I feed a combination of hay & corn stalk bales each year. I have put them in side by side feeders or alternated one bale of stalks then one bale of hay. I've even used a 2 bales of stalks to 1 bale of hay ratio with success. I usually feed a small amount of grain/DDGs mixed with a rumensin product each day just to help with feed intake and I regulate how much grain I feed with the temperature and wind chill--I don't feed any until the temps get down to around 10 degrees or so and reach a high end of 3-4 pounds if it gets down to 10-15 below zero. My cows are probably overconditioned in most people's minds, however, and I don't have any roof for them to get under or really effective windbreaks. My reasoning is that I probably spend a little more on feed but I haven't spent a lot of money on buildings, etc. Remember, I have a very small operation(12-14 cows).
I also use stalks for bedding although they are somewhat difficult to unroll if they are dry(as someone mentioned you'll end up with a pile) and impossible to unroll if they are put up a little wetter(they turn into ice blocks in our environment) the cows can't even break them apart much less eat them. I can't imagine that I could afford to stay in business if I had to use a complete hay diet for my cows. There is a lot of waste but with the snow cover we usually have, I don't mind moving the rings and letting the cows use the remainder of the bale as bedding. I even blow the snow off part of my drylot and spread out a couple of bales when the weather is cold so the cows don't have to lay in deep snow or on cold ground. Works for this Iowegian but may not be for everyone.
