Hay or Feed

[JenkinsFarm7]

I hope this already been asked. During winter feeding if I feed 1 ton of 16% hay free choice to calves will I get the same results as feeding 1 ton of 15% feed. Does this get into the TDN? Feed costs about 270 per ton I grow hay for about 114.40 per ton. :???:

Thanks

 

[TexasBred]

Never make decisions based on crude protein alone. Not with hay, not with feed in a bag. Too many other variables.

 

[JenkinsFarm7]

TexasBred: Thanks for the info,If I may ask what do you look for in feed and hay (numbers)? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TexasBred]

Fiber and the quality of the fiber is just as important as protein as well as TDN. Most of the coastal hay put up aroundhere is not that good but an average test would be something like this:

Cr Protein 9%
Crude Fiber 34-36%
TDN 54%
Acid Detergent Fiber 35% This indicates the digestibility of the fiber (The lower the better)
Neutral Detergent Fiber 57% Another indicator of digestibility as well as the "fill factor" of the hay
as well as the maturity or over maturity of the hay when cut
Net Energy Lactation 54%
Calcium .50%---1,0%
Phosphorus .40%

Age at cutting, fertilization, etc. can make the range of values pretty broad.

 

[JustSimmental]

You also need energy that hay alone cannot provide......
JS

 

[TexasBred]

You also need energy that hay alone cannot provide......
JS

Adequate energy. Gotta do something with "excess" energy...does nothing but make a cow fat. (Same for humans) :mrgreen:

 

[JustSimmental]

Adequate energy. Gotta do something with "excess" energy...does nothing but make a cow fat. (Same for humans)

America is one of the few places on earth where the 'poor' are overweight and have personalized ringtones

We may need to look into places like a NASCAR event to see what those NASCAR queens are consuming to make them so attractive in their spandex pants, double chin, baccy oozing out their mouth and the rolls of fat extruding out of their tank tops. Ring tones huh

 

[TexasBred]

Adequate energy. Gotta do something with "excess" energy...does nothing but make a cow fat. (Same for humans)

America is one of the few places on earth where the 'poor' are overweight and have personalized ringtones

We may need to look into places like a NASCAR event to see what those NASCAR queens are consuming to make them so attractive in their spandex pants, double chin, baccy oozing out their mouth and the rolls of fat extruding out of their tank tops. Ring tones huh

Nothing to do with hay but you're hanging out with the wrong crowd at Nascar it seems.

 

[WLC]

#1 what lifestage are you feeding? Cow/Calf? Growing heifers? Stocker calves?

#2 Get a hay and feed analysis for both of your supplements.

#3 Look up animal requirements and figure up what your typical winter range supplies your livestock and how much you expect their intake to be (or just make it that way).

#4 As Texasbred mentioned, look at each feedstuff you are thinking of supplementing and evaluate the supplied TDN, NE, (NEg for growing cattle) (NEl for lactating), protein, fat, Ca/P ratio for the most part.

#5 Play with the numbers and choose the most economic option. You may end up with a combination of hay and feed supplement.

If you have never seen the OSU cowcalculator, (I really dont know when the last time it was updated but its better than doing all this long hand) I highly recommend downloading it onto your computer. Its good for a cow/calf scenarios. I'm sure you can make your own spread sheet with imbeded equations to suite your own fancy. This one is just already done for you and you can change prices and adjust chemical analysis for your feedstuffs. Good luck. Hope this is helpful.

 

[Stocker Steve]

During winter feeding if I feed 1 ton of 16% hay free choice to calves will I get the same results as feeding 1 ton of 15% feed. Does this get into the TDN?

This gets into TDN and rumen size and rumen function.
Calves don't do as well on roughage as older cattle, so 100% hay is not the best unless you want gains less than 1# per day.
One can put together a low cost ration for a specific size and sex to achieve the targeted average daily gain.
Good grassy hay with some wdg is a low cost ration in my area for feeder size calves. Smaller calves usually need hay and a creep type grain mix.