Feeding in winter question

[bulldog04]

So I'm fairly new to cattle farming. I live in Arkansas. Here is the situation. I have 13 cows and a bull. At this farm I owned 25 acres until this fall. My neighbor let me lease their 40 acres this fall but it had been grazed all summer. I don't want to feed hay here if possible because my my tractor and hay is at another farm and I'm getting low. How do you know if the grass isn't enough for the cows and need to supplement or feed hay? I thought about feeding a bag and half of 38% cube every other day but didn't want to be wasting it. Thoughts on this scenario

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I would think they need some quality hay this time of year.

:welcome: to Cattle Today.

 

[ccr]

bulldog, the cube ration sounds ok, but they need forage. a photo of amount of forage available, and condition of cattle would help for thoughts on your situation.

 

[bird dog]

They will need some hay. Very few farms can go all year without. You can tell by constant observation. Once you notice their ribs starting to show, you are late and need to increase their intake of forage. Old cows will show before their younger herd mates.

You can not feed enough from a bag to keep your cows in good shape during the winter months. Feed is a supplement, not a complete diet.

 

[Lbass]

If they are dry cows, it is a fescue base, and has grown all fall, you should be about to get by without supplement. You can take a sample and have a forage test done.

If they are lactating, you might need supplement. Again, if it is fescue, the protein should be fine, the energy might be lacking.

If there is a way to divide the field to ration it, you will want to, because a cow will eat all the best first. Then before you know it, they are eating nothing but trash and will need supplemented.

If it is bermuda or crabgrass based. Well, it might serve the roughage side of things, but supplementation will be needed.

Broomsedge... They will starve before trying to eat it.

A forage test is the best thing. 20.00 well spent. Try to get an accurate sample of what they are eating.

If the roughage is covered. I would think 5#/hd every other day would cover it. The feed i use is a mix of crushed corn, soybean, and distillers grain.

Picture of the stockpile could be worth a thousand words.

Best of luck.

 

[bulldog04]

The 40 acre parcel is divided in half and they have only been in half. The 25 I owned is fenced off from the rest. All the but two cows have calves.

 

[darcelina4]

Unless you had a lot of stockpiled grass, I dont see how your cows and calves are not starving. You said you have 13 cows, 11 calves, one bull on 25 plus 20 acres that were grazed during the growing season. So for at least 100 days no more regrowth. I would think the grass would be gone. Go buy some hay and put out there. The problem with the 38% cubes is that when you add that high of protein and no energy, you will put then into ketosis and they will lose weight faster. Cubes plus corn plus grass hay would work.

 

[bulldog04]

I got some pics of the pasture to show what the grass looks like but it's on my iPhone and I can't figure out how to upload. When I get home from work I will upload them off my computer. There is 6 inches or so with some green mixed in

 

[Douglas]

How to measure it:

https://ext.vt.edu/content/dam/ext_vt_edu/topics/agriculture/graze-300/Estimating-Pasture-Forage-Mass-From-Pasture-Height-2016.pdf

6 inches is about a ton per acre and cows need about 30-lbs per day.

 

[uplandnut]

What about just putting a bale in the back of a pickup and pushing it out of the pickup at the farm as needed? Then you don't have to have a tractor down there, and you will know right away if they need hay if they gobble that up.

 

[bulldog04]

I tried to post a pic of the grass using the "add image to post" link but it tells me I can't post links from a external domain

 

[greggy]

You can put image somewhere on web, then paste a link.....people often seem to use postimage, but any host or web based gallery type site would do...

 

[greggy]

Not to hijack, but I just did the opposite, in some areas I let the grass grow all winter and into spring, left it till summer, it has all hayed off and dried, because it has been so hot and dry and because it would anyway, I am getting them to graze a lot of it now due to fire risk...

But when done like this, or even the reverse, I believe the grass can lose a lot of it's value.

I am not sure how much, and does not particularly bother me as mine just need the roughage as fed lot of other things, but has anyone tested the stages before, or is there good studies online ? I guess each variety would vary though. If it retained 50%, or 25%, that would be good to know even if a rough estimate.

We had some rain too, so now when grazed or cut the warm season grasses emerge...

To the OP, have you read up on the different ways to condition score ? I like the short ribs check if you are often close to your animals, you can monitor pretty well, can also pick up any that not doing as well as others...I also think, as others, you wont get away without giving them a lot of extra feed, that was before you said they had calves....even if they were all yearlings, you would be feeding a lot more than those acres could likely provide IMO

 

[bulldog04]

Here is a pic of the pasture.

 

[bulldog04]

And another. I've thought about on Saturdays or Sunday taking the tractor down the road with two bales and put another in my truck. Put out 3 bales and that should last for a week since they have some grass and feeding high protein cubes. If 4x5 bale weights 900s thats 2700 lbs. 14 head x30 lbs per head= 420 lbs per day X 7=2940

 

[ccr]

bulldog, sounds like a good plan.

 

[gcreekrch]

Looks like there is some grass left there that would fill there bellies for a while yet. Per head daily cost what are the protein pellets compared to lick tubs compared to hay? Bottom line is how much you keep in your pocket.

 

[bulldog04]

Looks like there is some grass left there that would fill there bellies for a while yet. Per head daily cost what are the protein pellets compared to lick tubs compared to hay? Bottom line is how much you keep in your pocket.

Thanks. I'm glad I got some feedback on the grass situation

 

[BlondeD]

.....What part of Arkansas..??? Looks like you are upping the equation on things and getting some good feedback from the group here. But winter still has a long way to go....and March can be tough.....IMHO

 

[bulldog04]

.....What part of Arkansas..??? Looks like you are upping the equation on things and getting some good feedback from the group here. But winter still has a long way to go....and March can be tough.....IMHO

West Central. Close to OK line