Re: Wheat for cattle feed

Posted by Hal/ Eastern WA on September 14, 2011 at 22:15:03 from (208.81.157.90):

In Reply to: Wheat for cattle feed posted by David Snipes on September 14, 2011 at 11:32:37:

Hi Dave, I would wonder what is wrong with the wheat in question--as I think the wheat prices are pretty good right now, and I would also think that the farmer would want to sell all he could. Is your friend going to pay market price for the wheat?

I have talked to several local farmers, who have said that this year's crop isn't too bad, although the cold, wet Spring probably brought down yields some. The harvest season has been really good, with very little rain to mess things up. Most wheat has been harvested.

Some years ago, we had lots of rain in late July and August, which delayed harvesting. Some farmers had trouble with the wheat sprouting in the head. Sprouted wheat ruins it for conventional use, and wheat with that problem had to be sold as feed grain, at a much lower price.

A neighbor tried to raise wheat last year on some ground that had been in CRP for a long time. I watched their progress, plowing it all up and getting it ready to plant. It was nice to see the field back in production again, and the crop looked like they would get a real good yield from it. After it was combined I talked to them, and learned that the crop had rust problems, and something that should have been done to prevent that was not done. They were disappointed, as the crop was not going to be worth nearly as much as they thought it would be. I notice that this year they didn't even plant the ground, just did some summer fallowing. Maybe next year...and maybe that could be what is going on with the wheat your friend is getting.

There are farmers around that still fool around with some cattle, and I suspect that they probably make their own feed, to supplement hay and pasture. I bet they use some wheat, as well as oats and barley, since those are the grains that I see growing in our county. They also might add peas or lentils that are around.

I think I would grind the grain if I was going to try to make my own feed. Years ago, we had a bunch of whole oats that we tried to feed our cattle. They ate the oats just fine, but a lot of them went right through, and were visible whole in their manure. That kind of puzzled me, since cows chew their cud a lot, and I would have thought the grains would get smashed pretty well that way, but I guess not. I doubt that they got much food value from those whole oats.

I wish I had a definite answer. I would guess that almost all wheat produced is used in some way, if not for human consumption, for feed for some kind of critters. I think I would try it and see how it works out. Like anything else that is different, I would feed it very sparingly with plenty of grass or hay. Good luck!

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