Acclimation

[watso059]

I just bought a young reg. bull who was on a free choice grain program. We feed a corn and cottonseed mill mixture some (which seems to be working pretty well), but mostly high quality hay. What do you think we should do to acclimate him. He looks great and I do not want him to go downhill very much if possible, but both the seller and another experienced cattleman both told me that he would probably go down once he got to our pasture. He has only been here 3 days, so he is still looking great, just wonder if you guys had some tips.

 

[buckaroo_bif]

guess i would not want to take him off the grain all at once. can't believe they had him on free choice grain!

 

[watso059]

It was just a mixture to help them grow from what I understood...it did a great job, so I am just curious how to keep him looking that good while feeding them less feed. I have heard of quite a few registered breeders using free choice mixes of some type or other to help their stock grow, the only thing is that, from what I gather from some other posts that i've read, when you bring bulls into a completely different environment, they may need to be eased in. He looks great, as I previously said, but I can't feed a lot and make much money...lol... I think you may be right, ease him off :cboy: Thanks for the post.

 

[msscamp]

guess i would not want to take him off the grain all at once. can't believe they had him on free choice grain!

Bif is right, definitely ease him off all that grain or you could end up with a case of acidosis.

 

[Bez!]

It was just a mixture to help them grow from what I understood...it did a great job, so I am just curious how to keep him looking that good while feeding them less feed. I have heard of quite a few registered breeders using free choice mixes of some type or other to help their stock grow, the only thing is that, from what I gather from some other posts that i've read, when you bring bulls into a completely different environment, they may need to be eased in. He looks great, as I previously said, but I can't feed a lot and make much money...lol... I think you may be right, ease him off :cboy: Thanks for the post.

Free choice grain?

Help them grow?

Well, it for sure keeps them fat.

Bez!

 

[rk]

guess i would not want to take him off the grain all at once. can't believe they had him on free choice grain!

Bif is right, definitely ease him off all that grain or you could end up with a case of acidosis.

I think acidosis is unlikely when easing him off grain....I think bif is recommending a gradual transition to allow rumen to adjust to higher forage diet.

 

[msscamp]

guess i would not want to take him off the grain all at once. can't believe they had him on free choice grain!

Bif is right, definitely ease him off all that grain or you could end up with a case of acidosis.

I think acidosis is unlikely when easing him off grain....I think bif is recommending a gradual transition to allow rumen to adjust to higher forage diet.

Apparently I didn't phrase my response very well. I was simply agreeing with Bif about easing the bull off the grain in order to avoid a case of acidosis. Sorry about the confusion.

 

[TheBullLady]

The last bull we bought was being shown, so we had to ease him off feed also. What worked well for us is we kept him penned for a day or two.. with feed. Then we turned him out with the "girls". He knew where he had been fed, so he'd come back up to the pens every day or two, and I'd let him in and give him 3 - 4 lbs of feed. He obviously lost some weight, but still looked good and was able to get the cows bred. Keep in mind, it's harder for them to breed cows when they're overweight, so it will be better for him to be leaner.

 

[rk]

guess i would not want to take him off the grain all at once. can't believe they had him on free choice grain!

Bif is right, definitely ease him off all that grain or you could end up with a case of acidosis.

I think acidosis is unlikely when easing him off grain....I think bif is recommending a gradual transition to allow rumen to adjust to higher forage diet.

Apparently I didn't phrase my response very well. I was simply agreeing with Bif about easing the bull off the grain in order to avoid a case of acidosis. Sorry about the confusion.

Nope, I can see now it was my misunderstanding. Sorry!

 

[msscamp]

guess i would not want to take him off the grain all at once. can't believe they had him on free choice grain!

Bif is right, definitely ease him off all that grain or you could end up with a case of acidosis.

I think acidosis is unlikely when easing him off grain....I think bif is recommending a gradual transition to allow rumen to adjust to higher forage diet.

Apparently I didn't phrase my response very well. I was simply agreeing with Bif about easing the bull off the grain in order to avoid a case of acidosis. Sorry about the confusion.

Nope, I can see now it was my misunderstanding. Sorry!

No problem.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

You should NOT feed cottonseed to a bull. It impairs his reproductive development. I would definately get him off that feed, and use something different, anything as long as it does not have cottonseed in it.
When bulls are fed out on a bull test, they change the feed to a higher roughage ration the last month of "cool down" period prior to the sales.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I don't know about the cottonseed, but Jeanne is right about slowly backing him out over at least a month, if not 6 weeks.

And my opinion: Don't buy a bull whose been fed hard like that. You won't have any true idea how he'll fair on a roughage or pasture diet (he may be just fine, but high gain diets will mask inefficient feeders). And the hotter the diet when the bull is young, the shorter his breeding expectancy. I've watched "fed to genetic potential" bulls who were no longer useful after 3 breeding seasons, due to digestive troubles. Roughed bulls will tend to last much longer.

