Calves on corn stalks

[customcattle]

For those of you who run cattle on corn stalks, I'm wondering what kind of gains you get on calves on corn stalks. What are you using for supplement? Can you get 2 pounds a day out of weaned calves if they are supplemented right?

 

[bball]

Been supplementing with 14% pellet (soyhull, cgf, mineral pack). This year, got access to an 18.6% pellet with 5% fat for less cost than previous years. Some of the gain will depend on how much dropped corn is in the fields. Not a lot of nutrition in the husks and stalks; just fiber and filler.

 

[customcattle]

Thank you for the reply, I had a nutritionist look at it last year and the best rate of gain he said we could get is 1.7 pounds per day on a self feeder (creep feeder) 30% corn 70% limiter ration at a cost of $1.18/day or $.69 per pound of gain. I'm just wondering if anybody is doing any better than that for cheaper.

 

[bball]

Hopefully Texasbred will weigh in.

 

[cjmc]

Unl studied this back, this is the summary of what they found. They were 500 lb steers.

Steer calves grazing irrigated corn
residue received supplementation of
dried distillers grains plus solubles
(DGS) at 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, or 1.1% of
body weight. Steers were individually
supplemented daily through Calan
gates. Daily gain improved linearly
(0.77 lb/head/day to 2.21 lb/head/day)
with increasing supplementation (1.5
lb/day to 7 lb/day). Supplementing DGS
to calves grazing corn residue increased
gain during the winter period.

 

[TexasBred]

Hopefully Texasbred will weigh in.

bb as long as I've had cattle I've never grazed corn residue or fed baled corn residue. Always said I'd sell out before I did. I would think gain would depend on the quality and amount of the supplement as the corn residue is going to be little more than roughage filler. All the corn down here is machine picked and very little is missed so don't think a cow could rustle up much grain out of it. As for profitability, just make sure you use today's prices less $.10-.15 a pound to be on the conservative side because none of us ever get those top prices we see in the market reports.