Do they have any graze? Cured out grass just add protein. We would go with alfalfa here to get to 1-1.5 pounds of protein per head per day, so maybe 10# alfalfa every other day.
Do they have any graze? Cured out grass just add protein. We would go with alfalfa here to get to 1-1.5 pounds of protein per head per day, so maybe 10# alfalfa every other day.
Good grass hay may be all they need. Anything not as good, they will need protein. Do some "scatology". Runny manure shows getting excess protein, nice pat like pancake batter is just right, if it stacks up needs more protein.
Protein will only make them hotter. They don't eat well or gain well when its this hot. Mine are provided good pasture and that is it. I'll take what I can get off that. Mine are fed once a week of the cheapest stuff I buy just so I can look them over good and spray them.
Protein will only make them hotter. They don't eat well or gain well when its this hot. Mine are provided good pasture and that is it. I'll take what I can get off that. Mine are fed once a week of the cheapest stuff I buy just so I can look them over good and spray them.
I looked back at original post. I don't think I have been in 110+ heat index and don't want to, so I don't claim to know anything about cattle nutrition in that environment.
A few years ago I asked a commission man at the OKC stockyards about bringing calves up there in the heat of the summer and how it effects their shrink. I was worried that they would wilt even with them being fed. He told me it was not so since they were hot and used to being hot and not going to eat much anyway. He said the key was that they knew how and were comfortable with drinking from a trough. I tried it later that summer and he was spot on. In fact I have found that the shrink was more predictable in the summer and has been at the lower range of the loads that I have been taking. It was a very steady 2 -3% for long weaned calves.
