Victoria
Well-known member
Good Morning tbase2000. I am not from Florida so I can't answer what is the best thing to feed in your particular area. My suggestion - talk to a vet. They will tell you if your cows are in good condition and what you can do to get them in better condition. They can also tell you of any mineral shortages in your particlular area.
It has already been mentioned on here that Longhorns are a naturally thinner breed of cattle so maybe your cows are in their ideal condition. A good vet could tell you that.
We have fat cows. I read the posts about 3's and 4's being better than 6's too but I admit we overfeed. We have a lot of cows over 10 and a lot under 3 that need extra food so our middle cows really enjoy themselves. Our calves are always great in the fall and the buyers love them so I figure we do something right. We don't feed our cows extras; no sweet feed, oats or chicken manure here. Just some good quality hay and selenium mineral blocks. We don't have Longhorns though, we have the British breeds (some mixed with French breeds) that tend to be naturally rounder.
I wouldn't feed chicken manure for the reasons Bez was speaking about.
I hope you can find a different product that will help accomplish what you want to accomplish with your herd.
It has already been mentioned on here that Longhorns are a naturally thinner breed of cattle so maybe your cows are in their ideal condition. A good vet could tell you that.
We have fat cows. I read the posts about 3's and 4's being better than 6's too but I admit we overfeed. We have a lot of cows over 10 and a lot under 3 that need extra food so our middle cows really enjoy themselves. Our calves are always great in the fall and the buyers love them so I figure we do something right. We don't feed our cows extras; no sweet feed, oats or chicken manure here. Just some good quality hay and selenium mineral blocks. We don't have Longhorns though, we have the British breeds (some mixed with French breeds) that tend to be naturally rounder.
I wouldn't feed chicken manure for the reasons Bez was speaking about.
I hope you can find a different product that will help accomplish what you want to accomplish with your herd.