About how much and how often should I be feeding my heifers? They are about 275lbs and are doing very well. I think I am feeding them alittle to much because they are starting to get alil to fat. I feed them 1 scoop of Co-Op Calf Feed 1 time a day. They are SLOWLY gaining weight, but they are where I want them now. I was thinking just start feeding them the same amount but like every other day? That sound about right? I intend to have them bred once they get big enough. Not sell for beef.
Feeding question
- Thread starter Mongoose
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UCFLonghorn
Member
Do the heifers have access to grass? Minerals? Hay? These things can also effect how much you should feed. If they are getting a little fat maybe back them off a little? We never sub-fed our cows in the spring and summer since the grass is usually so good.
Victoria
Well-known member
How old are they, what is their breed?
novatech
Well-known member
Why do you think they need any feed at all? If they do not have enough grass that may be another story. If you deside to take them off feed do it slowly.
novatech
Well-known member
A heifer's belly don,t know the difference between nutreints from grass and nutrients from feed. If you manage your grass properly you should not have to supplement them with feed. ADG don,t mean squat when you are raiseing replacement heifers unless you are doing a test. Body condition and good growth are important. As long as this is being acomplished feed suplements should not be necessary. Minerals and maybe protein is all that should be necessary.Angus/Brangus":3pnimyuk said:
Remember you are in the grass business not the feed business.
mnmtranching
Well-known member
I know by now that things are done different in Texas than up here. I would not expect a 275 pound calf to do well on grass only. And would not worry about it getting to fat. At that age it would be hard for it to eat enough to get overly fat, digestive system is to small. Keep it on grain for good growth, you want that ADG to be such that the heifer will be of proper size to calve when she's 2 years old. When they are up around 6-7 hundred pounds then they do well on grass only.
Mongoose
Well-known member
Thanks for your reply Angus. I was feeding them grain when we first got them because they were alittle bit skinny and I wanted to get them at a good healthy weight quick like and raise their potential like you said for the future. Now that they are at a healthy weight and are doing very well I cut back on the feed. They have PLENTY of grass and water and both are always available as they are in the pasture. They are around 3 months I dont know for sure exactly because I bought them at the salebarn. Any other opinions will be accepted with appreciation. Thanks alot.
novatech
Well-known member
Ok WE will do it your way. Put them on feed, regardless of the amount of nutreints in the grass it should have no consideration. Kill all your grass because it is no longer of any value. Give them high fat feed. Put all the fat pounds you can on them. Then see if you can get them bred and see if you can pull the calf out of them. Purina will applaud you.
Or you can put them on grass, observe their body condition and only suplement as necessary.( you can even observe the fecal matter and it can tell you a lot about your forage nitrition) If they are not getting what they need out of the pasture of course you should feed them.
You should also consider what you are feeding them.
As far as having your grass tested, your cattle do that for you, if you know what to look for. And tell me also why people take such great care of a hay field, getting over 10% P and their pastures will usually be less than 10% P. Protein content is also part of pasture management. Proper timing for calveing and forage availabity is also part of management. As an example spring high protein clover and rye would be great for growing out heifers, or steers for that matter.
With proper management Supplemental feeding should be kept to a minium. Feeding should never be the general rule unless your are Purina and selling feed.
My original question was Why do you have them on feed?
The response should have been they are only 250 lbs. and need the extra protien for growth. The calves are putting on to much fat. The feed needs to be changed to fit the needs of the calf, which is what you do at any age as a supplement.
Or you can put them on grass, observe their body condition and only suplement as necessary.( you can even observe the fecal matter and it can tell you a lot about your forage nitrition) If they are not getting what they need out of the pasture of course you should feed them.
You should also consider what you are feeding them.
As far as having your grass tested, your cattle do that for you, if you know what to look for. And tell me also why people take such great care of a hay field, getting over 10% P and their pastures will usually be less than 10% P. Protein content is also part of pasture management. Proper timing for calveing and forage availabity is also part of management. As an example spring high protein clover and rye would be great for growing out heifers, or steers for that matter.
