Slower than Molasses
n an ongoing effort to keep energy in Jane’s feeding regimen, I have been adding molasses to her feed. It’s pretty easy to get on the grass fed only bandwagon and then realize that you’re not feeding your dairy cow what it needs to stay out of a negative energy balance. Couple that with the way the feed industry has changed. I used to buy wet COB, which is flaked corn, rolled oats and rolled barley mixed with molasses. It’s kind of the old standby sweet feed if you had a horse or didn’t want to feed a high-octane ration to your cows. Until recently wet COB was sticky, and then the way molasses was distributed changed, now molasses is diluted so it can be sprayed on the grain and then the mix is dried. A lot of molasses now comes from sugar beets which may be a GMO issue for some. Anyway, suffice it to say the plain Jane wet COB is now a different feed, it smells funny and sour and isn’t sticky, it’s just brown grain with the look of a tea soaked doily.
Molasses for Jane
Feed is the number one issue if you have cows. Cows can also be one of the most economical animals to have on a farm, IF, you have pasture. Cattle do a great job converting grass into meat and milk. Jane gets 95% of her food from here, either by grazing, or eating garden vegetables, and hay we make. The other 5% is made up of some eastern Oregon hay* and dry COB with added molasses. I’m not a purist, I am a husbandist, so what I mean is that if I determine my cow needs grain or better hay than I can grow, then I will purchase said things. In a different time I wouldn’t worry about GMO alfalfa, corn, or sugar beets, but that is the world we live in. I want to produce milk here for my family and I may have to sacrifice some of my ideals to do it.
As far as ideals go I had bad luck with feed grade molasses last summer, so I switched to human grade for Jane. It’s funny too, what is human grade now is what feed grade used to be like 40 years ago. My, how the food supply has changed. I was buying 5 gallon buckets of Blackstrap molasses from Azure, but the extra iron in Blackstrap was not necessarily a good thing since we have high iron soils. I have since switched to buying molasses by the gallon from a restaurant supply house, it works out to be the same price and it’s much easier to handle and I have fewer worries about throwing her mineral balance out with the regular molasses. However, pouring molasses from a 5 gallon bucket or 1 gallon jug in August is one thing, doing that chore in winter is another 
It’s also pretty easy with the glug method to get too much. I’m sure Jane wouldn’t mind a bit, but it’s a pretty expensive additive so I try to be somewhat frugal with it. So, as summer turned to fall, I started diluting the molasses with hot water. As with all ideals, you usually find something has to give, preparing Jane’s grain on a cold morning or evening with cold molasses was just too frustrating for me. I know, get a life MOH! But a frustrated milker has no business in the barn, so here we go again, trade-off. Do I continue to be pissed off every time I milk or do I change what I am doing so I’m not pissed off? I would rather give Jane a little diluted molasses if it makes the whole process of getting milk to the house a little easier, than trying to mix dry grain with stiff molasses.
As for the diluting process, I find that using wide mouth canning jars work the best. I know how much I am giving her by eyeballing the jar and they are easy to carry to the barn and store on the shelf near her feed. I’m using a 3 cup molasses to 1 cup water ratio which is working perfectly. If I use boiling water and stir immediately the molasses stays diluted and doesn’t separate. It’s much easier to mix with the feed this way, and the jars clean easily. Sigh, it makes chores so much easier, even though I have more jars and lids to keep track of and wash, it’s worth it.
*for readers who aren’t familiar with the Pacific Northwest, there is a dry side and a wet side to Oregon and Washington, I live on the wet side and making hay is different than on the dry side. Expensive irrigated, very high quality hay is grown on the east side and shipped all over. It’s pretty rich, but very good dairy hay and makes a great condiment for Jane along with our own grass hay.
Food Renegade
Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op
Okay…I’m not getting it, your mad because the grain company is diluting the molasses and then you do the same thing at home? Wouldn’t it just be simpler to buy something different and not add water to a product like that?
Thanks though for the info about the different hay.
