Stocker Steve
Well-known member
I have seem estimates based on a percent of body weight for cow forage consumption. For the same body weight - - is there any rule of thumb on how much more feed a hard keeping cow will consume vs. an easy keeper?
Hard Keeping Cows ?
- Thread starter Stocker Steve
- Start date
No, I have researched it and visited with Noble foundation about it. There has been no study to date with any accuracy that can determine such. There are too many variables and the number can be all over the board.Stocker Steve":25nknuvj said:
I have thought about the easy keeper/hard keeper dilemma for years. Ive come to the conclusion there is just no way to know. I know horses aren't cattle, but all of mine are on a different ration to stay in the same condition. I assume my cows metabolisms are the same way just eating free choice. The thinner ones might be eating me out of house and home, and I just don't know it, or vice a versa.
Fire Sweep Ranch
Well-known member
A grad student at Mizzou just started something on this. They measure the intake of each cow (they have feed bunks that are electronic and weigh several times per second, and the cows are wearing an electronic device that is recorded when they hit the bunk, how long they are in the bunk, and how much they eat), and then body condition score them (or something along that line). They have found that there is no correlation on how the cow looks and how much she eats to look like that. I am trying to remember, but they are trying to correlate an EPD with feed efficiency in bulls, because it is an inherited trait. Some real interesting stuff...
Stocker Steve
Well-known member
The energy values on AI BA bulls don't seem to vary a lot, but they tend to be growth bulls so that may effect their values.