With proper management Supplemental feeding should be kept to a minium. Feeding should never be the general rule unless your are Purina and selling feed.
My original question was Why do you have them on feed?
The response should have been they are only 250 lbs. and need the extra protien for growth. The calves are putting on to much fat. The feed needs to be changed to fit the needs of the calf, which is what you do at any age as a supplement.
Another country heard from: With a calf under 500 lbss that is weaned I would supplement them with something. A calf that size/age just can; eat enough grass to get the nutrition it needs to grow properly. AAfter 500 lbs, unless the grass really sucks they shouldn;t need anything extra until the quality of the forage drops off.
AAny calf that we wean early finds a new home so we don;t have that issue. Our heifer calves are typically weaned a from 600 to around 750. They get grain 4 45 days during the preconditioning period right along with the steers. Then the ones we retain go out on pasture with the cows and eat whatever the cows eat pretty much for the rest of their lives. The ones that aren;t replacement quilaity or are excess to what we want to retain go on the truck with the steers on their way to the backgrounders. If a heifer needs extra supplemnt after thhat 45 day period, you can pretty well bet she'll alwasy be a sack cow. If they can;t do the job on the grass, hay in the winter and maybe mix 30 if the hay is really crappy they don;t belong here. That's my definition of easy keeping
AAny calf that we wean early finds a new home so we don;t have that issue. Our heifer calves are typically weaned a from 600 to around 750. They get grain 4 45 days during the preconditioning period right along with the steers. Then the ones we retain go out on pasture with the cows and eat whatever the cows eat pretty much for the rest of their lives. The ones that aren;t replacement quilaity or are excess to what we want to retain go on the truck with the steers on their way to the backgrounders. If a heifer needs extra supplemnt after thhat 45 day period, you can pretty well bet she'll alwasy be a sack cow. If they can;t do the job on the grass, hay in the winter and maybe mix 30 if the hay is really crappy they don;t belong here. That's my definition of easy keeping
Mongoose answered his own question. If they are getting fat on grain, cut back. Simple. Sometimes I think we try to turn this into rocket science. With that said, I would have followed a path more in line with duns. If I was going to buy light calves, I would raise them to a weaning weight and sell. I want my retained heifers raised by there momma. And I'm not there momma.
Mongoose
Well-known member
Hmm some very interesting stuff. But yeah Angus said it all I think. I have learned now that I shouldnt have fed them so much. Next time I will plan more ahead and go in with a better game plan. I cut back for about a week DRASTICALLY on feed and now they are off the feed, we just switched them to a new pasture so they wont be needing the feed. Thanks again guys.
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
Mongoose
As previously mentioned, you can monitor the quality of their diet by watching their manure. The ideal manure consistency for weight gain is that of pancake batter. Not too runny but not piling up. If the manure is piling up it indicates a diet with low digestibility (&protein). Conversely, very runny manure indicated high digestibility (& protein) As the weather heats up, digestibility & protein of most grasses declines. If your calves manure starts to pile up, feed a little protein supplement. Protein can be effectively fed 3 times weekly as opposed to every day feeding. Just another 2 cents worth.
As previously mentioned, you can monitor the quality of their diet by watching their manure. The ideal manure consistency for weight gain is that of pancake batter. Not too runny but not piling up. If the manure is piling up it indicates a diet with low digestibility (&protein). Conversely, very runny manure indicated high digestibility (& protein) As the weather heats up, digestibility & protein of most grasses declines. If your calves manure starts to pile up, feed a little protein supplement. Protein can be effectively fed 3 times weekly as opposed to every day feeding. Just another 2 cents worth.
Mongoose
Well-known member
Well I know one thing its not runny. They just got switched to a new pasture so I will have to see in a couple more days as to what their manure does. I believe it will stay about the same. Its not really piling up and its def. not runny its just right in my book, but I will monitor them for sure.
novatech
Well-known member
Texas PaPaw":21r1p95q said:
Now that is management. And worth a lot more than 2 cents.
PS; Tought I would throw this quote from someone on another thread into this as it is dang good advice for everyone.
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