Cattle feeding.

[Petercoates87]

Hey guys. So these days I find myself asking the question on how much do I need to be feeding my cattle. I have a herd of cows and calves. All different breeds as well but mostly everyone is beef dairy cross or all beef cross. So I have a contract with a local craft brewery and I get all their used grain. I also have a connection to get out dated baked goods. I have some hay ground but do have to buy hay. So hay is my only expense. And where I'm located hay is very expensive. ($80 -$100 per bale). So I'm looking for help in figuring out how much hay I need to be feeding cattle.

 

[TCRanch]

Outdated bakery goods are great - as a treat or to get them to come up to you, hand feeders, hiding pills inside, etc. Not as a source of nutrition. And make sure all the wrappers are removed & disposed of before you take the "snacks" out in the pasture.

How much feed they need is contingent on location, conditions of the pasture(s) or hay ground, quality of forage or hay, age of the cows & calves (and what stage of gestation, assuming the cows have bred back). Are you supplementing with protein tubs? What kind of hay are you currently buying & is it good quality & high in protein? I'm not familiar with brewers grain but there are a lot of people on this forum that are. Basically, there is no "one size fits all" answer to your question.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Sounds like you have two herds in one. The dairy crosses will take more feed than the straight beef cows.
Five pounds of brewers grain is probably about max. Get a good balancer supplement, and a high calcium mineral. The rest could be pretty low quality roughage i.e. Ground corn stalks, or ground soybean stubble.
Leave the bread at the bakery.

Not how I'd feed broke cows, but it can be done.

 

[Katpau]

I'm curious what $80-$100 per bale means in dollars per ton? If that is a round bale weighing 1000 pounds, it would be considered a bargain around here, but if it's an 80 pound two string square bale, that would be insanely expensive. I am pretty sure that is not what you're describing, but when I say we threw the cows a bale of hay, that is what I mean. I am always left wondering what someone is talking about, when they give a price by the bale. A bale can mean so many different things.

 

[Buck Randall]

It sounds like you've got the building blocks to make a very cheap ration. Brewers grain is good for protein. Bakery waste is a good source of energy, but needs to be fed in small amounts. Very cheap hay or roughage ought to be able to round things out with a good mineral.

How many cows are you feeding? Unless we're talking about a few backyard pets, it pays to work with a nutritionist and have a ration formulated. Brewers grain, baked goods, and forages can all vary wildly in their nutritional content, so nobody on the internet is going to be able to give you specific answer for free.

 

[sstterry]

Don't skimp on the roughage, they need it to keep the rumen functioning properly.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

This time of year they get free choice grass.

 

[Petercoates87]

Don't skimp on the roughage, they need it to keep the rumen functioning properly.

I feel like that too. I'm wondering if I'm feeding too much. My little 14 head herd eats a 800-1000lbs round bald in about 5-6 days plus the brewers grain.

 

[Petercoates87]

I'm curious what $80-$100 per bale means in dollars per ton? If that is a round bale weighing 1000 pounds, it would be considered a bargain around here, but if it's an 80 pound two string square bale, that would be insanely expensive. I am pretty sure that is not what you're describing, but when I say we threw the cows a bale of hay, that is what I mean. I am always left wondering what someone is talking about, when they give a price by the bale. A bale can mean so many different things.

Yes it's the 800 - 1000 lbs round bale. Byt it's not great hay wild grasses and Timothy. I'm in Newfoundland canada but I'm always watching what hay costs are in other areas and nova scotia hay costs seem to be around 40-60 a round bale.

 

[Petercoates87]

It sounds like you've got the building blocks to make a very cheap ration. Brewers grain is good for protein. Bakery waste is a good source of energy, but needs to be fed in small amounts. Very cheap hay or roughage ought to be able to round things out with a good mineral.

How many cows are you feeding? Unless we're talking about a few backyard pets, it pays to work with a nutritionist and have a ration formulated. Brewers grain, baked goods, and forages can all vary wildly in their nutritional content, so nobody on the internet is going to be able to give you specific answer for free.

That's what I was thinking too. I can ho out and buy manufactured pellet feeds but that has skyrocketed to $25 /25kg sack here. The cows wouldn't take long to go through a sack of that lol. We have been wondering if there could be a cheaper way to add mineral to the brewers grain to help them out. Honestly my butcher raises 5-6 angus dairy calves a year and the difference in his feeding and mine is the manufactured feed. His calves look much fuller than mine. But I have watched him and seems like he feeds very little hay.

 

[sstterry]

Yes it's the 800 - 1000 lbs round bale. Byt it's not great hay wild grasses and Timothy. I'm in Newfoundland canada but I'm always watching what hay costs are in other areas and nova scotia hay costs seem to be around 40-60 a round bale.

I feel like that too. I'm wondering if I'm feeding too much. My little 14 head herd eats a 800-1000lbs round bald in about 5-6 days plus the brewers grain.

That is not an excessive amount, if the bale is 1000lb, then that only equates to a little over 14lb per day.

 

[Petercoates87]

That is not an excessive amount, if the bale is 1000lb, then that only equates to a little over 14lb per day.

Ok fair enough. Like my cattle are in great shape and all but I'm just starting to wonder if I could cut back a lil. The situation I'm in a dollar saved in one place goes to purchase something else. If I was feeding too much and could cut back a bit that's money I could put into more land development.

 

[sstterry]

Ok fair enough. Like my cattle are in great shape and all but I'm just starting to wonder if I could cut back a lil. The situation I'm in a dollar saved in one place goes to purchase something else. If I was feeding too much and could cut back a bit that's money I could put into more land development.

Dry cows should be consuming about 2% of their body weight per day of average quality hay.

 

[WalkerRanch 3-2]

In SE Ok I roughly plan # of cows * 3 round bales per winter (30 cows will eat 90 round bales) supplementing during freezing temps. Also I have out meal & salt free choice but it hasn't been stocked in local feedstore in a while. So, mineral and salt blocks. Summer is all the grass they can eat.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Are the 14 head COWS or cows, yearlings and calves?

 

[Petercoates87]

Are the 14 head COWS or cows, yearlings and calves?

Not all cows. This is cows calves and yearlings