Feed In A Drum?

[fnfarms1]

I have been feeding them the Stockade protein tubs, but their eating them so fast I need another plan. 30bred cows/heifers total. I have 10-12 cows that haven't gained back weight like I want, 2 bulls, and 12 heifers(8bred, 4 replacements). the 10 or so cows in good condition are going to stay on plain pasture. the rest I am debating feeding Feed In A Drum but have on tried it once. that was 3yrs ago when they advertised "20 Cows For 20 Days" was the average feed rate on 1 tub. Mine ate 2 tubs in 12 days. the guy told me I shouldn't have used 2 tubs, to much surface area for them. Purina also sells a similar product, but never used it. also I hear Urea is a no-no for growing heifers, truth? they sell a natural tub also, urea's just cheaper. the young heifers are getting feed every few days just for taming purposes. any advice, input etc?

 

[M-5]

Why not just get a quality feed and good hay. Its a lot cheaper and you can see results a lot quicker .

 

[fnfarms1]

I have feed in a bulk bin, but don't think it comes put cheaper in price. My hay I think is decent. Not going to to top the protein charts but I think its decent

 

[M-5]

if your feeding processed tubs it is more expensive than feed.

 

[Bigfoot]

Feed will always be cheaper than tubs, and you can control the intake %100.

 

[fnfarms1]

Ok so on the note of feed. I'm not a fan of cubes because I hear they use feather mill and just junk at times. But due to bunk space, what's the opinion on cubes, so can ground feed?

 

[fnfarms1]

Why not just get a quality feed and good hay. Its a lot cheaper and you can see results a lot quicker .

The commodity feed I buys running .10/lb. So at 5lbs per head(which isn't alot) but that's .50/hd. If they eat the 1lb/hd per day (which is the recommended amount 3/4-1lb) of the supplement its .40/hd. Besides at only 5lbs are they getting what they need?

 

[Bigfoot]

I've never supplemented this early. Might should, but I never have. Cows usually go in to winter fat. I supplement part February and March. I usually figure it at $40 per cow. That's using ddg, and soy hull pellets. Usually comes in at .08 per pound. I think, if you'll investigate your feed tag on that commodity pellet the tdn is probably pretty low. That'd make 5 pounds of it, not go too far. I ball park guess, that I feed 6 pounds of my mix. Seems to to keep the affects of old man winter down to a minimum.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Forget cubes, people like them because they're cheap, easy, and don't have to think about it, but they aren't the best feed. 400# corn, 200# SBM, 15# mineral is what I use, it's simple, cheap, has about 22% protein, energy boost, and you know what's in it. Just feed it fit their needs.
Avg. milkers with 300 pound calves, on a 20F day will probably need around 3-3.5 total pounds of protein per day to survive. If your hay is 10%, and your feed is 22%, and they eat 30 pounds of hay. That comes out to needing to feed about 3 pounds per head, to get them over 3.5, and add to their energy intake.
On the other hand, if your hay is 8%, then your going to have to feed 6 pounds of feed per head per day.
But on a day to day basis feeding 4 pounds per head would work out pretty good.






*This is my own opinion, taken or leave it.

 

[fnfarms1]

I've never supplemented this early. Might should, but I never have. Cows usually go in to winter fat. I supplement part February and March. I usually figure it at $40 per cow. That's using ddg, and soy hull pellets. Usually comes in at .08 per pound. I think, if you'll investigate your feed tag on that commodity pellet the tdn is probably pretty low. That'd make 5 pounds of it, not go too far. I ball park guess, that I feed 6 pounds of my mix. Seems to to keep the affects of old man winter down to a minimum.

Mines a general mix they do. Has soy hull pellets, ddg, corn, corn gluten pellets. Its a 14% protein. Also has salt, calcium, molasses to cut the dust. I'd say the difference in protein in mine and sim.ang.king is your using soybean meal, high protein and price. They wanted 26/cwt for it vs 9/cwt for the hull pellets.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Mine will cost $.045 per pound, with $3.75 corn.
If your want to buy protein then compare the price of feed stuffs based on per pound of protein.
Soy Hulls- $.81 per pound of protein.
SBM- $.55 per pound of protein.
22% Feed mix (at .045)- $.20 per pound of protein.

 

[fnfarms1]

Mine will cost $.045 per pound, with $3.75 corn.
If your want to buy protein then compare the price of feed stuffs based on per pound of protein.
Soy Hulls- $.81 per pound of protein.
SBM- $.55 per pound of protein.
22% Feed mix (at .045)- $.20 per pound of protein.

Thanks. I'll check into the meal instead of the hulls. And thinking feed is better way to go

 

[Supa Dexta]

I dont think conditions get much worse than here, and I likely feed the longest periods a year (250+ days) Ive never supplemented. Ever. But I will toot my own horn - I make good feed (baleage).

 

[TexasBred]

Ok so on the note of feed. I'm not a fan of cubes because I hear they use feather mill and just junk at times. But due to bunk space, what's the opinion on cubes, so can ground feed?

Very few companies use feather meal in cubes but many will use it in tubs. Look on the list of ingredients for animal protein. That would be feather meal.

 

[TexasBred]

Why not just get a quality feed and good hay. Its a lot cheaper and you can see results a lot quicker .

The commodity feed I buys running .10/lb. So at 5lbs per head(which isn't alot) but that's .50/hd. If they eat the 1lb/hd per day (which is the recommended amount 3/4-1lb) of the supplement its .40/hd. Besides at only 5lbs are they getting what they need?

Are they getting what they need from eating 3/4-1 lb. of the tub which has very little energy?? I guess if you value your labor you'll save money on the tubs as you just dump them and forget them. I enjoy feeding cubes because it gives me time to walk through the cattle and check for anything unusual or different about them.

 

[fnfarms1]

No baleage here. Just fescue and Bermuda grass hay mostly, few bales of prairie hay off a place I bale to clean up for people.I think I'll put the 10 or so poor ones in with my heifers and feed them all.