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The Ins & Outs of Feeding Our Cows Hay

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

December 14, 2019

Hello from the farm,

Today, I want to take you out to the pasture as I feed hay to our cows.

Our process is a modified "bale grazing" technique used by regenerative farms out west. For us, setting a whole bale out in the pasture for the cows to break into and eat caused to much hoof action and destroyed the perennial sod because our winters are much wetter.

So, we simply break the bale apart into 8-10 mini piles per feeding. This way all the cows have a place "at the table" and are not crowded into a small area.

This impact and distributing the cows manure & urine tightly across the pasture is great for building soil health.

My favorite thing about feeding the cows is the opportunity to interact with them.

They can be so funny at times, like the other day when the temperature dropped in the afternoon. They were running and bucking like children.

Many of the cows will come up to me so I can rub their back or scratch behind their ears. Each one has a personality all their own.

Hope you enjoy the video and be sure to send us your comments.

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