We have 4 cattle at the moment (just getting started) and are newbies to cattle. We have been taking feed out to the feed trough and dumping it in for them. It's getting a bit rowdy at feeding time and starting to feel dangerous. How do some of you feed your cattle and what suggestions would you make? We had the trough near a fence, but they were pushing the t-posts so we put the trough near a cement pad and tied it to the wood posts next to the pad. I was thinking of putting some wood posts in the ground along the fence line and putting the trough on the other side of the posts, away from the fence, so we could pour the feed over the fence. Advice is appreciated!
Feeding Problem
- Thread starter hrranch
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kenny thomas
Well-known member
Are they small calves or cows? If cows, they need grass not feed.
aprille218
Well-known member
You could make your own fence line feeder. Basically like you said but the trough is on the outside of the fence and the animals stick their head through diagonal openings in a wooden or metal fence to get to eat from the trough.
Hi Kenny! They are Scottish Highlands and have horns. Our one cow is 5 and the bull and two steer are 2 year olds. We are just trying to find a way to feed that keeps us safe. We give them some grain twice a day to keep them coming up where we can see them. The cow is due to give birth soon. Do you have any advice on how she and the calf should be kept to keep them safe from the other three? Never had cattle before. Thanks!
That's what I was thinking. They are horned cattle so I'd like to refrain from using anything they would have to stick their heads through.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
Quit feeding them grain except occasionally and then just dump it on the ground?
kenny thomas
Well-known member
They are all adults so a small treat of feed once a week is all thats needed to keep them coming. Don't over complicate it. Some people dont see their cows from spring turnout until the fall.
Watch the cow but she shouldn't need to be separated from the others.
If your gonna slaughter the steers feed them separately but otherwise put the feed bags away.
Yes you could build some thing to feed from that keeps you out of the area but that is really only part of the issue and doesn't really solve the problem.
Closing the gate and putting feed in the trough first before you open the gate might help also.
You might consider keeping a stick, flag, etc handy that you can extend out and defend your area. They need to learn not to get in to your space. It will start at feeding time and extend to being in the pasture.
Like others have said, they likely do not need to be fed that often, this time of year.
Closing the gate and putting feed in the trough first before you open the gate might help also.
You might consider keeping a stick, flag, etc handy that you can extend out and defend your area. They need to learn not to get in to your space. It will start at feeding time and extend to being in the pasture.
Like others have said, they likely do not need to be fed that often, this time of year.
TexasJerseyMilker
Well-known member
If there is grass pasture or you feed them grass hay you feed them some cow cubes. These are 20% protein big pellets you dump out and they eat off the ground. The protein is so their rumen microbes can flourish because the microbes digest the cellulose and the animal digests the microbes. They ony need a couple of pounds a day each or more if the florage is low quailty. You could dump out cubes on the ground and then let them in.
Travlr
Well-known member
Thanks for putting a location on your profile...
A lot of us here that stick around have been serious ranchers, as in... in it as a lifestyle and trying to make the cows pay for themselves. So we don't feed animals grain unless we are fattening them for slaughter or feeding hay in the winter because the snow is too deep for them to get any forage. We might use grain to get cows into an enclosure or to train them to come when they are called. A 3 pound coffee can will entice a thousand cows into a corral if they think it has grain in it.
But we don't see food as love... which a lot of newbies seem to think it is.
If you're worried about horns and being trampled you can do a couple of things. Go to a farm sale and find one of those movable feeding panels... and then plant some stout posts in a fenceline to attach it to. Feed on the opposite side as the cattle and let them stick their heads through.
Or... if you have a corral/enclosure for working/containing animals, put your feed bunk in the middle and keep the gate closed when you throw the grain into the bunk. Then stand back as you open the gate.
Get some really heavy troughs made of either concrete or heavy pipe so the cattle can't move them. If you have a way to do this you can place them against a fence and just dump the feed over the fence. We feed 2,000# bulls like this with no problem. If you have to go in the pasture to feed them I'd buy a red rider bb gun and have someone pop em when they get too close. After a few days they'll stand back a touch.
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
Walk softly and carry a big stick.
We feed cattle at every stage (size) of life with buckets.
The name of the game is a good bluff. Followed by a good whack if they call your bluff. A plastic wiffleball bat works well. It won't hurt them but it will get their attention.
The problem is that right now they think they're in charge. Don't be afraid to knock the $hit out of them and remind them they're not.
If you're scared of their horns have someone who knows what they're doing saw them off.
You don't have to be mean but you do have to command respect or they will hurt you.
We feed cattle at every stage (size) of life with buckets.
The name of the game is a good bluff. Followed by a good whack if they call your bluff. A plastic wiffleball bat works well. It won't hurt them but it will get their attention.
The problem is that right now they think they're in charge. Don't be afraid to knock the $hit out of them and remind them they're not.
If you're scared of their horns have someone who knows what they're doing saw them off.
You don't have to be mean but you do have to command respect or they will hurt you.
Thanks to all of you for the quick replies! I think we will probably go the no grain route since we have good pasture and plenty of it. Will give hay in the winter. This website is great! Thanks again!!!
Whether you feed grain or not - YOU need to be the boss. If they don't respect you, they will eat you for lunch. Yes, they are sweethearts, and so cute. They can KILL you and anyone else that steps foot in their area if you don't teach them RESPECT. It goes for ALL animals - and kids!
We are not saying to be mean to them, but YOU need to demand your space. THEY are demanding their space by pushing you.
We are not saying to be mean to them, but YOU need to demand your space. THEY are demanding their space by pushing you.
You do realize that PELLETS is one of the biggest expense in the carcass industry? I'm not familiar with a BB gun, but that is not good advice IMHO. If it cannot penetrate their hide, it could put out an eye.
Mark Reynolds
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If you are going to go the pasture route (and it is recommended) educate yourself about pasture. Look at the 4 never fail rules of grazing on this forum and learn them. They are 4, simple, boiled down rules that are 'easy'. Pasture management doesn't have to be complicated. Most pasture advice you get from professionals will make your eyes glaze over. These rules won't. As a very rough rule of thumb, it takes 2.5 acres of pasture to feed an Animal Unit (1,000 lb animal wt) for a year, when properly rotated. There is a LOT of variation in that (I'm talking tame pastures, not open range).
Look at how your horned cattle communicate to each other and decide if your flag or paddle or stick is worse than that.
I hunted thousands of cattle as a young man with a bb gun.
It was harmless. I don't even think I could get one to move with a bb if I tried. Kids use to shoot each other so that tells you what your are dealing with.
What causes the issues is people using rat shot and bird shot. A lot of the helicopter guys do it to get cattle to move because the cattle learn the chopper can't actually do any thing to them.
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
My softball bat is!
It's been retired for probably 15 years but back when I started at the place I was before they had never tagged their calves and always said that the craziest cattle they fed out there their home raised ones.
Back before I had kids and I was fast I got really good at dragging a calf by one hind leg to a hog cart while I kept his mother at bay with an aluminum softball bat in my other hand.
200 cows and 20 years I only got rolled or tossed maybe a dozen times.
Obviously cows with new calves act differently than cows in every day life. If you can keep her calf between you and her you are usually safe. It takes a truly crazy b!tch to run her calf over to kill you.
Last edited:
wbvs58
Well-known member
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
Yep that's 12 times you coulda died. No thanks.
Had one take out her calf on her way to me. She rolled me before I got behind the 4 wheeler. She was at the butcher the next morning.
Had one take out her calf on her way to me. She rolled me before I got behind the 4 wheeler. She was at the butcher the next morning.
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