Feed ration for weaned 250 pound calves

[yakker]

Hello, I just signed up to this forum. I am from eastern Washington. I have been reading for a while, you guys have a lot of good knowledge I can gleam from! This spring I have been buying around 250 pound weaned beef calves from the auction and I will be selling them back this fall. They are on good pasture and I am looking for advice on what type of feed ration to supplement them with. I have an old Bearcat feed grinder that I can chop hay and crack grain for them. I have found feed mix designs on the internet for feeder cattle but they are for heavier weights....so right now I am kinda winging it! I am currently feeding each a mix once a day that has about 5.5 pounds chopped alfalfa hay, 3/4 pound cracked barley, 1.5 pound cracked corn, and ½ pound cracked wheat. I figured it's about 15% protein, should I go higher?? I have not added any mineral/salt/vitamins to the mix yet although they do have a selenium salt block. I am trying to make a profit so I don't want to put too much into them…but I don't want potbellied calves either. I do have a creep feeder that I would free feed them with... but I am afraid they would eat up all of my profit!? I was planning on supplementing them up to 400lbs and after that they would be on pasture until they go back to the auction in November. Below is the feed I can get and the price:
Alfalfa 155/ton
Wheat 17 cents/lb
Corn 13 cents/lb
Barley 14 cents/lb
Ground canola

Doug

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

:welcome: Doug.

I don't have any answers for you but there are plenty of folks on here that can help.

 

[msplmtneer]

:welcome:

 

[slick4591]

:welcome:

 

[Kingfisher]

Just curious but how are you estimating the protein level?

 

[yakker]

Just curious but how are you estimating the protein level?

I made a exel spreadsheet that uses weight and protein of each grain. Actually, I will have to recalculate it as I put more alfalfa in it, it should be higher.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Google osunrc2013

That should get you the OSU webpage where you can download their ration calculator spreadsheet. Download the spreadsheet and the instructions and you can formulate rations for whatever size/sex of animals you have.

 

[yakker]

Google osunrc2013

That should get you the OSU webpage where you can download their ration calculator spreadsheet. Download the spreadsheet and the instructions and you can formulate rations for whatever size/sex of animals you have.

Thanks, I will check out the link.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Welcome fellow Washingtonian. Any of that corn available by the ton?

Good luck to you!

Scott

 

[yakker]

Welcome fellow Washingtonian. Any of that corn available by the ton?

Good luck to you!

Scott

Yes, the corn is available by the ton, same price though. Parch farms in Outlook is where I get it. I need to check at the elevators to see if they will sell small quantites,as I'm guessing they would be cheeper. I only buy around 4 ton of grain at a time. What price do you pay? - Doug