Feeders not eating much

[Little Joe]

I've got 3 heifers that I bought back in January from a neighbor that didn't breed, I put them on straight chopped corn the day I bought them and have slowly worked them up to 70lbs/day between them. They have been cleaning it all up until this week, now they are probably only eating half that. It has gotten very humid hear this week, I'm thinking that has something to do with it. They go to processor May 1, 12 days from now. Any suggestions to help get them back eating what they should?

 

[Little Joe]

Usually at this point in feeding them out, I start seeing them just not very enthusiastic about eating and leaving feed in the bunk, but I've never seen them go down to half the feed that quick. I'm not a big fan of feeding out cattle when it's hot and humid because it definitely effects their gains and feed intake.

 

[cowman82]

thats a lot of straight corn for them. Maybe mix some sweet feed in it.

 

[Mrcopier]

Agree with cowman

 

[SBMF 2015]

Usually at this point in feeding them out, I start seeing them just not very enthusiastic about eating and leaving feed in the bunk, but I've never seen them go down to half the feed that quick. I'm not a big fan of feeding out cattle when it's hot and humid because it definitely effects their gains and feed intake.

Sounds like they’re about done.
Weather has definitely slowed cattle down here too.

I’d split the difference between what they have been getting and what they’re eating.
Don’t change ingredients! That will totally throw them off.
They won’t lose much if any.

 

[Little Joe]

We had a cool front move in, we are back in the 60s. Yesterday morning after I started this thread, when I went to feed they had cleaned up the bunk as well as last night when I fed. I cut back to 60 lbs/day. Definitely thinking now it was due to it getting hot and humid this past week, there were a few days that the humidity was more like July.

 

[Little Joe]

thats a lot of straight corn for them. Maybe mix some sweet feed in it.

I've always been told to never feed anything with molasses to cattle that are being finished because it will cause the meat to have an off taste. I usually finish them on the same ration that I feed when they're growing but have real loose stool at this point due to the protein. These were already 18 months old when I bought them so no need to grow any frame therefore no need for the added protein, corn is cheap and protein is not. Their stool hasn't been loose for the most part and they were cleaning up the corn good until that humidity hit, probably only thing I wish I would've done different is fed whole shell as opposed to chopped to reduce the risk of acidosis. I also forgot to mention that I mix calcium carbonate with the corn as well to help reduce the chance of acidosis.

 

[jltrent]

Could be the feed does not taste the same as what they had been eating. Also 70 lbs a day for three, that ought to put the fat on.

 

[Little Joe]

Pretty sure one of the heifers foundered, she sure walks around tender footed, good thing butcher date is only a week away. I had a guy tell me one time that if I fed enough of them, I'd founder one sooner or later.

 

[Little Joe]

I’ve got 2 right now that just aren’t cleaning up the bunk. They’re around 900 lbs, been on feed since back in December. Was feeding them straight chopped corn and had worked up to 15lbs a day each. A few weeks ago when I called to order feed, there was no chopped corn available so I swapped to ground corn. They mixed my sodium bicarbonate with it. I started off mixing what chopped corn I had left with mostly ground, they wouldn’t eat it. I mixed it half and half and they went back to eating it. Slowly tapered off the chops as I started running out and they’re back to barely eating it. I have a bulk bag of ddg that I was mixing with corn to supplement my cows so yesterday I mixed a little bit of that with the ground corn and they ate some but didn’t clean up the bunk. Each time they’ve went off feed I backed them back up to 10 lbs a day and worked back up. At this point it’s getting frustrating, I need them eating 20-25 lbs a day and I can’t even keep them eating 15 a day. Any suggestions?

 

[kenny thomas]

Add some molasses. Its really hard to change feed when they are eating a good amount. They almost always stall out some.