How Much Feed for Beef Cows?

[mom to 4]

I'm new to the forum and in need of advice. I've been around and looked after cattle all my life and far as the physical end of it goes, but pretty much left the nutrition end of it to my dad. Now my husband and I are getting ready to take over the operation eventually and we have a lot to learn! We have about 70 beef cows, some nursing fall calves and some due to start calving in about 2 weeks. It's cold here... highs right around freezing most days. The cattle are on pasture (what's left of it) and being fed every other day fescue pasture hay and 18% corn gluten pellets (about 4-5 lbs per head every other day). We had a drought last summer and are short on legume hay, so he's been parceling out the alfalfa a little at a time. It just seems to me they aren't getting enough.

I haven't been able to make enough sense of the nutritional guidelines yet to formulate what we ought to be giving them. I just need real practical advice in lbs. per head per day. Thanks!

 

[dun]

I'm not nutritionalist, but breed, body condition, and weight of cows might help to get someone with more precise knowledge to respond.

dun

 

[Farmgirl]

Take a look at this article. Also, have a knowlegeable person look at your cattle.

http://cattletoday.com/forum/about31074.html

Farmgirl

 

[3MR]

Talk to your County Extension Agent. They can an endless source of information.

 

[preston39]

I'm new to the forum and in need of advice. I've been around and looked after cattle all my life and far as the physical end of it goes, but pretty much left the nutrition end of it to my dad. Now my husband and I are getting ready to take over the operation eventually and we have a lot to learn! We have about 70 beef cows, some nursing fall calves and some due to start calving in about 2 weeks. It's cold here... highs right around freezing most days. The cattle are on pasture (what's left of it) and being fed every other day fescue pasture hay and 18% corn gluten pellets (about 4-5 lbs per head every other day). We had a drought last summer and are short on legume hay, so he's been parceling out the alfalfa a little at a time. It just seems to me they aren't getting enough.

I haven't been able to make enough sense of the nutritional guidelines yet to formulate what we ought to be giving them. I just need real practical advice in lbs. per head per day. Thanks!

========
momto4,

Those animals need a about 3% of body weight in good edible hay per day. In weather as present PER DAY is underlined and is a minimum.....until you get the overall rations sorted out.

 

[mom to 4]

We have mostly hereford-angus (black & red) cross with a bit of brangus and gelbvieh mixed it. They probably average 1100-1200 lbs. The body conditions run from 3-4 to 8. I know, ideally, they should be separated, but we're just not set up for that. The only thing we have separated right now are the first-calf 2 yr. heifers and the (almost) yearling replacements. They all have access to a good mineral supplement all the time. The fall calves have a creep feeder. The cows probably are getting 4% of their body weight every other day in fescue hay along with 5 lbs per head of the 18% gluten.

Thanks to all of you.

 

[preston39]

mom to 4

Where did the every other day feeding concept come from?

If you have good pasture(February 9 ?) it may make sense. Otherwise a daily ration is indicated. We had pasture until around Jan 20, sparce now. Free choice hay and a daily ration of soy hull pellets of up to about 7 lbs per day....1/2 in Am and 1/2 evening depending on the elements. Free choice minerals.

Good info here; http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department ... endocument

 

[mom to 4]

mom to 4

Where did the every other day feeding concept come from?

If you have good pasture(February 9 ?) it may make sense. Otherwise a daily ration is indicated. We had pasture until around Jan 20, sparce now. Free choice hay and a daily ration of soy hull pellets of up to about 7 lbs per day....1/2 in Am and 1/2 evening depending on the elements. Free choice minerals.

Good info here; http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department ... endocument

I don't know why my dad does it that way, to be honest. That's just the way he's always done it thru the winter. He's 84 years old and sometimes it can be a little hard to convince him to change the way he does things. We're trying to walk a delicate balance here in trying to respect him and still get the herd fed. It's still his farm the majority are his cows. In prior years it hasn't been a problem because they would always have hay left over until the next feeding day. There was always plenty of alfalfa hay as well. The problem this year is that hay is scarce around here. That's what prompted the addition of the gluten pellets. I hope that helps to explain a little. Our hands are somewhat tied. I'm just trying to offer some educated suggestions to him.

