I confess, I use tubs during the fall/winter/spring (so most of the year here lol) on a case by case basis. For example, I put a Purina Stress tub out for Titan and my daughters cows a few weeks ago. Titan is showing his age a bit lately, one cow is a first calver about to wean a huge bull calf and one cow is 14 and nursing a pair of sweet twin heifers. I felt this group needs the extra input as we transition from pastures to hay in the coming weeks. All of the younger bulls (long yearlings up to 7 years old) will likely not see a tub anytime soon as they have come home from work lately looking fantastic.
Our pastures are meticulously maintained, and are a combination of grasses and red clover. The few head that are home during the growing season (mostly just horses and my daughter's cows) are rotated to maintain forage health. During the winter, most of the stock will only see high quality grass hay. There just is no alfalfa to be had in our area. I would give very good money for 15 small squares of alfalfa for my daughter's goats, but it just isn't there to be had! Most hay producers grow grasses to meet the demands of a huge population of horse enthusiasts. The few that grew alfalfa up here, had a serious bout of winter kill over the past March and many could not afford to re-seed.
Based on our program and the forage produced for winter feed up here, adding a few tubs here and there as needed is the only real option. For me, the efficiency clearly outweighs the economics. If you are running 100 pairs, I can see where that is not the case....
