17% corn gluten

[kentuckyguy]

Planning on buying a few tons of feed here in the next few weeks to supplement our hay this winter.

We have a fall calving herd and usually supplement our cows with 2-4lbs of feed while always offering free choice hay.

The local feed mill has 17% corn gluten pellets in bulk and a 13% corn gluten soy hull mix. The 17% corn gluten pellets are $30 cheaper a ton.

Which of these feeds would be best for supplementing our cows?
Last year we fed bagged 13% cracked corn corn gluten mix. The cows did ok on this but it's not offered in anything but bags.

I bought a gravity bed this summer and was hoping to buy feed 3-4 ton at a time to save trips.

Thanks

 

[J&D Cattle]

We supplement with dried distillers or gluten here. I'd be buying the gluten for the additional protein and save some money too. Have you tested your hay to know what you need to be supplementing?

 

[bball]

I been feeding the cg/sh mix. Was feeding straight cg pellets before that. Texas bred is a wealth of info on the subject. Helped me out with it. The sh has about 90% energy of corn and is highly digestable...so you definitely want to know what your hay is lacking so you can supplement accordingly.. per TB's instructions...i use the cg/sh pellets to supplement my adult cattle. I use a mix of 2 parts cg/sh 1 part corn for the calf and feeders..and slowly increase the corn as the feeders get older (more corn for that last 120-150 days to finish).
Same deal..3 tons pellet mix in one gravity wagon..another wagon full of corn...equals some fairly reasonable feed right now.

 

[kentuckyguy]

I have not tested my hay. To be honest it would be gain much info from doing any hay testing.

I cut from 5 different fields and took 4 cuttings off this year. Some were good clean grass. Some were a little to mature. And some of the later was almost pure Johnson grass.

What I worried about was the amount of calcium in the corn gluten pellets. I've read that it can cause a lot of urinary tract problems.

 

[bball]

I have not tested my hay. To be honest it would be gain much info from doing any hay testing.

I cut from 5 different fields and took 4 cuttings off this year. Some were good clean grass. Some were a little to mature. And some of the later was almost pure Johnson grass.

What I worried about was the amount of calcium in the corn gluten pellets. I've read that it can cause a lot of urinary tract problems.

It's the high phosphorus value that can cause urinary calculi. If your mill doesn't already add some mineral(calcium), you can add calcium carbonate when you feed. I had a bull have a stone while I was feeding the straight cg pellets, but he eventually passed it. Was visibly miserable until he did. You can get 50 lb sacks of feed grade lime at most farm stores for 4 or 5 bucks a sack.