 

[preston39]

mom to 4,

I understand. Just trying to help.

Some old methods die hard. In feeding out animals, studies have shown that rations twice daily are better, So we long ago went to 2 x daily of maintenance ration. Has to do with the body assemblying nutrients most efficiently during digestion. Since Dad is a little aged, he may not be aware.

As I look back at our methods when we were kids vs, now, Dad would have cringed at what we do. Example, castration at 450# so that the testoserone will help growth is new in the past several years.(mostly the reasons for implants).

Good luck in your operations.

 

[NorCalFarms]

I'd have to say if they are getting plenty of the grass hay, and you are supplementing with corn gluten and alfalfa they should be fine. When feeding large groups just keep an eye on the skinnest ones. If they start to lose any wieght you should probably up the feed a little. Don't worry if they 'seem' a little hungry. They will just do that when they get used to the feed truck bringing them dinner all the time. Mine can be in summer grass up to my knees and if I start the old truck I feed with, here they come.

Don't worry about feeding every other day. Every day is nice if you can do it, but every other day with work if they have something to eat most of the time (like pasture). I left a bunch of cows out on the desert one winter (two hour drive away) on a private lease, all they had to eat was dry grass. I took some alfalfa and grass out to them every few days or at least every other day when what little feed was out there was covered in snow. I'd just look at how much feed was left where I was feeding and adjust accordingly. I rarely saw most of the cows as they were out on the lease, but they did just fine. They calved around 90% and looked great when I moved them in the spring.

 

[mom to 4]

Thanks to all of you for your advice. We've found some decent alfalfa/grass hay to buy to get us through. I think we're getting things lined out now and the cattle seem do be doing fine. We've had 9 calves so far in the last week.
Thanks again!!!

 

[preston39]

mom to 4,

Any in the snow...? You folks a had a large snow or two..didn't you?

We are a little south.... on east to west line...so we haven't had any snow yet...just a skip here and there.

 

[mom to 4]

We had only an inch or so this last time. The first 2 or 3 calves had a taste of it. Before that, we had about 3 in. Not nearly enough from the kids' point of view!

 

[aplusmnt]

mom to 4,

I understand. Just trying to help.

Some old methods die hard. In feeding out animals, studies have shown that rations twice daily are better, So we long ago went to 2 x daily of maintenance ration. Has to do with the body assemblying nutrients most efficiently during digestion. Since Dad is a little aged, he may not be aware.

As I look back at our methods when we were kids vs, now, Dad would have cringed at what we do. Example, castration at 450# so that the testoserone will help growth is new in the past several years.(mostly the reasons for implants).

Good luck in your operations.

I by no means am an expert on feeding cattle, but I had thought the line of reasoning you are taking was more appropriate for Horses. The should be fed twice or more daily.

But I thought all the studies show that when anything more than Grass or Hay is needed that every other day or say 3 times a week feeding was just as efficient as daily.

Seems hay or grass free choice is good enough unless you have quality problems then a 2 or 3 times a week supplement would work just fine. Maybe more if temperature drops way below freezing.

Please someone correct me if I am wrong here! I am getting old and I get confused easily. :lol:

 

[mom to 4]

I still believe that an every other day approach to cattle feeding can work as long as they are fed an ample amount and have plenty of hay left over until the next feeding. It depends, of course, on temperature, snow cover, etc. I originally wrote in because our cattle seemed hungry and I thought they weren't getting enough feed. Since then we've upped the amount of hay they get every other day(we were very short on hay after this year's drought, but have since found some to buy) and supplement with corn gluten 3-4 times a week. The seem much more content and are looking well.