I am not trying to claim to be a cattle expert. i like using this forum to get others points of view. If I learn something new great, if not It wasn't something I knew anyway. Here goes:
This summer has been terribly dry. So dry that the county which my farm is in has put a water crisis alert out. If we don't get rain soon the water level in the supply lake for our water will be dry. They say we have less than 3 weeks supply of water to around 50,000 people. I only mention this because as you can imagine, Hay is almost impossible to find, the quality is down and prices are almost twice what they were last year. My question is have any of you ever tried to supplement grain,liquid feed or cube to fill up your cattle so they will consume less hay. I have tried the following methods this year with varying degrees of sucess:
(1)Ok quality hay with 10lbs of Good alfalfa every other day. This was expensive but the cattle looked great. Alfalfa is very hard to find in arkansas and very expensive. I did this until I recently ran out of Alfalfa. The cows,heifers, calves all looked great.
(2) Great bremuda hay only. Hay quality is way down this year and when you find the quality it is more than twice what I am used to paying for it
(3) OK hay with 20%range cubes. Too time consuming for me to feed every day. I also didn't see the results of the $ spent.
I am thinking about using purina accuration 3.5-4 lbs per animal per day(free choice, less labor feeding cost). I have figured out it is about 8 cents per pound. If feeding cattle this supplement will keep them fuller and they require less hay then you might gain some of the money spent on supplement that would have been spent on hay.I put out 6 bales 3 times per week. 18 bales x $35-$40=($630- $720 per week) If you could cut out 4 bales per week then that would almost pay for the supplement feed. I Know a lot of people say they feed there cattle on grass,hay and water. i am looking for the people who are selling registered stock or who demand there cattle be ready to take to a sale with not a lot of isolation and pouring the feed to them to get them in sale shape (BCS 6 or 7). If you don't think the cattle you buy at sales haven't been fed heavily, you need to think again. I firmly believe that $ spent in supplement feed will keep the cattle in better BCS and these momma calves will raise a heavier calf and heifers will breed back earlier.
Any other feed plans for years such as this would be welcome. I am just looking for the best(maybe not cheapest)to keep cattle in optimal shape year round.
sorry for rambling and thanks for any comments
This summer has been terribly dry. So dry that the county which my farm is in has put a water crisis alert out. If we don't get rain soon the water level in the supply lake for our water will be dry. They say we have less than 3 weeks supply of water to around 50,000 people. I only mention this because as you can imagine, Hay is almost impossible to find, the quality is down and prices are almost twice what they were last year. My question is have any of you ever tried to supplement grain,liquid feed or cube to fill up your cattle so they will consume less hay. I have tried the following methods this year with varying degrees of sucess:
(1)Ok quality hay with 10lbs of Good alfalfa every other day. This was expensive but the cattle looked great. Alfalfa is very hard to find in arkansas and very expensive. I did this until I recently ran out of Alfalfa. The cows,heifers, calves all looked great.
(2) Great bremuda hay only. Hay quality is way down this year and when you find the quality it is more than twice what I am used to paying for it
(3) OK hay with 20%range cubes. Too time consuming for me to feed every day. I also didn't see the results of the $ spent.
I am thinking about using purina accuration 3.5-4 lbs per animal per day(free choice, less labor feeding cost). I have figured out it is about 8 cents per pound. If feeding cattle this supplement will keep them fuller and they require less hay then you might gain some of the money spent on supplement that would have been spent on hay.I put out 6 bales 3 times per week. 18 bales x $35-$40=($630- $720 per week) If you could cut out 4 bales per week then that would almost pay for the supplement feed. I Know a lot of people say they feed there cattle on grass,hay and water. i am looking for the people who are selling registered stock or who demand there cattle be ready to take to a sale with not a lot of isolation and pouring the feed to them to get them in sale shape (BCS 6 or 7). If you don't think the cattle you buy at sales haven't been fed heavily, you need to think again. I firmly believe that $ spent in supplement feed will keep the cattle in better BCS and these momma calves will raise a heavier calf and heifers will breed back earlier.
Any other feed plans for years such as this would be welcome. I am just looking for the best(maybe not cheapest)to keep cattle in optimal shape year round.
sorry for rambling and thanks for any comments
