Feed

[Angus Cattle Shower]

Dooes anyone feed any canola meal to their cattle? We feed it to our show cattle, and it is working very well. What sould we mix ti with?
We are mixing it into their grain and mineral ration.

 

[Rookie]

Dooes anyone feed any canola meal to their cattle? We feed it to our show cattle, and it is working very well. What sould we mix ti with?
We are mixing it into their grain and mineral ration.

Sounds like a good plan to me. I feed soy bean meal to steers during the post-weaning - 800 lb period of their lives and I use it as a topping over the 12% Beef Mix that I normally feed.

george

 

[Angus Cattle Shower]

Kay, but what minerals does yall feed them? free lick? In the feed? Both?

 

[Rookie]

Kay, but what minerals does yall feed them? free lick? In the feed? Both?

I feed loose bagged mineral that is also used as a topping. Stay away from the block type mineral. I have heard from far more learned persons than myself that they are a waste of money.

 

[Angus Cattle Shower]

We use the salt blocks, and many different minreal blocks. It works for us. What breed cattle do you have Rookie?

 

[Rookie]

We use the salt blocks, and many different minreal blocks. It works for us. What breed cattle do you have Rookie?

I agree the salt blocks are a good deal. I use them. I raise Black Angus steers mostly, for slaughter and to sell to a few friends and family. I am trying my hand with a couple of cows, but it seems more than I bargained for. They are bred and will be growin wheels pretty soon. I guess I shouldn't have warned against mineral blocks without first hand knowlege myself :oops: I do know that my critters like the loose stuff alot better

 

[dun]

The warnings about the mineral blocks is priamrily because they have a hard time getting adequate minerals from them. Loose miinerals is a more effective method of getting the required minerals to them.

dun

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Cattle can get the adequate SALT from blocks, but I was told they would have to lick all day to get the proper amount of mineral. You probably would not notice any ill effect with feedlot cattle, but a cow herd - IN MOST CIRCUMSTANCES - will benefit from loose mineral.
We provide loose mineral/salt mixture year round. We used to top dress our show feed, but now we have switched to pellets. So we have the full ration of mineral mixed into the pellets. Only replacement heifers & show string get any grain/pellets.

 

[9 ER]

I switched from mineral blocks to a mineral tub. The heifers got after it at first, but they haven't touched it in a month. They get free choice hay and all-stock/cubes. Should I switch to loose or are they just taking a break from it? The tub is placed where it doesn't get wet.

 

[Bez]

Question time.

I have noticed there are a great many who feed out stuff called cubes and so on.

9 er wrote:

They get free choice hay and all-stock/cubes.

What is the cost - probably varies from area to area - and is it actually cost effective?

I recognize that when and if hay quality is low, that an animal may need a supplement - but all things being equal - why feed this stuff to the animals? Why not just free choice hay and loose mineral at all times?

If they are in the pen for fattening - and I assume these are not - why would a person not look at free choice hay, grain of some type - rolled or not and some loose mineral?

Not being a smart@ss - just wondering because we would never feed something that "sounds" like more money.

Ie: straight oats - rolled here costs approx 145 bucks a ton delivered to the yard. Corn is cheaper still.

Thnx in advance

Bez

 

[dun]

These are what around here they call cubes or range cubes. They run about that length to maybe twice as long. Usually 20% or there abouts in protein. We use them to get the cows up close and individually feed them to them. Rather then have to bring them up into an area and feed grain, just standing in the pasture and waving them around gets the cows up so I can look them over.
The brown thing, not the red and white one. It's just there for scale.

dun

 

[Bez]

Thanks Dun

But it does not really answer the whol;e question - sounds like 9 er uses it as a big portion of his feed program. As do others from reading here on this board.

What you do to attract the animals, I do with a bucket of corn.

I now know what these things are - but do people actually use them as a part of a feed program, and what is the cost as compared to some type of grain along with a mineral?

By the way - I sorta' figured the red and white thing was not a feed item!

:D :shock:

Bez

 

[dun]

Thanks Dun

But it does not really answer the whol;e question - sounds like 9 er uses it as a big portion of his feed program. As do others from reading here on this board.

What you do to attract the animals, I do with a bucket of corn.

I now know what these things are - but do people actually use them as a part of a feed program, and what is the cost as compared to some type of grain along with a mineral?

By the way - I sorta' figured the red and white thing was not a feed item!

