corn silage to beef cows?

[jbradley]

i got a question i live in northern michigan and we have about 41 beef cows and we usually just feed them good grass hay during the winter, but after last year with being short of hay we decided to put up corn silage for the cows and feed them that along with the hay this year through the winter, my only concern is how much silage should we be feeding the cows. We put corn silage up for our feeder cattle in the barn and feed them pretty much as much as they can eat along with grain and hay, but i was told you dont want to feed cows to much silage casue you dont want to grow that calf inside them to much then we might have calving problems. One guy told me not to feed more than 18 pounds of silage per head per day, i was wondering if this is true and if anyone knows about how much silgae you should feed a beef cow that is pregnant. We are feeding the silage in a feed bunk out of a ag bag and give the cows about 4 scoops of silage and our bucket is probably about a 2 or 2 and a half yard bucket. Thanks for the advice!!

 

[NC Liz 2]

Do you have a mixer/grinder?
You will probably get a 100 different answer to this one but here is what I would do.

If you don't have a mixer/grinder I would start with about 2 lbs per head per day and build up from there to around 5 lbs per day.
What you don't want to do is cause your cows to get the runs as that may cause them to abort.

Liz

 

[TexasBred]

Do you have a mixer/grinder?
You will probably get a 100 different answer to this one but here is what I would do.

If you don't have a mixer/grinder I would start with about 2 lbs per head per day and build up from there to around 5 lbs per day.
What you don't want to do is cause your cows to get the runs as that may cause them to abort.

Liz

You dam sure won't have to worry about growing the calf too big at that rate of feeding ol' bossy.

 

[piedmontese]

2 lbs a day?? Dang some humans eat that much n a day. Even 5 lbs ain't nothing for a cow. At that rate you will never run out of silage.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

If you google it, think you will get lots of good info including ration formulations.

 

[NC Liz 2]

Minimum levels of corn silage in ration

A limited amount of roughage in high-grain rations usually decreases the number of liver abscesses, founder and other digestive problems. Experimental work indicates that five to 10 pounds of corn silage per animal daily supplies adequate roughage in these high-grain finishing rations. Silage fed in excess of this level is often poorly used and gives little reduction in the amount of grain needed for a unit of gain with this type ration.

 

[Karin]

Minimum levels of corn silage in ration

A limited amount of roughage in high-grain rations usually decreases the number of liver abscesses, founder and other digestive problems. Experimental work indicates that five to 10 pounds of corn silage per animal daily supplies adequate roughage in these high-grain finishing rations. Silage fed in excess of this level is often poorly used and gives little reduction in the amount of grain needed for a unit of gain with this type ration.

Yeah, except that the cows in question are not on a high-grain ration, but rather a high-forage ration. Big difference! And, which means that it is indeed and agreeable that it is still safe to feed more than 2 to 5 lbs of corn silage per day to these animals. Heck the barley silage we had fed our steers was around 15 to 20 lbs per head per day and they got a bit of hay to boot.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Minimum levels of corn silage in ration

A limited amount of roughage in high-grain rations usually decreases the number of liver abscesses, founder and other digestive problems. Experimental work indicates that five to 10 pounds of corn silage per animal daily supplies adequate roughage in these high-grain finishing rations. Silage fed in excess of this level is often poorly used and gives little reduction in the amount of grain needed for a unit of gain with this type ration.

The way I read the op is he is asking what is the max amount of corn silage that can be fed to pregnant cows without creating the risk of calving problems from larger than normal calves. Not my impression he was inquiring about a high grain finishing ration for feeders.

 

[shadyhollownj]

Heres a good link

http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/A2387.PDF

 

[SRBeef]

i got a question i live in northern michigan and we have about 41 beef cows and we usually just feed them good grass hay during the winter, but after last year with being short of hay we decided to put up corn silage for the cows and feed them that along with the hay this year through the winter, my only concern is how much silage should we be feeding the cows. We put corn silage up for our feeder cattle in the barn and feed them pretty much as much as they can eat along with grain and hay, but i was told you dont want to feed cows to much silage casue you dont want to grow that calf inside them to much then we might have calving problems. One guy told me not to feed more than 18 pounds of silage per head per day, i was wondering if this is true and if anyone knows about how much silgae you should feed a beef cow that is pregnant. We are feeding the silage in a feed bunk out of a ag bag and give the cows about 4 scoops of silage and our bucket is probably about a 2 or 2 and a half yard bucket. Thanks for the advice!!

