Good article on pre-calving nutrition

[Stocker Steve]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone see their BCS go down through the winter as mentioned in the article? The only time my cows lose condition is after they calved and are milking heaviest. They typically will gain condition through the fall and winter months leading up to calving. /quote]

A theory is that your cows should be fat in the fall, with a ton of hay on each of their backs, and that is part of the winter feed. Seems like you would have to calve on grass to make this work well.

Some of my crayon cows do drop condition in the winter. These usually have some continental blood. But the Herefords are always fat.

If you really want to test a cow have her feed a calf through a Minnesota winter.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

No excuses here. Cattle get fat in fall after weaning. Been breeding for easy keepers. When you have a 60-day breeding season that starts a month before grazing - the hard doers weed themselves out of your program.
If I had the ability to let my cows "scrounge" for any kind of feed themselves, I sure would be willing to let them. I let the mature cows go at least 1 day a week without feed so they clean up any scraps/waste. (usually feed every 2 or 3 days)

 

[TexasBred]

My cattle do lose a bit of conditioning during the winter or maybe they just look a little more ragged with longer hair. I don't weigh them to see but I don't think they lose much. I feed decent hay but not really good hay and supplement with a couple of pounds of 40% cubes everyday. I've said often mine is a hobby so I don't ask them to work too hard.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

I completely agree that selection is necessary, and we do cull those that melt. Some hold better than others as expected and are retained much longer. I have been including easy fleshing genetics into the herd. Ours cattle are fat going into November. We calve in March/April and we just see some loss by February and in our part of the world, it seems pretty normal around here.

One thing about emails and forums, is that voice inflection is missing and intention can be mistaken. I hope my comments about possible differences in management have not been taken the wrong way. I don't think we can produce as good of quality or quantity of feed in our region for the same cost as in some others. Especially corn and milo. We don't produce much at all, but I wish we did.

I was just surprised that there are not more in my boat.

 

[novaman]

Where is "here" commercialfarmer? I realize those in Canada probably have more extreme conditions than I see in ND. However, it gets and stays pretty cold over the winter and my cows never lose condition through the winter. The beef cows never get supplemented any protein or energy. They get hay, minerals, and salt. I just have a hard time believing a dry cow would ever lose condition. I struggle to keep a dry cow from getting too fat, both dairy and beef.

 

[TexasBred]

Where is "here" commercialfarmer? I realize those in Canada probably have more extreme conditions than I see in ND. However, it gets and stays pretty cold over the winter and my cows never lose condition through the winter. The beef cows never get supplemented any protein or energy. They get hay, minerals, and salt. I just have a hard time believing a dry cow would ever lose condition. I struggle to keep a dry cow from getting too fat, both dairy and beef.

You don't have a dry cow feed program for the dairy other than hay?

 

[SRBeef]

I completely agree that selection is necessary, and we do cull those that melt. Some hold better than others as expected and are retained much longer. I have been including easy fleshing genetics into the herd. Ours cattle are fat going into November. We calve in March/April and we just see some loss by February and in our part of the world, it seems pretty normal around here.

One thing about emails and forums, is that voice inflection is missing and intention can be mistaken. I hope my comments about possible differences in management have not been taken the wrong way. I don't think we can produce as good of quality or quantity of feed in our region for the same cost as in some others. Especially corn and milo. We don't produce much at all, but I wish we did.

I was just surprised that there are not more in my boat.

It is hard to carry on a conversation where location is probably a major factor and someone leaves no clue of where their "region" is. There are folks here fro all over the world and location helps understand their posts. If folks are so concerned about not devulging their even state then maybe its not worth everyone elseaks time to reply. Jmho. Jim

 

[plumber_greg]

I agree with Jim, even someone as computer illiterate, who also can't spell, as I am can put their location on their thing, I don't know what you call it, name or something. gs

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

For those that don't have their location - you can go to User's - then Profile & put your location. It really, really helps all of us if everyone would have their location - at least their state or country if other than USA. Somewhere along the line you probably have mentioned your location, but a brain like mine NEVER remembers details like that :shock:

 

[Kingfisher]

. Our cattle tough out the winter on dormant grass fields, limited quantity moderate quality crabgrass/wheat hay and are supplied protein via cake or when available rotated 2-3 days a week on winter wheat.

Where are you located?

 

[Commercialfarmer]

I don't know what everyone is talking about, you can see my location is listed to the right of all me comments...

I understand that locations differences are extremely important which was the basis of part of my comments. I forgot that I didn't fill out the location on my status here.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I provide good grazing and calve on grass. If that does not work then they get sold as fall calvers or become burger. It is truly amazing how fast a trailer can improve a herd. :cowboy:

 

[oakcreekfarms]

Dun,
I believe I have read the same article that you are talking about. I tried searching for the article, but could not locate it. I think the heifers all started out at 4.5 bcs or 5 bcs, one group was fed to a 6.5 BCS with a roughage grain diet. In the end the calves in the 6.5 bcs group were (i believe) 3lbs heavier, but had (once again, I believe) 50% less calving problems.

THe article basically just said that you can't starve a heifer out of calving issues, it is much better to feed them what they need. A typical heifer needs to gain close to 3/4 of a lb through the winter, and as I have found out, it is hard for her to gain that in the last 3 months prior to calving.

 

[fargus]

commercialfarmer,

If we have outstanding late-season grazing we can manage our cow-herd for a slight reduction in BCS through the winter by limit-feeding them. Typically though we have put the weight back on them on the stock-piled forage that they lost in the final month to 6 weeks prior to weaning. In that situation we limit the forage less and expect the cows to maintain their BCS. The net result is an increase in body mass as the cows don't lose condition and the fetus develops. It all depends on what quantity and quality of forage we have available each year.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Mine tend to lose weight over the winter . . . course I calve in sept and wean in march . . . . think that has anything to do with it?

Yep