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Adding molasses to round bales

T

tom stalker

Member
After a VERY wet summer and hay baled well past it's prime, many locals are experimenting with adding molasses to their round bales for the first time in our area.

Looking for help on everyone's method who has done this.

One I was told was to take a half full 5 gallon bucket and add hot water to it to thin it down and just pour on one of the bale ends.

I've been told it's a common practice in some areas.

Just want to hear your methods. Thanks !!
 
I have injected molasses into low quality hay. I took a roller spray pump and made a probe out of a pipe with holes drilled down each side. Make sure and plumb a return/relief valve in the circuit.I folded the one end into a rough point( Do not asked me why this is important. LOL) Make sure and thin the molasses with water or it will be too thick to pump.

I found that injecting the mix into about 4-5 places around the bale in about 1/3 the diameter worked best. I usually put 4-5 gallons per bale. Also doing it a day before you feed it works better too. That way the molasses mix spreads more in the bale.

I made my first injector in 1988. I have used it on low quality hay several times over the years. It is cheaper than buying good hay for brood cows or calves. I have used clean straw and even corn stalks. The bale is roughage and the molasses is your protein. I was able to keep cows happy an in good shape on junk hay and stalks in 1988 by doing this.
 
We took a old propane tank and plumbed it up with a hose
and pipe then we pressured it up with air and we didn't have
to thin it any worked good
 

I don't think that you can get much protein from Molasses. I would check with the feed tech to see if they need a little added.
 
Molasses on it's own is only about 3% crude protein. Most times it's blended with whey or sometimes distillers solubles to get the CP level up. Blending with whey makes it flow better, too.
 
The molasses I used did have urea based protein added to it. It is a 40% protein product from Quality Liquid Feed company. It is made for lick tubs and other pasture supplement systems.
 
You might be surprised what stock cows will eat. Roll it out and let them pick thru it a couple of times. If you feed too much they tend to waste more Plenty of water, access to salt and a lick tub or two so that they know you still care.
 
I had some poor quality round bales one year - I would flip them on edge, then thin the molasses with hot water, and put it in a watering can
(I had to drill the holes bigger). I would pour it on the end of the bale and let it set for 20 minutes or so - it would work it's way down
through the bale. These were soft core bales - hard core may take longer
Pete
 
When we custom baled a customer had me bale junk hay, then had liquid feed seller Proflow (out of business) inject each bale with molasses right after baling. Stock cows would lick the ground cleaning it up.
 
In drought years, before the corn boom, we used to feed Milo stalks. Feed store carried Molasses for the licking tubs with the rollers that
roll it up when licked by the cow so that's what was used to season the bales. Sure beats nothing. As others mentioned, numerous ways
to apply.
 
Neighbor one year had the local Coop come out and they had him turn the round bales on their side, they used the hose from the truck to put so many gallon on each bale end, they left them there for 20 min I think it was then stood them back on the middle, the stuff went all the way through them and came out the other side, he used a Bale king processor I sold him to feed them the cows ate every stick of those bales, I should say also these bales came from a field that was not hayed the year before due to drought and it only got 10-15" tall the year before but that year it was 2 1/2 feet tall so it had new and yearold hay in them, they had the protein#'s then and told me but its been too long know
cnt
 
If the hay is that poor quality that the cows won't eat it do you think it'll do them any good if they do eat it with some molasses on it? They might be full but still be starving.
I make some rough hay sometimes but its not very often the cows won't eat at least some of the bale.Did bale some Broom Sage a few years ago in late Oct for a guy that the county got on him
about the land use,it was totally dry when I cut it and the cows wouldn't touch it of course it had Zero food value anyway,wouldn't have been any use trying to get them to eat it.
 
They first tested the hay it was running 13% protein before the adding of the mineral mix, his cows did very well on it all winter he bragged about how they did, but then the hay was 60 % new hay,, I guess out here where we have little crop production compared to other areas that have silage ect and lots of H20 things are different,, the cattle here do Very well on what we raise and myself I prefer grass fed Beef to corn fed, to me it has more flavor and body and much less fat but again thats just my opinion, Iwas always told anything was better than a snowbank for them to eat lol
cnt
 
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