Don't be put off by the sulky faces of Parsley and her calf: it’s a cow thing!!! They are really quite happy in their Cow Pad, although we have had to have words about the spilt hay!
Trouble is, no matter how hay is fed, there is ALWAYS wastage and even when racks are too high for the animals to reach up and into the top of them or when they have lids, bits of hay get dropped underneath. The trolley we use for the cows is of course lid-less and in the 3-acre field, the wastage seemed minimal – possibly because they picked up the spilt hay from the ground (before it got trodden in!). We did rather fill the trolley today as well as both the hay racks inside their shelter so maybe they just got lazy because they had so much… We expect the wastage here is more obvious as well, falling on woodchip as opposed to grass!!
Inside the shelters, the spilt hay becomes part of the bedding so does not feel quite so wasteful. If it’s dry, we will pick up the hay from the woodchip as much as possible and throw that in the shelter too.
It is not a major stress, both woodchip and hay are organic and as such will both eventually rot down which is fine. If we were housing the cows on concrete or scalpings, we would need to sweep up: more work for us!!
The goat path is still not quite finished but it is tantalisingly close!!!