:D :shock:

Bez

I know of a number of people around here that hand feed them a couple of times a week. The advantage, in theory, is you can dump them on the ground and they'll still get eaten, unlike corn etc.
The problem with attracting them with a bucket is they expect to really get something. With cubes they don't. I alwasy have a handfull or two in my coat pockets. The one I got the picture of was from that supply. I wasn't about to go out until it gets a little warmer. Although it's warmer now then it has been for the last week.
Just wanted it to be clear to everybody about the pen

dun

 

[Bez]

Are you telling me you don't like the cold? :D

Just wanted it to be clear to everybody about the pen

:D :D :D

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Bez

 

[Tod Dague]

When we first started out we used allot of cubes. We had small numbers and you could buy small amounts at a time as I didn’t have any place to store grains and we could feed straight on the ground. They typically run about $200/ton for the commercial stuff. My brother just bought 6 tons for $135/ton. I now use cotton seed that runs $95/ton for the cows near by but the others that are a ways off I use a liquid feed that runs $195/ton when needed. Cows consume an average of just under 2lbs/day. The hay that we have around here isn't the greatest of quality and typically requires supplementation. The good stuff runs a good bit more. I'm switching to oat hay this year. The way I test hay is how it comes out of the cow. I up the supplements until I get the desired consistency. The range of supplements typically runs from 1-4lbs/day.

 

[9 ER]

I feed range cubes 3x a week. Like dun says, you can dump them on the ground and when they hear them rattling in the bucket, they come running. Had a couple get out a few days ago. Got a bucket with cubes and they followed me all the way home. It's used mostly as a treat. I like to hand feed them to get them as gentle as I can.


I switched from mineral blocks to a mineral tub. The heifers got after it at first, but they haven't touched it in a month. They get free choice hay and all-stock/cubes. Should I switch to loose or are they just taking a break from it? The tub is placed where it doesn't get wet.

Any ideas?

 

[dun]

I calssify the tubs to be almost the same as the blocks. But there are weeks when a sack of minerals will last for a long time and others when it's gone in a few days.
Never have tried to figure out cows. Well I used to, but I've given up on it. Just when you have them figured out the change the rules

dun

 

[bubchub]

When we first started out we used allot of cubes. We had small numbers and you could buy small amounts at a time as I didn’t have any place to store grains and we could feed straight on the ground. They typically run about $200/ton for the commercial stuff. My brother just bought 6 tons for $135/ton. I now use cotton seed that runs $95/ton for the cows near by but the others that are a ways off I use a liquid feed that runs $195/ton when needed. Cows consume an average of just under 2lbs/day. The hay that we have around here isn't the greatest of quality and typically requires supplementation. The good stuff runs a good bit more. I'm switching to oat hay this year. The way I test hay is how it comes out of the cow. I up the supplements until I get the desired consistency. The range of supplements typically runs from 1-4lbs/day.

Tod, where do you buy your feed. It sounds awful cheap to me. If you could give me the number of the place and the name, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks, Bubchub

 

[SimmAngus]

Our bred beef cows eat corn stalks, from the field, salt blocks near water source, and are given a Crystalyx 30% tub. They winter great and only get alfalfa hay when the temps drop way down. If the snow covers fields they get soybean hay, with the salt and Crystalyx tubs. Our cows maintain a 5.5 to 6.5 BS through the winter and calve consistantly easy. I don't know if this answers your question re: a Show Animal, but it is how we maintain our cattle. Our steers headed for the locker have a much finer diet with a significant reduction in required exercise :D

 

[Tod Dague]

When we first started out we used allot of cubes. We had small numbers and you could buy small amounts at a time as I didn’t have any place to store grains and we could feed straight on the ground. They typically run about $200/ton for the commercial stuff. My brother just bought 6 tons for $135/ton. I now use cotton seed that runs $95/ton for the cows near by but the others that are a ways off I use a liquid feed that runs $195/ton when needed. Cows consume an average of just under 2lbs/day. The hay that we have around here isn't the greatest of quality and typically requires supplementation. The good stuff runs a good bit more. I'm switching to oat hay this year. The way I test hay is how it comes out of the cow. I up the supplements until I get the desired consistency. The range of supplements typically runs from 1-4lbs/day.

Tod, where do you buy your feed. It sounds awful cheap to me. If you could give me the number of the place and the name, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks, Bubchub

I just bought some liq. feed today from Belton feed (owned by a local gentleman). I'm using the sup-r-lix 2hl (some on the board seemed to not care for it when I asked in the past but it is working ok for me) and it went up a bit to $208/ton. The cotton seed I picked up in Rose Bud. All of the others that were closer were $120/ton except one place that said that I could have it for $115/ton if I could pick it up that day. The price more than paid for the little extra time and fuel (aprox. 20 more miles tan the next closest place).