Nick, it’s not so much that I’m mad, it’s more that the product is not the same as it was. As for buying something different, there isn’t too much that really will replace molasses as a go-to energy “feed” for livestock. I totally get why it would be easier to add thinned down molasses to feed in an industrial setting, so in essence I am borrowing some of the idea and using a product I think is better.
Wow, every time I think. “Ok, I pretty much know what all is involved in caring for a milk cow or a beef herd or whatever”, then you post about another little facet of your life I had no idea about and had never even considered…apparently there are endless things I DON’T know about raising livestock! I’m so glad to learn what I have learned from you, thanks!!
Roz, actually cattle are pretty resilient and harder to kill than it looks
Remember I am a little OCD so it’s not imperative that someone follow my lead to be successful with cattle. Thanks though for the compliment!
Maybe you could keep the molasses mix in the house so you could bring it out to mix with the grain when you feed Jane. Of course, I don’t know how that would work with your routine or if it gets cold enough to freeze the molasses/water mix where you live. Where I am in northern Indiana, I would definitely have to worry about freezing.
CarolG, the mix works good outside, and it doesn’t get that cold here very often. I do keep most of it in the house though for convenience, just so the kitties don’t break my jars
Our grass is absolutely gone, and the ground is frozen solid so I also give Daisy molasses and have been glugging a little (big tablespoon really) into her beet shreds with oats and barley, I have found an excellent source and make up her feed myself, but OH that molasses is not moving very fast at all now that the temps are freezing. So Thank you, thank you!! I was just slugging, or is that glugging on, knowing there was an easier and cleaner method and too tired to think of it. I already have to carry quite a bit (including the pump) to the barn due to the cold so there is no reason at all why I can’t mix the molasses with hot water in the kitchen and go from there, and also thank you for the food grade tip too, I shall look into that.
As you know i have just got back from three weeks in NZ seeing my children and Daisy was terrible for John and his helpers, just beastly, kicking and throwing big cow tantrums in all directions. I feel a bit sheepish that now that i am home and milking again she is behaving very well. But her udder has changed since I was away, Two of the quarters milk out very fast, one milks slowly and the fourth has so much milk in it that I hand milk that one right out after all the others are way finished not wanting to leave milk behind in case of mastitis. Altogether she is still giving about 15 pounds of good creamy milk per milking. Do you have any idea how i can get all four back in sinc? I have upped her grain and hay a little in case she was hungry (she is looking a wee bit scrawny)and separated her from Queenie so i know for sure she is getting her fair share – Queenie (the hereford) has put on piles of weight since i have been gone. Any other ideas?
By the way your dishes look so colourful! Now i am off to retrieve my molasses from the barn and I shall make up a few jars.. what an excellent idea.. have a lovely day.. and thank you
c
C, that must be a shock to come back to such cold temperatures, BRRRR. Daisy probably would love a cup a day of molasses, I’m guessing. As for her milking, she may have a touch of mastitis, it’s so hard to know since all cows are different, some quarters produce more milk, but a change isn’t a good sign I’m thinking. If you can’t see any physical changes in the milk, like straining slow, or flakes or clumps, you might want to have it tested and see if you’re dealing with a sub-clinical mastitis. It’s helpful to know if you decide to treat with antibiotics to know exactly what you’re dealing with. Otherwise you could give her some homeopathics, which don’t really hurt if there isn’t something there in the first place. A good one for mastitis is MASTOBLAST, it’a mix of remedies, in different potencies so it works much faster than trying one at a time and waiting for results and moving on. I hope that helps some. Sending good thoughts to you and Daisy, I bet she is glad her mama is home!
http://www.jefferspet.com/mastoblast/camid/liv/cp/16614/
Ah yes, the pretty Fiesta, it sure makes doing dishes fun!
Thank you, i will order that, this is a bad time of year to get tests done but i will try to get in touch with the vet monday.. but if the mastoblast comes first I shall begin a treatment anyway.. there are not big clots in the milk, though tonight I felt the smallest of lumps, like a penny under the skin, in that quarter. I am glad to be back and picking up the reins again.. and thank you so much for your help..celi
You’re welcome
I read that the British tried adding canola (rape seed) oil to the feed. The only results I saw were that the milk had lower cholesterol.
I was interested because I kept a draft horse some years back, and ran across an issue that 65% of all draft horses, some QH, Apaloosa, some other breeds, and cross breds have. The genetic pre-disposition for EPSM (PSSM for the QH crowd) sometimes will manifest in wasting of muscles. The most-recognized symptom is in draft horses, a wasting of the hind quarters. Since Dr. Beth Valentine started researching the condition, she found that most cases of stringhalt and shivers, failure to rise after anaesthesia, and a characteristic “hitch” in one or both hind quarters when backing are also commonly EPSM. (Yes, this is about horses. I am getting there.)
What Dr. Beth found, was that horses don’t get nutrition from grains, not from corn, or oats, etc. What they get is carbohydrates — calories. Because we interfere with wild horse behavior, commonly grazing much of the day, we have to supply higher calorie feed than simple grass or hay, in most cases. The EPSM horses showing symptoms need calories, but have stopped digesting sugars and carbohydrates correctly. Their muscles stop receiving adequate nutrition, and suffer injury during exercise and work.
The therapy was to remove grains from the diet, and supplement with vegetable oil. The oil, as of 15 years ago, didn’t matter — soy, corn, canola, olive, whatever was inexpensive, decent quality, and available, worked as well as the others. The formula was 1.2 to 2.1% bodyweight in good quality forage (the traditional hay ration), 2 c. vegetable oil per 1,000 pounds of horse, Vitamin E, selenium, and free choice minerals. I feed the oil soaked into a beet pulp shreds (what is left of the sugar beet, after extracting the sugars), but have used hay or even complete feed or grains to hold the “horse salad”. If the horse’s condition improves over 4-6 months of the oil-based feeding, exercise at the horse’s comfort level, then the problem is likely EPSM (it is tough to diagnose, and usually considered only after every other possible condition has been ruled out). If EPSM, then the horse horse is already well started on the therapy that should be continued for the rest of its life — the grain-free diet.
Especially at heavier feeding levels, horses risk colic and founder from undigested grain passing into the gut. Some horses experience attitude swings with changes in blood sugar levels. Both conditions tend to happen less with the grain-free, oil based diet. So some horses that *don’t* have EPSM do improve as well. I haven’t seen any reason that a horse should not be fed the vegetable oil way, and have fed my horses that way since then. My Hackney Pony gets the vegetable oil on beet shreds twice a day, today.
So my suggestion is to ask your vet for an opinion, on either diluting the molasses with vegetable oil, or replacing the molasses. It is my understanding that molasses was used, initially, to make damaged and low quality grains more palatable to livestock. Taking away the molasses is like taking candy out of a kid’s diet. After a few sulks, they settle down to a calmer, more alert way of life. Anyway, that is my suggestion.
Bruce, very interesting. My daughter feeds her horse that way, except the beet pulp shreds (although I doubt we’ll eat him so the GMO’s in beet pulp wouldn’t matter) and the oil is a good addition for an older horse. She has also found that by rotationally grazing her horse in tall grass he get the carbs he needs from seed heads, and still gets some protein from eating further down the plant. But, cows are a different animal, I think molasses can a great mineral and energy booster, at least for dairy cows, my beef cows don’t need it, would probably love it, but they aren’t milking so much and are easier to maintain. Energy (carbs) is what a lot of grassfed advocates are missing, ketosis is pretty common in dairy cows due to a high protein (alfalfa) diet, especially family cows that are with newbies afraid to feed grains from the grassfed guilt complex and they just watch their cows fade away. Sure a shot of glucose with an IV or propylene glycol will help pull them out of this, but it is much easier to feed a cow than medicate, that’s JMHO though.
Interesting conversations….as always
In the winter (and we seem to be having one this year…-7* at milking this am) I feed Molly cow locally grown oats soaked (I keep a 5 gal. bucket in the passive solar greenhouse) in molasses water in addition to an all stock organic feed mix. It seems that I see less oats passing through with soaking them first. Happy New Year from Wyoming!
