Goats and sheep on half a acre

[CircusMum]

I’m in rural Wisconsin. Alfalfa hay is $3/bale and Timothy grass is $2/bale. Straw is $4-5/bale if you can find it. I use wood shavings or fodder as bedding because it’s more readily available and much cheaper.

 

[BreanneRN]

I’m in rural Wisconsin. Alfalfa hay is $3/bale and Timothy grass is $2/bale. Straw is $4-5/bale if you can find it. I use wood shavings or fodder as bedding because it’s more readily available and much cheaper.

Wow, life is good in Wisconsin, at least when it comes to buying hay... Straw actually costs more? Oh well, I think that is what the chain grocery store wanted to sell their straw bales they used for decor after Thanksgiving here. I have never actually bought any straw... This time of year here, that is what grass has become.

 

[CircusMum]

I think I get a great deal on hay because I buy two whole fields and he can haul it over as soon as it’s baled instead of having to store it. Most of our land around here is used for crops that can feed cows, so it’s pretty rare you find anyone growing straw. They just chop up the cornstalks and use the fodder as bedding instead. The dairy farmer I get hay from thinks I’m nuts for raising “hay burners,” but he sure spends a lot of time in the kid pen when he’s here

 

[res]

...pretty rare you find anyone growing straw...

Straw isn't "grown" as a crop. It is what is left over, the "stalk" basically, after wheat, oats or barley are harvested by the combine. Some straw users have preferences to which "type" of straw they use. Some say horses will eat oat straw more readily then wheat straw, but I have not experienced that.

 

[CircusMum]

Straw isn't "grown" as a crop. It is what is left over, the "stalk" basically, after wheat, oats or barley are harvested by the combine. Some straw users have preferences to which "type" of straw they use. Some say horses will eat oat straw more readily then wheat straw, but I have not experienced that.

Yes, I suppose I should have said no part of the plant is left in the field to make straw or those that don’t use it for silage don’t bother with cutting/baling. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[res]

It can also depend on the combine used, and how it was "set". In order to bale the straw, in either rounds or squares, the combine has to be set to drop the chaff in winrows. Most farmers only set it like that if they intend to bale. If there are no plans to bale, the combine scatters the chaff all over behind it, in an attempt to evenly distribute it to return nutrients to the soil.

 

[Matija]

One question.because there is lale near my town and there are plants like horsetail,common reed and cattails.and people really dont want them there because they are overgrowing.could i use them as feed source for sheep and goats.

 

[Birdsong 82]

There is quite a long list of plants that are toxic for goats. I’m not sure about cheap but I’m sure there are some. I can send you a copy of the list I have for my goats but seeing as you’re in a different country if I were you I would look up a list for your area. I’m not sure about the first two plants that you listed they’re not around my area. The last when I listed actually we are not to allowed to touch because they’re considered in threat of being endangered here

 

[BreanneRN]

You should be careful, horsetail grass is toxic to livestock... http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weedguide/single_weed.php?id=56 You can probably pull up other weeds and brush type plants at this site. I know native americans would eat the roots of cat tail rushes but nothing eats the top growth that I know of.

 

[lazy gardener]

I personally would not get sheep OR goats on only 1/2 acre. While it's good to want such animals, you need to look at what is in the best interests of the animal. If you're gonna have chickens, and live on that 1/2 acre, you're gonna max it out just with that. 1/2 acre is roughly 100' x 200'. That's not a lot of land to work with for house, well and septic system (assuming you're not on town sewer and water) garden, and livestock.