I'm in Wisconsin and about in the same situation you describe. A neighbor chopped and bagged a few acres of corn for me this fall. First time Ive ever done silage. After the disaster last year I put up a lot of feed!

I bought a Meyer silage wagon and put 2 or 3 big loader buckets of silage in it from the bag every couple days. I don't have a mixer and prefer to let the cows mix their own ration of sorts. I am looking at silage just as a hay extender.

From the condition it has put on my cows I think we need to be careful with free choice like this. They can overdo it. I put a couple loader buckets in every third or fourth day and let them finish it and go back to the hay. I figure a loader bucket is about 400 lb of silage. No need to feed it every day, in my opinion.

These cows are due to calve in late April. I figure the silage will keep them in condition and warm up until about mid February then no silage, hay only in P3. It has dramatically cut my hay usage.

Basically I would not feed ANY silage in the third trimester. Hay only. Then after calving maybe put it out again.

I also like the wagon as it forces them to distribute the manure and dropped silage back on the corn strip it came from. I move the wagon around every time I put a load in. It's a 20 ft wagon open all around so quite a few cows can get at the silage at the same time. No cleanup.

I have also pulled the wagon out of the pasture for a couple days when their manure piles got too flat.

Here's a recent picture:

Jim

 

[TexasBred]

Give them all the want and watch body condition to insure they aren't getting "fat". Dairy cattle are often fed corn silage as high in the 40-45 lb. per head per day range. Seeing that you have no hay this is about your only alternative. Even at this rate they'll only be getting about 14 lbs. of dry matter from it and that's not enough for a mature cow. You really need some hay then you could limit feed the corn silage.

5 lbs. per head per day is a waste of your time and hers.

 

[mwj]

Give them all the want and watch body condition to insure they aren't getting "fat". Dairy cattle are often fed corn silage as high in the 40-45 lb. per head per day range. Seeing that you have no hay this is about your only alternative. Even at this rate they'll only be getting about 14 lbs. of dry matter from it and that's not enough for a mature cow. You really need some hay then you could limit feed the corn silage.

5 lbs. per head per day is a waste of your time and hers.

The way I read the OP, he has hay that he is feeding but needs to stretch it out with the silage.

 

[NC Liz 2]

While I am hiding from the cold and rain today I thought I might address some of the issues stated on here.
First, absent a grinder/mixer I would do exactly as SRBeef has stated, with the amount of silage being determined by the cattle's BCS and if they have a calf on them or not.

Now as I read jbradley's post the real issue is conservation of hay.
And that is why I asked if he had a grinder/mixer.
IMO a grinder/mixer is the only way I know to meter out any ration that contains hay with other feed stuff while conserving hay. A mixer/grinder allows you to mix the ration you want and allows you to feed the amount of the mix per head you want, instead of free choice your hay and rationing your other food stuff.

As for comparing beef cattle to dairy cattle, that's a no no as they both are expected to produce different products and shed fat differently.
Dairy cattle shed fat twice a day in the form of milk where as beef cattle store fat for some future use.

As for how much silage to feed, that depends on the animals nutritional needs at any given time and her present BCS.
So, as we can not see jbradley's cattle and don't know if they have calves on them, it is impossible
to say how much silage should be given.
Therefor I will stick to my original recommendation of a minimal amount.
Liz

 

[TexasBred]

As for how much silage to feed, that depends on the animals nutritional needs at any given time and her present BCS.
So, as we can not see jbradley's cattle and don't know if they have calves on them, it is impossible
to say how much silage should be given.
Therefor I will stick to my original recommendation of a minimal amount.
Liz

They are in Michigan. It's cold in Michigan. They need to produce heat. 5 lbs. a day of silage won't do it. It does not take a mixer wagon to feed silage. You can put it in a hay ring, on a feed trailer or simply put a pile on the ground. You'll have some waste but it beats starving the cattle.

Now tell me about that dairy cow shedding 150 lbs of fat a day in the form of milk. Don't forget the water. :lol2:

 

[piedmontese]

Man some people like to really complicate things! I'm starting to think a guy needs to be a scientist to feed cows. If the guy is trying to stretch his hay by feeding silage I don't see much stretching by feeding 5 lbs a day. I'm assuming these cows have to be a minimum of 1000 lbs? I'm betting 20 lbs of silage a day and free choice hay wouldn't hurt them a bit.