I was buying the five gallon buckets of black strap molasses from Azure, as I’d read that it was far superior a feed additive then regular molasses- I’ll have to go back and read why now – other than the iron. I have kinda given up on the sticky mess and after my last bucket ran out I haven’t ordered more. I got tired of the mess, and dealing with clumps. I can’t really tell if my goats’ health is improved with it. I am trying to feed more dried herbs to cover their nutrient needs. Do you notice a difference in her health or energy levels when Jane is getting Molasses?
Emily, the 5 gallon buckets are a major pain for sure. I think the skinny on black strap molasses is that it’s from the last extraction and contains more minerals and vitamins and less sugar. I’m looking for sugar to provide energy for her, basically carbs, so molasses is pretty common for that with dairy cows. I’m not trying make her more energetic, I’m trying to boost the energy in her diet.
Here is some text from a molasses company that explains it very well. Of course this is geared towards profit enhancing production but the info is still good – from Brundaberg Molasses:
Nutrition has the greatest influence on the productivity and profitability of dairying. Feed is also one of the most significant costs. Therefore it is important to find the most cost effective ingredients to supply the cow’s requirements.
Dairy cows have a high energy requirement to maximise their milk production. On Australian farms energy is commonly the most limiting nutrient and is largely responsible for the differences in milk production between herds. Where energy is limiting the cow will use the energy for maintenance and reproduction at the expense of milk production. Providing sufficient energy in the diet to meet all the animal’s requirements is therefore of paramount importance. It has been said, by the Queensland DPI, that cows on improved tropical pastures consume sufficient protein to produce 12 litres per day but only enough energy to produce 8 to 10 litres per day. This situation is common and explains the necessity to feed energy supplements to improve production.
Once the cow’s maintenance requirements are met almost all additional energy will be used for milk production making this extra milk very cost effective to produce (see Diagram 1 below).
Diagram 1 – The effect of Molasses Supplementation on milk production
Molasses is one of the cheapest sources of energy and, when fed appropriately, can produce between 0.6 and 1 litre of milk per kg dry matter (from molasses) fed. This makes the milk produced from molasses supplements some of the cheapest, most profitable milk.
Molasses also helps maximise the utilisation of dry matter. When fed to ruminants, molasses provides a source of carbohydrate which feeds the rumen microbes and helps promote an efficient and healthy microbial population. This microbial microbial population can then achieve more efficient and more complete fibre digestion. In turn, this encourages cattle to consume the less palatable sources of dry matter which means that you can effectively utilise, and produce milk from even the less palatable forage species.
There has been evidence to suggest that in order to optimise milk protein content, sugar, starch and fibre need to be in a particular proportion to each other. Due to their different digestibility’s this would ensure energy is released at a constant rate throughout the day. Many grasses tend to be low in sugar and, if unsupplemented, can cause reduced milk production. This can be compounded by nitrogen fertiliser which makes the grass grow faster but with low sugar content despite the high protein. To improve milk production cattle grazing these pastures should be supplemented with molasses to increase the sugar content of their diet.
In general, there will be positive results to molasses supplementation where energy is the limiting nutrient. Good results have also been seen by replacing some of the other, more expensive concentrates, with molasses
The response to molasses supplementation is very similar to the response to grain supplementation on a dry matter basis, according to the QDPI. It is generally not recommended to feed more than 3.5kg of molasses per head per day though good results are common up to this level (see Table below)
Response to Molasses Supplementation (QDPI)
Grazing Conditions kg molasses/cow/day Lactation
Grazing irrigated Nil 2817
Pangola Grass 3.6 3716
Grazing Irrigated 0.5 3598
Tropical Grass/Legume 3.5 4150
When molasses constitutes greater than 25% of the diet dry matter or more than 3.5 kg of molasses is consumed per cow per day, there tends to be declining levels of benefit. At inclusion levels far greater than this there may also be risks of metabolic disorders. Because of this, consumption should be controlled so that all rows receive their share of molasses and none over-consume. This can be achieved by feeding in the bails, using roller drums (see Beef Notes) or by chemically altering the taste of the molasses so that it is less attractive.
