RanchMan90
Well-known member
66¢ a lb cost of gain on feed today feeding 4 wts 8 lbs a day of 16% ration. Feed costs $240 a ton, Hay 10¢ a day, mineral 10¢ a day, and labor 16¢ a day. Anything I'm missing to lower inputs and add value?
Backgrounding COG ?
- Thread starter Stocker Steve
- Start date
Stocker Steve
Well-known member
RanchMan90":2s8qruj4 said:
Mine get some bedding. You are in a different climate.
Should have a yardage charge. Is that in labor?
Mineral cost looks way too high. What is it?
Multimin ;-)
RanchMan90
Well-known member
It rarely gets below freezing here, though it did snow some last week. That's just on my place in a 10 acre lot. Labor is my kid sister that gathers and feeds them daily, I get home well after dark. Mineral is a 5 way mix $20 for 50 lbs a week. They do get multimin upon arrival.Stocker Steve":w4qstkyq said:
Stocker Steve":3pv4m1em said:
We have the giant deer flukes, Fascioa magna, so vets tell me the only drug that would do them in is Fasinex with an emergency drug release from the UK. Not so much thin cows, but redwater clostridium infecting fluked livers is a major problem here. Switched to vaccinating twice for clostridium every year on everything. No guarantee as still lost my best fall heifer in November to that very issue. Vet says lots of guys figure to lose at least 3-6 every year to it. Trying to minimize my losses with increased drainage and culling deer hard. Have no issue dropping them and leaving them if I have a gun with me, nothing but disease-carrying vermin. Any vet here will tell you that 95% of disease issues here originate from the whitetail population.
Stocker Steve
Well-known member
Aaron":bbqlujz9 said:
I thought some of the injectable wormers, and drenches, would treat liver flukes?
Stocker Steve":18altoyv said:
I have used them in the past. I think they work. Vet says however that they only work on Fasciola hepatica, not magna.
Aaron":1gtswus4 said:
Fascioloides magna in Ruminants
(Large American liver fluke, Giant liver fluke)
By Lora R. Ballweber, MS, DVM, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University
Fascioloides magna is up to 100 mm long, 2–4.5 mm thick, 11–26 mm wide, and oval; it is distinguished from Fasciola spp by its large size and lack of an anterior projecting cone. It is found in domestic and wild ruminants; deer are the reservoir host. The life cycle resembles that of Fasciola spp.
Although flukes will mature in cattle, the intense encapsulation response forms a closed cyst, so eggs rarely pass out of the animal. Pathogenicity is low, and losses are confined primarily to liver condemnations. In sheep and goats, encapsulations do not occur, and the parasites migrate in the liver and other organs, causing tremendous damage. A few parasites can cause death due to extensive migrations. Infection with F magna appears to be rare in alpacas and llamas, in which the response mirrors that seen in cattle. In deer, there is little tissue reaction, and the parasites are enclosed in thin, fibrous cysts that communicate with bile ducts. Histologically, infected livers of all species show black, tortuous tracts formed by migrations of young flukes.
While the eggs of F magna resemble those of Fasciola hepatica, this is of limited use; eggs usually are not passed by cattle and sheep and probably not by alpacas and llamas. Recovery of the parasites at necropsy as well as differentiation of F hepatica is necessary for definitive diagnosis. When domestic ruminants and deer share the same grazing, the presence of disease due to F magna should be kept in mind. Mixed infections with F hepatica are seen in cattle.
Oxyclozanide has been reported to be effective against F magna in white-tailed deer, and triclabendazole has been used in captive and free-ranging red deer. Rafoxanide has been used successfully against natural infections in cattle. Albendazole (7.5 mg/kg), clorsulon (15 mg/kg), and closantel (15 mg/kg) have shown efficacy against this fluke in sheep. Currently, no products are approved for use against this fluke in the USA. Deer are required for completion of the life cycle; if they can be excluded from the areas grazed by cattle and sheep, control may be effected. Control of the intermediate host (lymnaeid snails) may be possible once it has been identified in a region and the nature of its habitat examined. However, environmental concerns are the same as those for F hepatica.
So those common dewormers seem to be effective against magna in sheep, but no mention of cattle. None of the products are approved for use against magna in USA, but it appears to be generally accepted that they have some effectiveness? At least the local vets and others in the industry seem to think so. Like you said, get rid of deer and keep cattle out of the swamps (drainage) also seems to be recommended.
Stocker Steve
Well-known member
We have very heavy deer density in some of our pastures. Folks will buy a small patch of woods that borders farm ground and then appoint themselves trophy hunters. They pass on does which the deer quickly learn to appreciate. Thus the small patch of woods becomes the bedroom for a herd of deer, who enjoy "free" food plots from the neighboring farmer.
Stocker Steve":t3jaydbc said:
My regular hunting bunch is a mix of guys that just love venison in any form, so everything goes. The 90 year old grandfather loves his tender fat fawns and takes one every year. The middle-aged guys want volume and quality, so they go hard on the does. I let the surrounding neighbors weed out the bucks.
There is a 10 acre chunk of woods, not mine, across the road from the house that the deer think is great spot to bed down, and then eat my grass. Works well because I get a count on numbers, easy to bait and just have hunters put their blind 50' from the bait pile. Like shooting fish in a barrel.
i'm in the middle of corn country and they are nuts here.. they want 300+/ ton for a very basic 90% corn / 10% 4044 or whatever they said.. crap is what i call it.
best i've found is 1 hour south i can get a 11% cow feed for 240/ton..
insane.
best i've found is 1 hour south i can get a 11% cow feed for 240/ton..
insane.
TexasBred
Well-known member
I'd be curious what kind of gain, if any, that you get out of feed that is that cheap. And good feed down this way is a little over $300 fob.ddd75":1oyp491x said:
RanchMan90
Well-known member
I'll get a tag when I get home. It's just a commodity mix of cottonseed hulls, ddg, soy hulls, wheat midds, and rumensin with 4% fat. It was 190 in the fall but I didn't contract it. What mix do you recommend for maximum gains on lightweight cattle?TexasBred":243s8onw said:
TexasBred
Well-known member
The Rumensin will increase feed utilization but it's all by-products. Almost zero starches and probably 20% fiber or more on the tag. Looks like it would be awfully bulky and fill them up quickly.RanchMan90":1ap5lrlq said:
I know of a guy in East Tennessee selling a 14% feed for 160 a ton delivered within 30 miles of his place. I know the top two ingredients in it are cracked corn and gluten pellets. He grows the corn and he lives within 5 miles of the plant he gets the gluten from.
TexasBred
Well-known member
He could certainly do it under those circumstances. Must be a might good fella selling it that cheap when he could get twice that for it.Ojp6":26chjr3q said:
RanchMan90
Well-known member
Here's the tag. The calves average 357 lbs and I'm feeding them 8.3 lbs daily along with free choice hay and mineral. What am I missing?Ky cowboy
Well-known member
I just got a load of 3 way mix delivered. Cracked corn, soy pellets and corn gluten. What would the protein value be on it. We're feeding it to some replacement heifers and a few steers before we ship them. Got it for $180 a ton delivered.
TexasBred":ug3yyz1j said:
i think its pretty expensive when corn is at 3.50 / bu for top rate corn.. this is 'damaged' corn they are discounting the grain farmers on when they bring it in.. they are only paying the farmer about 130 / ton.. and then try to hit me at 300/ton for it?
I need to buy a mixer and just buy it from my neighbor who has 5 huge storage bins... need to figure out a setup like that to take advantage... he'd be all smiles if he got 4.00/bu out of it i'd imagine.