 

[jbradley]

i dont have a mixer wagon or any way mix the silage or weigh it exactly, im feeding the silage in a feed wagon and just dumping the silage into it every day and giving them two round bales of hay into a feed wagon as well, i figure the hay bales weigh about 500 lbs a peice and im givng the cows 4 scoops of silage a day and i figure the buckets about a 2 or 2 and a half yard bucket. My questuion is bascially how much silage can i feed the cows without having to worry about having caving problems in the spring? The cows are pregnant but dont have a calf on there side and are due to drop in late march early april. We have plenty of hay this year but the reason we put the silage up is becasue last year we didnt have the hay so we are trying to save on hay this year and years to come but dont want to suffer a calf crop this spring becasue of it!!

 

[Karin]

While I am hiding from the cold and rain today I thought I might address some of the issues stated on here.
First, absent a grinder/mixer I would do exactly as SRBeef has stated, with the amount of silage being determined by the cattle's BCS and if they have a calf on them or not.

Now as I read jbradley's post the real issue is conservation of hay.
And that is why I asked if he had a grinder/mixer.
IMO a grinder/mixer is the only way I know to meter out any ration that contains hay with other feed stuff while conserving hay. A mixer/grinder allows you to mix the ration you want and allows you to feed the amount of the mix per head you want, instead of free choice your hay and rationing your other food stuff.

As for comparing beef cattle to dairy cattle, that's a no no as they both are expected to produce different products and shed fat differently.
Dairy cattle shed fat twice a day in the form of milk where as beef cattle store fat for some future use.

As for how much silage to feed, that depends on the animals nutritional needs at any given time and her present BCS.
So, as we can not see jbradley's cattle and don't know if they have calves on them, it is impossible
to say how much silage should be given.
Therefor I will stick to my original recommendation of a minimal amount.
Liz

And yet you are insisting--or rather implying--that jbradley treat his cows in the same manner as most commercial barn-raised dairy cows are treated: feed each and every individual cow their own special rations. That is a no-no: it is infeasible and impractical to any beef operation, and far too complicated for what is needed to be done to feed those bred cows.

A grinder/mixer is definitely not needed for this. A front-end loader on a tractor is more than enough to use to "ration out" feed for a herd of beef cows, among other much simpler suggestions than you offered.

And I've never heard of a dairy cow "shedding fat" to produce milk. I raising a big giant :bs: flag on that one, because most dairy cows barely have enough fat to "shed" to produce milk in the first place.

 

[SRBeef]

i dont have a mixer wagon or any way mix the silage or weigh it exactly, im feeding the silage in a feed wagon and just dumping the silage into it every day and giving them two round bales of hay into a feed wagon as well, i figure the hay bales weigh about 500 lbs a peice and im givng the cows 4 scoops of silage a day and i figure the buckets about a 2 or 2 and a half yard bucket. My questuion is bascially how much silage can i feed the cows without having to worry about having caving problems in the spring? The cows are pregnant but dont have a calf on there side and are due to drop in late march early april. We have plenty of hay this year but the reason we put the silage up is becasue last year we didnt have the hay so we are trying to save on hay this year and years to come but dont want to suffer a calf crop this spring becasue of it!!

Short answer: I would not feed ANY silage at all to cows for the last month or preferably two months before calving or you WILL have calving problems from huge calves. You can feed some silage again AFTER calving when they really need the nutrition for milking but even then a moderate amount to go with primarily hay then grazing.

Jim

 

[TexasBred]

[\
Short answer: I would not feed ANY silage at all to cows for the last month or preferably two months before calving or you WILL have calving problems from huge calves. You can feed some silage again AFTER calving when they really need the nutrition for milking but even then a moderate amount to go with primarily hay then grazing.

Jim

Jim does back up your claim. You may have a few cattle become over conditioned but I seriously doubt that as well after surviving an extremely cold winter. If anything the cattle will lose body condition if caloric intake is limited.

 

[NC Liz 2]

SRBeef,

As I said, I agree with what you are doing, but I do have some concerns.
One is, you may be over feeding on the silage as indicated by the fat cows in your pic.
That may be fine to winter a harsh Michigan winter, but IMO they are to fat for calving.
And we all know a fat cow has more problems calving and a fat cow also means a fat calf which can be problematic.

My second and main concern is nitrate poisoning from over feeding corn silage which is passive and can cause a compromised immune system in a new born.

With that in mind you might want to start backing off a little on the silage and watch their body condition as the winter progress in an attempt to lean them down a little before calving. ( If they start to drop to fast due to climatic conditions you can always add some silage back in again. )

By doing that you will also be reducing the possibility of nitrate poisoning.

A 30 day withdraw period should be fine but the sooner the better to get the weight under control before calving and to help avoid the possibility of nitrate poisoning.

Hope this helps and they are fine looking cattle.
Liz