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I am trying accuration this year and it has been a learning experience. I did some inital cost of gain calculations based on 1% of body weight consumption of 20/80 blend but some things have changed along the way...
I got dry lot calves started with twice a day bucket feeding of a sweetened grain mix and then switched to a 20/80 accuration/corn self feeder blend. They gobbled up 1.4% of body weight the first week. I went to a 30/70 blend and they still consumed almost as much. I spoke with my feed guy - - he said cattle will consume less self feed supplement on pasture compared to the dry lot - - and then can eat 1+% of body weight on pasture without any negative starch effect because they will snack 8 or 9 times per day. He also pointed out (as I knew) that the accuration is expensive so moving the feeders may be more economical than increasing the accuration in the mix. I went on pasture and moved the feeders a ways - - now the herd comes over twice a day in the AM and in the PM. So no 8 or 9 snacks per day for them!
What kind of consumption and conversion should I expect on pasture for a given accuration %? Is there any optimium mix and consumption in your experience?