It is important to keep dry cows and replacement heifers in good condition also as this will improve their productivity later when they are lactating. QDPI states that for every kilogram a Friesian heifer is lighter than the recommended liveweight, her production is reduced 9 kg in the first lactation and 7 to 8 kg in the following 2 lactations. For these reasons it may be necessary to feed molasses to dry cattle in some seasons.
Overall, molasses is an excellent supplement for improving the efficiency of dairy production. It is a cost effective energy supplement and improves the utilisation of dry matter. Fed wisely, it can be a great profit-enhancing tool.
I think goats have a much higher mineral requirement than cows, excellent idea on the herbs
Nice to know that the irrigated hay has its uses. I have a friend who spends much of his time here in Latvia but summer is back on his farm cutting the irrigated hay in Oregon. Rather a different climate to here
Joanna, LOL eastern Oregon is a different climate from here! I live where we get 10 feet of rain a year and 75 miles away the amount is 1 foot give or take. I try not to use too much, it’s too hard to keep the right minerals flowing when I’m dealing with hay that is fertilized with…I did recently find out a lot of, erm, “manure” is going to eastern Oregon from our county. Such lovely info my DH comes homes with from the sewer treatment plant tour
So far so good, no sludge, I mean bio-solids going on this spendy hay. But it’s definitely something to pay closer attention to.
Well treated human manure is an asset we squander at our peril. I must ask my friend what they use on their hay fields, I’m seeing him and his wife tonight.
We feed molasses here too. I couldn’t find a liquid feed-grade molasses that did not include urea. From what I read, cows ingesting urea find kelp meal unpalatable. I found a dried molasses that the cows lick up well and they still work at their mineral pan.
Great post. You’re keeping the bar pretty high.
HFS, thanks!
Our goats have become serious snobs for the Eastern Washington hay. We try to stock up on it a bit in Summer, when the getting is good, but living in Olympia where it is so wet so much of the time, buying large amounts of anything that must be kept dry is a bit of a financial gamble. :\
Michelle, I hear you on that, and it’s heavy too, our bales only weigh 50 pounds and are easy to toss around, eastern is another story
I was spoiled last year. I had a two-handed scythe I picked up at a farm sale, and someone mentioned the scythe stone that Amazon.com carried — which makes the scythe a *much* better tool, and for less that $5 before shipping.
I experimented, and ended up cutting the grass, turning with a 4-tined pitch fork when it needed. When dry, I stacked the loose hay on the wheelbarrow (so I don’t have to bend over so much), and wrapping a length of garden twined around once or twice. I carry the bundle (I hate to call it a “bale”, exactly) to the barn with the fork, and stack it off the ground. When feeding I use the fork to carry the thing, then cut the twine off. Last year I made over eighty bundles, and it went a long ways toward carrying my Hackney pony through, though I did end up needing more hay before spring.
This year I only got four bundles put up; time got short, and I had health issues, and , yada, yada. It is amazingly satisfying to watch the pony snack out on that hand-captured summer goodness.
I visited Lynn Miller above Sisters, OR, some years ago. They raised draft horses, and put up loose hay. They used pitch forks to load and move the hay, but I don’t think they cut their hay, or turned it, by hand.
So, Jane gets 3 cups of molasses each day? She is bigger than my jersey but maybe I need to feed a little more of it. My glugs probably come to about a half cup, 1x per day. She is probably 800 lbs. It is feed grade – did you write about your problem with that? Maybe I missed it… I would love to know your experience with it.
Lisa, that’s my dilution ratio. She is getting about a cup a day of the mix. I did write about the bad batch of feed grade molasses I bought, a neighbor bought some from the same lot, and it tasted like pure salt, if you put it on the feed neither cow would finish their feed. Both are aggressive eaters and Jane actually was quite sick from that for a couple of weeks. I just decided it wasn’t worth it, and now taste each batch myself. I’m sure it was a fluke, but I feel better with this decision to buy food grade.