How much feed to start?
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Iowa77":623nieen said:
1-2% (I would start with 1%) of their body weight to start - for a 600 lb animal thats 6 pounds - leave them on that for about a week, then increase gradually over the course of a week. How much to level off at is going to depend on what else you are feeding them. Higher quality hay - less corn needed, lower quality hay - more corn, other grains or supplements - less corn.
Bama
Well-known member
Are you feeding hay? 1% of body weight in corn is a lot. Thats half of full feed. If your fatting them up to slaughter is one thing but just getting them to summer thats a lot. Good quality and 2 pounds of corn is plenty just to get through winter. Course i don't like grain anyway its expensive, if I can run them on hay alone all the better.
warpaint
Well-known member
ollie, you got that shot right. Did a constuction job there 2 yrs. ago, and never seen the like of corn fields! 8)
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
Iowa
IMO, if you feed even 1%bw corn your calves will get too fat before grass is ready. According to Morrison's Feeds & Feeding 2 lbs of grain per day plus hay/ minerals should provide .75-1.0 lb/day gain. For greater gains they recomend an additional 2 lb grain. It has been my experience that cattle should gain slightly less in drylot prior to going to grass than they will gain on grass. Otherwise, they may "stall out" or lose some weight when they are placed on grass.
According to Dr. Blezinger's recent CT article on "Dry conditions", forage digestion is what generates heat for warming cattle during cold weather. Depending upon the info source, feeding more than .3-.5%bw corn will depress roughage intake and digestion. This could be a factor in what to feed during cold weather.
As Ollie' pointed out corn is probably cheaper than hay, therefore it becomes a balancing act to get gains as cheaply as possible without the calves getting too fat.
I would probably start with 2lb/day corn + free choice hay and increase by 1 lb in 7 day intervals. Just make sure the calves have eaten a fair amount of hay before feeding grain. Depending upon the protein content of your hay some additional protein (corn gluten or distillers grain)could be needed. A good indicator of the protein content of their diet is the consistency of the manure. Manure that stacks up indicates low protein, whereas very runny indicates excess protein. For your situation, i would think manure of slightly thicker consistency than pancake batter would be about right. JMO
Another info source would be the Iowa State, Nebraska & Kansas State websites. They have lots of good info-probably some suggested rations.
Best wishes for your venture.
Regards
Brock
IMO, if you feed even 1%bw corn your calves will get too fat before grass is ready. According to Morrison's Feeds & Feeding 2 lbs of grain per day plus hay/ minerals should provide .75-1.0 lb/day gain. For greater gains they recomend an additional 2 lb grain. It has been my experience that cattle should gain slightly less in drylot prior to going to grass than they will gain on grass. Otherwise, they may "stall out" or lose some weight when they are placed on grass.
According to Dr. Blezinger's recent CT article on "Dry conditions", forage digestion is what generates heat for warming cattle during cold weather. Depending upon the info source, feeding more than .3-.5%bw corn will depress roughage intake and digestion. This could be a factor in what to feed during cold weather.
As Ollie' pointed out corn is probably cheaper than hay, therefore it becomes a balancing act to get gains as cheaply as possible without the calves getting too fat.
I would probably start with 2lb/day corn + free choice hay and increase by 1 lb in 7 day intervals. Just make sure the calves have eaten a fair amount of hay before feeding grain. Depending upon the protein content of your hay some additional protein (corn gluten or distillers grain)could be needed. A good indicator of the protein content of their diet is the consistency of the manure. Manure that stacks up indicates low protein, whereas very runny indicates excess protein. For your situation, i would think manure of slightly thicker consistency than pancake batter would be about right. JMO
Another info source would be the Iowa State, Nebraska & Kansas State websites. They have lots of good info-probably some suggested rations.
Best wishes for your venture.
Regards
Brock
Bama
Well-known member
ollie'":3eq5cow9 said:
Never thought of that. I didn't realize ya'll had to feed that much more corn than we did. A huge oversight on my part. Thanks for the correction.
Bama":yhzqx0us said:
One doesn't 'have' to, but it does help. Our weaning calves get about 2 pounds of corn once a day, and all the ground hay they can eat, and they are in very good condition. Weaned last November and weigh in the neighborhood of 625, maybe a little more for some.
rk
Well-known member
Not sure I understand....are y'all saying to feed just corn and hay (and the minerals,bloat blocks that will be out) to sale barn calves?
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
rk":1evhnq4x said:
rk
IMO-very good quality hay + corn would probably work for 6cwt sale barn cattle. Stressed cattle need adequate energy for best immune response. Could be a little low in protein for lighter calves, depending on protein of hay.
In my operation, I start sale barn calves (150lb+) using quality hay + corn gluten/soy hull pellet blend. Feed the pellets free choice for first 2 weeks, then limit to 5lb/day for next 2 weeks, then to pasture. The cg/sh blend will give more protein & similar energy to corn. Cost of pellets is about the same as corn here, probably not so in Iowa. Another advantage to cg/sh is no starch. Too much starch inhibits forage digestion & intake and can cause acidosis. This works really well for me and others.
Regards
Brock
Stocker Steve
Well-known member
Iowa77":11upmsmp said:
Over conditioned cattle will gain less when they hit grass, but that is no reason to starve them while backgrounding. PawPa described a good approach. You just want to cut back on the starch to 0.4% of body weight max the last 30 days before turnout. That gives the bugs in their stomach time to adjust to forage.
Some folks also think when you grain is very important, and recommend mid day after the stockers have loaded up on forage.
rk
Well-known member
Texas PaPaw":1zg0nkov said:
Are y'all starting sale barn calves right away onto corn and hay? Seems like maybe advantageous to use a balanced, more palatable ration. I understand energy is good, but also essential for immune system is minerals==copper especially and other vitamins. I've seen alot of sale barn calves start pretty easily, others won't eat and get sick pretty quickly....guess it depends on their history and effects of comingling.
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
rk":1w6z2txx said:
rk
IMO-palatability should not be an issue as long the corn is of good quality, with no heat, mold or insect damage. 5-600 lb calves should definitely know how to eat hay and should start on the corn right away. Should eat 2lb/day within 2-3 days. If initial consumption of the corn is too low it could be mixed with a sweet feed for a few days until consumption picks up, then phase out the sweet feed over a few days. A quality loose mineral mix should be avaiable free choice. As you mentioned there will be a lot of variability in groups of cattle. Some will eat the mineral like pigs for a few weeks, while the next group may hardly touch them.
I'm not saying corn+ hay + minerals is the best way to start calves. IMO it should be an acceptable, cost effective program for 5-600lb calves in area's with plentiful, cheap corn. As I mentioned before, protein could be a little low, depending upon the quality of hay. In my experience these larger (500 lb+) calves are a lot more forgiving than the lighter ones. JMO
Regards
Brock
