How long should cows go without hay between feedings?

I have been trying to research on the internet about how long a pregnant cow can go without hay in the winter before it becomes a problem. The scenario I am talking about is when I feed about three round bales at a time and about 48 hours later they are all gone, but I wait like 12-24 hours until I feed them again. This gets them to go out into the pasture and walk around a bit, even though there isn't anything to eat out there I feel like it is better than standing in the manure around the feeders. They always have plenty of fresh, clean water. So what has anyone heard about this or what are your opinions? Thanks.

i guess my main concern would be how much contaminated hay are they picking up when there is noting else and if you deprive the microbes in their gut of feed are you killing them? are you really gaining anything? if you want them to walk around move the hay or the water father away from each other. farther from the barn?

Depends on what shape your cows are in. If they are on the thin side I'd keep some feed in front of them. But if they are in pretty good shape you should be ok the way you are doing it. Make them clean everything up. Also depends on how far along they are you can let them cruise a little bit during the second trimester.

Two of the three feeders are hay saver feeders and the hay never hits the ground. Most of it is stored inside so I'm not as worried about contaminated hay being consumed. The cows are in good shape and in the past have gotten almost too fat on hay in the winter time.Not sure about depriving the microbes in the gut.

How many cows and how big is the pasture they are in? Mud is your/our enemy. I always try and feed in a different spot when it is muddy. Stating the obvious there. When I had enough cows to justify it, I would go to the top of the hills on unroll a bale all the way down. This lets all the cows eat at the same time with not alot of pushing and shoving. I would take out another bale when it was gone and repeat the process. They will still waste some but no more than at the feeder if its good hay. A round bale unrolled makes a long line of feed. Your manure is always getting put in a different place all winter and come spring the pasture seemed to repond well to it. They make rollers for a truck or tractor that unroll the hay for you but I always liked watching it roll and hoping it goes where I aimed it. (dog) Look out below!!!

We try to speard our bales apart to encourage the cattle to forage. I have Gerts so they will eat just dang near anything and are great foragers. We definitely make them clean each bale up and sometimes they may go w/out for just a little while during busy times. I think everyone has the same problem. You can't always drop everything and put out hay immediately.

we use round bale feeders and they get moved to a different spot every time we put hay out...this helps with the mud and manure piling up in one place and doesnt leave bad places in the pasture come spring time...a little extra work to move them every time, but im pretty sure the cows appreciate not having to stand in mud up to their bellies (theres a guy down the road, who has a ramp built off the highway, he drives his tractor right up and drops a hay bale off into a feeder, been doing that all winter, same place, never been moved!!!  his cows are sunk so deep in mud, their milk sacks get covered in mud, manure, whatever else...talk about unhealthy for his calves!  and all so his tractor doesnt get dirty???  please....)  anyway...we also dont feed near their water supply, so they have to walk to get water

when we put our first round bale out, we take it to the farthest location, then start working our way "in"...pending frozen or dry ground, of course

ive never had any luck unrolling one...course i live in the "hills"...so if you try to unroll one, it might end up in the next county...but another reason, never seemed to fail, when i did try to unroll them, the cows would stand right in the middle of the line...then of course do their "business" right in the good hay...and they would want to lay around in it...too much waste for me

if it seems like your cows are having to butt around to get into the hay feeder, you need another hay feeder...i use one hay feeder for 5 cows...yeah, i know there are alot more slots and you could probably figure for more than that...but in my experience, to many more than that and they start shoving each other around...

my hubs works 12 hour rotating  shifts...in the winter time, on his dayturns he leaves before dark and gets home after dark, so when he's on his 4 dayturns he trys to put out enough to last till his next day off...he put out three round bales for 10 head and they will finish it up on the 4th day...they will probably have to go about 24 hours without hay, but it doesnt hurt them...ill give them a little grain to make up for it

JTM, any pictures of your hay feeders?    Always looking for a better type of feeder to save hay. Thanks

there was a post on here a while ago, speaking of hay saving feeders.  We have a green one, with a funnel to hold the bale, and a circle with a plywood bottom to catch the droppings.  It works ok, as long as the bale falls down gradually, and the cows don't eat the whole underside, and the bale stays up.. then they stick their head in-= bale falls down= cow gets stuck... 

Do a search, I remember pictures on the other post

The best feeders i have used have been Bextra bale feeders. There is very little waste and they are more affordable than your typical cone feeder. They are also bigger around allowing more cows to eat from them at once.

I always kinda do the same thing , wait a little while on putting the hay back to them. I always have a stalk bale in there for them though. Seems to save a little on hay , yet still keeps them busy .

I have some feeders from Klenepipe in Indiana. They save a lot of hay but are expensive. I figured that I will make my money back in hay in only a couple of years.

www.klenepipe.com