Fodder beet - Extra winter feed

[CarolineL]

We have the opportunity to get hold of 5 tonne of Fodder Beet to give the cows as supplementary feed while it's as cold as this. They are getting big round bales of mostly haylage and sometimes hay and come into a shed at night (free to come and go as they please).

Any one got any experience of feeding fodder beet to Dexters? Just want to check it's not going to cause them any major problems before we get it!

Also, any thoughts on how small you have to chop it? We were just going to chop it up with a spade.

Any thoughts welcome!

Many thanks
Caroline

[Broomcroft]

Caroline, There was a thread on this a few months ago...Fodder Beet.

I'm about to start using a bit and plan feeding it whole but keeping the quantity down quite low.



Edited By Broomcroft on 1262961385

[CarolineL]

That's great Clive thank you. (Did try using the Search button but didn't come up with anything - probably doing it wrong!)

Will give them a go, chopping them up a bit, and introducing slowly. It's only to get them through 'the Big Freeze'.

Many thanks
Caroline

[Broomcroft]

All the people I have spoken to face to face say just feed them whole but make sure they are clean of stones. I asked wouldn't they possibly choke on them like they can with whole potatoes (which I think is rare but happens), and they said no. But see what people say when they read this?



Edited By Broomcroft on 1262969285

[redhill]

we have fed fodder beet in the past to our Dexters, we feed them whole at the rate of about 3 large (or equivelant) ones per cow per day, you can possibly feed more than this but thats how many ours had, they do very well on them.
Bill.

[davidw]

I fed stubble turnips for as long as I had some. The cattle seemed to really like them, but I found that they couldn't manage to eat some of the larger ones, so I chopped them. Only problem was controlling their enthusiasm.

[SteveM]

We feed fodder beet chopped at about 2-3 shovel fulls per cow (about a 2 gallon bucket full).

Cut through a herborg cleaner cutter, which cuts fairly small, though if there is a powercut we have a linkage mounted pto version which has a larger cutter.

Hoping for a thaw this week so we can get some more pulled, got about a weeks supply left in the shed.

The cows get a few nuts, fodder beet and hay. Its only the fodder beet that they make a noise for.

[Saffy]

It is a joy to see them eating something they love so much isn't it!

We used to feed our milkers waste potatoes as we grew quite alot and they were crazy about them, we didn't feed the little ones though and that way we were lucky enough not to get a case of choke. I believe it is usually the smaller potatoes that cause the problem and we used to riddle them out anyway, so we did have to waste those - Duncan is that right, it is the little potatoes that generally cause the choke??

One cow would always pop her head up above all the others at the rustle of the bags with the spuds in and shoulder her way to the front, funny that one liked them much more even than the others did. So even when we weren't feeding them, we were usually sorting so I would pop an extra large potato in my pocket for when I next came across her, she would see me and obediently open her mouth for it!!! :D

Stephanie

[Duncan MacIntyre]

A wide variety of size of potato can cause choke. I think the rounder the potato the more likely it is, so chopping them no matter what the size would be a good idea. What causes the problem is the muscle of the oesophagus clamping round the potato or whatever it is and forming a gas tight seal which prevents all the dreadful methane getting up. Sometimes the potato can be massaged back up if it is no further than the neck, but most are in the chest and pushed down into the rumen with a probang so no one sees what size they are.

Duncan