feeding cows in snow

keh · Mar 2, 2009

Got the cows fed on the snow this AM. They sure did appreciate it. I had forgotten how much of a pain it was to get the plastic twine loose from ice and snow covered bales. I feel for you guys in the cold country that have to do this often.

KEH

RayP(MI) · Mar 2, 2009

Every day. Only it"s sheep not cows. If we have snow, I hava a large sportsman"s sled that will carry up to 3 or 4 small squares. No snow, a garden wagon serves. Today chill was below zero. By the time I carried 8 5gal buckets of hot water from the house, 3 bales of hay from the barn, loaded 62 bowls of grain and distributed tham, I was froze stiff! Had to hold the grain bowls for the llamas, to keep the older one from stealing from the youngster, and keep the sheep from stealing the llama"s grain.

Then it"s off to the barn where we have 130 rabbits. Suprisingly only a few frozen bottles - but caused another trip to the house for hot water to thaw them. Hose that runs across barn to supply water was "almost" froze - ran it at a dribble for probably 20 minutes before I could get a good flow. Hopefully, it will stay thawed today.

Right now, it"s time to thaw my hands and feet.

thurlow · Mar 2, 2009

Only did the plastic twine one year; learned my lesson and went back to sisal. The half-life of that stuff must be measured in the centuries. I fed too much hay to ever remove the twine. Mother Nature takes care of the sisal.

Wayne from Wi · Mar 2, 2009

Hi Ray,I had to do the feed, water, and corn silage carrying to hogs and dairy heifers when younger. Sometimes now when things break down. It's all part of livestock care. Someone told me once that hot water will freeze faster than cold water will because hot molecules are more active than cold molecules, so will lose heat faster. It seems to be true. Anybody agree/disagree??? I know warm water is MUCH better for livestock in cold weather. Wayne

Anonymous-0 · Mar 2, 2009

ya everyday all winter long, I hate net wrapped bales but I have my hay custom baled, all the farmers around me have net wrap nobody does the sissal twine this is in NW WI and its been colder than normal all winter had alot of snow on the bales then it melted then froze so its been a battle with them every day.but spring is almost here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

marty g. · Mar 2, 2009

I had a water pipe that burst last month in the house from being very cold outside and being absent. It was the hot water pipe that burst open...

tjdub · Mar 2, 2009

I wrap all my round bales in plastic (both balage and dry hay). I used the plastic twine for the first time this year and it made things much easier for me. When the sisal is wrapped it is preserved like the hay for the most part, but tends to break down a bit so it's really hard to pull strings without breaking them.

The only thing I really hate about the plastic twine is that it's really hard to get the bales home from the field without twines coming off. Last fall if you would have asked me if I liked plastic twine I would have told you to avoid it like the plague, but now I'm not sure. I might try the bio-degradable stuff this summer. Not sure if that will stay on the bales during transport any better or not.

But yeah, without wrapping bales, I would definitely use sisal if storing outside. Been through the horrors of netwrap with ice on some hay I bought last winter. I'm still finding pieces of that stuff around the farm.

RayP(MI) · Mar 2, 2009

My research and experiments say that is not the case. Hot water needs to shed the calories that make it hot, before the freezing process can take place. Cold water is already cold! I've done the experiments - identical 5 gal buckets with hot, cold water - guess which freezes first! Also done it with ice cube trays in freezer. Same results. In theory, hot water should circulate due to convection currents in bucket, causing it to cool faster, but you've still got to conduct off the calories.....

PS, I have a degree in physical chemistry.

Mike (WA) · Mar 2, 2009

I remember buggin' dad about the need to carry water for the calves, etc., etc.- why can't we be set up with remote waterers, etc., etc.? He laughed and said, "The bad news is, I can't afford all that stuff 'cause I got kids to raise. The good news is, I don't need all that stuff, 'cause I got kids! So see, it all works out."

Wayne from Wi · Mar 2, 2009

Thanks Ray, I never took the time to wait and watch water freeze,,, imagine that. I just a couple times put water out and compared a while later. Real scientific. Wayne

Jerry/MT · Mar 2, 2009

Before I started feeding big bales I talked to a cowman friend from Stanford, MT(SE of Great Falls) about net wrapped bales. He said they were great if you never got snow or rain on them and if the wrap didn't freeze. God help you if it did!

After that discussion, I told the guy that customs our hay to use plastic twine. Even that can freeze on the top of the bale and give you some problems in getting it off. I use a bale spinner and have had to rotate the bale around to get some frozen twine off. I can't imagine what you'd have to do if it was net wrapped!

tjdub · Mar 2, 2009

This is usually true, but hotter water CAN freeze faster than cooler water. It's not that hot water always freezes faster than cold, but rather that there are cases when hot water does freeze faster than cooler water. It's called the Mpemba Effect (see Wikipedia article).

As the article says, the best temperatures to use to demonstrate the effect are 95F for cold and 212F for hot, so I guess it's more accurate to say really hot water freezes faster than normal hot water

Mpemba Effect

MGTPa · Mar 2, 2009

Of course, the best way is store bales in your basic pole shed to keep the weather off of them. Been feeding beef cattle for years. A lot of wasted hay in a bale if is sitting on the ground drawing moisture and getting soaking wet on top from rain or snow and then add cold and freezing temps, yep, there's alot of wasted hay when it is stored outside. Sometimes that's the way it is. Beef cattle and even longhorns can be really picky eaters when it comes to wet or musty or frozen hay. They will walk away, unless there about starved.

rrlund · Mar 2, 2009

Yes,I ran out of regular twine when I was baling corn stalks last fall and had to bale 50 or so with plastic. You don't know your alive until you're out there at -5 trying to get plastic twine out of the ice on stalk bales.

feeding cows in snow

keh

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RayP(MI)

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thurlow

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Wayne from Wi

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Anonymous-0

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marty g.

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tjdub

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RayP(MI)

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Mike (WA)

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Wayne from Wi

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