems but intermingled will be seen dried blades of grass.
Late Season	26 -28%	Composed of mostly stems and a will feel very brittle and coarse to the touch.

 

The early hay is better than the late season hay for taste. It is more palatable for sheep, has a higher protein content, and has a higher energy value.

 

 

 

 

 

Special note:

 

Urinary Calculi - This problem, also known as "Water Belly", is a urinary tract issue in sheep where salts may solidify into stones causing partial or total blockage. While some people associate high protein feeds as the main culprit, the problem is actually a low calcium to phosphorus ratio in these feeds. Unused protein is typically converted to fat (a good thing for sheep usually) but a ratio less than or close to 2:1 (calcium : phosphorus) may lead to calculi (stones) being formed. Noted symptoms may include seeing your sheep arch their back and straining to urinate or kicking at their stomach. Their abdomen may also swell along the underside and they may stop feeding and/or drinking.

 

To alleviate a mild case, the addition of ammonia chloride to the feed of the affected animal may help (0.25 oz per head per day for 7-10 days or as a drench, OR,  40% w/w, 1 - 1.5 fluid oz every other day a total of three times). Ammonia chloride increase urination and the solubility of calcium into the urine instead of being stored in the bones - resolving the calcium deficiency in the urinary tract. Obviously this is a temporary fix to a nutritional imbalance and a change in feed is needed for the long-term health of your flock. It is recommended that salt blocks containing calcium be used and that supplementary at-will minerals be provided to help increase calcium uptake and avoid this common problem.

 

 

 
Visual Inspection of Hay

Hay appearance is a poor indicator to the actual nutritional content of the hay, but generally speaking we can look at hay and make a "fair" assessment; nothing substitutes for an actual laboratory analysis. When you buy hay ask the farmer or retailer for the nutritional analysis, but if they don't have one ask when the grass was cut, if it's from a fertilized field, and your last resort will be to interpret the color of the hay.

 

Color	Problem	Issues
Pale Green - Green	None	None -- most likely good stuff
Yellow, outside of the bale only	Hay has been bleached by the sun or has simply been exposed during storage	Sheep will find it less palatable and there will be less Vitamin A available form the hay
Yellow, throughout bale	Mature or late cut hay	Significantly less palatable and low in energy value. This type of hay is only for sheep maintenance and not for the pregnant or young animals
Brown, Grey, Black	Old, Moldy, Mildew, High Weather  Exposure	Hay may cause problems with respiratory system as mold and dust are inhaled. Significant loss of digestible protein, energy and other vitamins

Smell the hay. A good grassy smell is preferred over a musty and moldy smell. Hay that's been stored too long in the open or was baled without before the proper curing time can mold and mildew. My blackbelly seem to be fairly keen on that smell and will waste a lot more hay. It pays to purchase the fresh hay.

Alfalfa - Very green and smells great

Slightly moldy hay -- Grey / Black

Yellow hay -- Last cutting of the year.

                    Yellow throughout the bale.

Laboratory Analysis

In the event that you are able to get a lab analysis here is what you might find:

  

	Definition / Description
Dry Matter (DM)	Result depicts the weight of the hay after all of the moisture is removed (% Dry Weight). Typical results for most hay are >89%.
Digestible Energy (DE)	Result provides the amount of usable digestible energy provided by the hay. Typical results may range from 0.76 - 0.94 Mcal/Lb.
Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN)	Result depicts the total percentage of digestible nutrients found in the hay. Alternatively it may also be expressed as an energy value (DE). As a percentage, TDN is typically 40-55% in hay.
Crude Protein (CP)	Result provides the % protein. Typically in the 5-20% range (See table above)
Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF)	Result depicts the TOTAL cell wall (Cellulose, Lignin, & Hemicellulose) content of the hay as a percent. The NDF value is comprised of the ADF fraction plus hemicellulose. NDF values reflect the amount of forage the animal can consume and as the NDF percentage increases, dry matter intake will generally decrease. Cell walls are typically harder and slower to digest which means that normally only 40-70% of the cell wall is actually digestable. (Low values are desired)
Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF)	This value refers to the cell wall portions of the forage that are made up of cellulose and lignin. These values relate to the ability of an animal to digest the forage. As ADF increases, digestibility of a forage normally decreases. (Low values are desired)