Rod

 

[rk]

I just bought a young reg. bull who was on a free choice grain program. We feed a corn and cottonseed mill mixture some (which seems to be working pretty well), but mostly high quality hay. What do you think we should do to acclimate him. He looks great and I do not want him to go downhill very much if possible, but both the seller and another experienced cattleman both told me that he would probably go down once he got to our pasture. He has only been here 3 days, so he is still looking great, just wonder if you guys had some tips.

Corn and cottonseed mill mixture.....is this with whole seed or cottonseed meal?

 

[norriscathy]

You should NOT feed cottonseed to a bull. It impairs his reproductive development. I would definately get him off that feed, and use something different, anything as long as it does not have cottonseed in it.
When bulls are fed out on a bull test, they change the feed to a higher roughage ration the last month of "cool down" period prior to the sales.

Most people in the South feed nothing but cottonseed meal. It is an excellent feed at 40% + p and 80% TDN. Been using it for 25 years with no problems. It is my understanding that the only problem with glypolsol (?) and bulls is when you feed large amounts of unprocessed whole cottonseed. No way you can beat a 3 and 1 mix of cottonseed meal and salt for a winter supplement.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

gossypol --- possibly more of an issue when cottonseed is fed to young, developing bulls than it is when fed to fully mature bulls. Anybody interested in reading about the effect of gossypol on bull reproductive capability can find a lot via google.

 

[Jovid]

I just bought a young reg. bull who was on a free choice grain program. We feed a corn and cottonseed mill mixture some (which seems to be working pretty well), but mostly high quality hay. What do you think we should do to acclimate him. He looks great and I do not want him to go downhill very much if possible, but both the seller and another experienced cattleman both told me that he would probably go down once he got to our pasture. He has only been here 3 days, so he is still looking great, just wonder if you guys had some tips.

Don't know what he weighs now but with my experience you can expect him to lose 300-500 lbs and look like a different bull when you pull him off the grain and put him on pasture. You might not like him in his working clothes.

 

[CattleAnnie]

Over the last few years we've shied away from buying bulls that have been pushed hard with grain/silage.

We had too many problems with the feet on them, and seeing as ours have a lot of ground to cover once they're out in the pasture, good feet are at the top of the list around here when it comes to stock.

Take care.

 

[watso059]

I just bought a young reg. bull who was on a free choice grain program. We feed a corn and cottonseed mill mixture some (which seems to be working pretty well), but mostly high quality hay. What do you think we should do to acclimate him. He looks great and I do not want him to go downhill very much if possible, but both the seller and another experienced cattleman both told me that he would probably go down once he got to our pasture. He has only been here 3 days, so he is still looking great, just wonder if you guys had some tips.

Corn and cottonseed mill mixture.....is this with whole seed or cottonseed meal?

the cottonseed? it is ground up...meal i guess. I got the idea from either a tractor supply handout or an Alabama Cattleman magazine article. In response to the above mentioned reproductive problem when feeding cottonseed meal to a bull, I will definitely swap it to something else...any ideas what would be good to mix corn with? Thanks for the posts so far...great help !

 

[dun]

gossypol --- possibly more of an issue when cottonseed is fed to young, developing bulls than it is when fed to fully mature bulls. Anybody interested in reading about the effect of gossypol on bull reproductive capability can find a lot via google.

One of the dairys had his herd bull getting into the whole cototnseed feed and was out of production for over 6 months with "temp" sterility. Since then he's been fine, but no more cottonseed for the bulls.

dun

 

[rk]

I just bought a young reg. bull who was on a free choice grain program. We feed a corn and cottonseed mill mixture some (which seems to be working pretty well), but mostly high quality hay. What do you think we should do to acclimate him. He looks great and I do not want him to go downhill very much if possible, but both the seller and another experienced cattleman both told me that he would probably go down once he got to our pasture. He has only been here 3 days, so he is still looking great, just wonder if you guys had some tips.

Corn and cottonseed mill mixture.....is this with whole seed or cottonseed meal?

the cottonseed? it is ground up...meal i guess. I got the idea
from either a tractor supply handout or an Alabama Cattleman magazine article. In response to the above mentioned reproductive problem when feeding cottonseed meal to a bull, I will definitely swap it to something else...any ideas what would be good to mix corn with? Thanks for the posts so far...great help !

I know gossypol/fertility issue been debated for a long time...best I can find out is that ruminants have ability to detoxify some of it...up to a point. Inless you're feeding a huge amount, it doesn't seem to be an issue for alot of people, especially in a supplementing situation. In Texas, there is a lot of CSM fed....I think the concern really comes in more with whole seed and at pretty high feeding rates.