Free Choice Corn Silage?

[TexasBred]

Just re-read the "title" of the posts "Free Choice Corn Silage". To me that means an "all you can eat buffet". I've never fed corn silage to beef cattle but have fed it to dairy cattle at 40-45 lbs. per head per day mixed with the other feed ingredients to make a TMR. With dairy you always want a small amount of refusal or "left overs" to insure that they are getting all the feed they want, yet it is not "free choice". With the beef cattle just determine how much you want them to have and feed that much.

I agree with you on not going free choice with beef cattle. I think the problem is the bossier cows getting more than their share and the others getting shorted. I believe this is why he wants to go free choice. I could be wrong though.

Providing adequate feed bunk space should take care of that problem. You certainly don't want to feed on the ground.

[farm36]

You have some choices to feed the corn silage. If bunk space is short the less dominant animals will get less and the more dominant animals will get to much.Buy more bunk space but this is probaly not an option. You can mix salt in the silage to stop the intake but this needs to mixed good to work and will be hard on the wagon.If you feed on the ground you will waste alot so this is not a good option. Next is work but it will have good results. Put the cattle in groups of body score or how much you want them to eat . Feed the cattle that need the best feed first and after they have had their fill or as much as you want them to eat take the wagon away and feed the next group the same way. The last group will clean up the wagon and have the lowest quality feed but they are the pigs of the group also and need to eat more grass .