CUBES VS SWEETFEED

[BRYANT]

I buy 20 % for 7.50 and you can buy bulk cheaper than that
Last Dec. I was in a Walmart that thought it could sell cattle cubes for 15.00 a bag needless to say they had a bunch of cubes they could not sell, so they marked the price down to 5.00 per bag I just happen to be there at the right time and took all they had 150 bags. They were Calf Manna cubes and it took a couple bags for my cows to eat them but when they saw it was them or do with out they started eating them fine. I think there is a lot less waste feeding cubes than sweet feed

 

[TexasBred]

Still in the 8.50 range over this way. I imagine with the grass we all have now folks have about quit buying them.

 

[John SD]

Still in the 8.50 range over this way. I imagine with the grass we all have now folks have about quit buying them.

Cubes with magnesium added are quite popular in this area at this time of year to prevent grass tetany.

Turn cattle out on fresh pasture and try to keep them eating hay usually doesn't work too well. Same cattle will come running when they hear the cake feeding pickup coming :lol:

Lick tubs with added magnesium are another way to get mag into cattle, but most always at a higher cost than cake. Most cattlemen around here have abandoned the 5 gallon bucket cake feeding method and have gone to overhead bins with a cake feeder in the pickup.

As mentioned, cake is popular because sweet feed really needs to be fed in bunks, and bunks usually aren't practical for feeding a herd of cows out on range.

 

[John SD]

...or mix them with some feed that they are used to. That's how I get yearling heifers trained to eat them.

I usually started my weaned calves out on cracked corn/DDG mix in bunks. Something about the DDG seems irrresistable to the calves and they take right to it.

An easy way to teach calves or cows to eat cake is to feed them creep feed in bunks. Creep is basically the same product as cake in a smaller pellet.

Many times I've heard sale barn consignment lists for calves/bred heifers and cows describe the cattle for sale as "cake broke".