ALFALFA CUBES

[jd35154]

I'm wondering if anyone does or has tried this. A customer of mine is feeding his ten first calf heifers (about a month away from calving) alfalfa cubes. This is all they are getting. Each one gets five lbs. now per day and will move up to seven lbs. once they calve. He says that they act very content and look good. In Kentucky, we are short on any kind of dormant forage this year since the drought hit us hard. These cubes he is buying cost $9.00 for a fifty lb. bag. So that is $.90 per cow per day. According to my numbers, that is not that bad when anything with a string on it this year is costing $100/ton. Just seeing if anyone here has any thoughts.
Thanks,

 

[dun]

My concern would be the lack of roghage. The alfalfa cubes around here are pretty much just pressed fines, no fiber. Lack of fiber can cause problems with the rumen and post calving DAs. Least wise that one of the problems with TMR that's been chopped too fine.

 

[larryshoat]

I'm wondering if anyone does or has tried this. A customer of mine is feeding his ten first calf heifers (about a month away from calving) alfalfa cubes. This is all they are getting. Each one gets five lbs. now per day and will move up to seven lbs. once they calve. He says that they act very content and look good. In Kentucky, we are short on any kind of dormant forage this year since the drought hit us hard. These cubes he is buying cost $9.00 for a fifty lb. bag. So that is $.90 per cow per day. According to my numbers, that is not that bad when anything with a string on it this year is costing $100/ton. Just seeing if anyone here has any thoughts.
Thanks,

Thats $360 a ton. How far are you from Dayton Ohio, they been selling some spot loads at $170 and you can get a contract for April-Sep at $115 thats corn gluten pellets.

Larry

 

[jd35154]

I'm not questioning the cost or dollars per ton. I wondering about the method. This man still has rolls of hay in rings available for the 10 cows but they only eat about a roll per week. My question is, does this or will it work to provide enough nutrients for a cow?

 

[dun]

I'm not questioning the cost or dollars per ton. I wondering about the method. This man still has rolls of hay in rings available for the 10 cows but they only eat about a roll per week. My question is, does this or will it work to provide enough nutrients for a cow?

Depending on the stage of production, the hay would probably be plenty adequate. Too many people try to make this a lot harder then it needs to be. It's almost as simple as CBs "Put grass in front of the cow and a bull behind" (paraphrased a bit). Dry cows, wven during the last stage of prenancy don;t require all that high of a protein level. Judge condition based on fat deposits/rib cover and only feed what they need.

 

[Turin53]

We are adding the pellets to our heifers along with the hay and ranch cubes. Husband doesnt want them to lose any weight during the winter. They were eating the cedar trees on our land until he started the alfalfa. Does that make any sense?

 

[pdfangus]

I'm not questioning the cost or dollars per ton. I wondering about the method. This man still has rolls of hay in rings available for the 10 cows but they only eat about a roll per week. My question is, does this or will it work to provide enough nutrients for a cow?

well if they are heifers I would be worried about calf birth weights. the protein is a bit high as a single source of feed. Like someone else said I don't think that is enough fiber or even enough total feed.

If had hay avaiable I would feed the hay and save the cubes til after they calve.

 

[TexasBred]

Alfalfa cubes are normally made from low grade alfalfa that for whatever reason wasn't good enough to sale in bales. However, most is still guaranteed 17% crude protein which would be a little high for these cattle. Make sure you give them access to free choice hay. Although the alfalfa cubes will be high in fiber that fiber is ground as fine as lint and your cattle need "long fiber" rather than "fuzz". I always feel like alfalfa in any form other than a bale is too expensive for me to feed. Most in a bale is too. :lol: :lol: