How much grain for a bred cow through the winter

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Unless the cow goes downhill on just hay. no grain is the correct amount.
 
Dun is right.
Unless the cows are poor in flesh. Don't feed. To much grain can make for big calves and you could have problems.
 
I just answered that, don;t know where it went. With decent hay they should be fine without supplement. Ours don;t get grain and are plenty big enough come spring to breed and then calve as 2 year olds.
 
Coyote,

Where you live is probably fescue hay. Nothing wrong with it, it's what I feed. The department of ag will come to your house, and take samples for with $5 or $10. Not more than that. Then you'll know for sure what your feeding. Fescue hay cut at the wrong stage, can test as low as wheat straw. I've seen it. I've seen cows starve to death, with a belly full of it. If yours test good, then your gold. If not, I'd supplement. Imho, a poor quality hay, and a supplement are cheaper than high quality hay.

I also believe one of our long wet winters, calls for a little supplement come February. That's regardless of the quality hay you feed. One of our cold muddy winters can take a toll on a cow. Better to spend $25 on a good supplement, than wreck cows on breeding back. Just throwing that out there. It's so diverse on climate etc with people that post here, what might work one place, may not work on a Ky hillside.
 
My cows eat a grass/alfalfa mix over winter and do just fine.. salt and minerals of course too.. Beef cows don't need grain
I did just buy a molasses tub for my replacement heifers though
 
Nesikep":49qeyd7g said:
My cows eat a grass/alfalfa mix over winter and do just fine.. salt and minerals of course too.. Beef cows don't need grain
I did just buy a molasses tub for my replacement heifers though
Will tubs keep flesh on replacements pretty well? I've never tried it personally
 
Bigfoot":2nylxop5 said:
Coyote,

Where you live is probably fescue hay. Nothing wrong with it, it's what I feed. The department of ag will come to your house, and take samples for with $5 or $10. Not more than that. Then you'll know for sure what your feeding. Fescue hay cut at the wrong stage, can test as low as wheat straw. I've seen it. I've seen cows starve to death, with a belly full of it. If yours test good, then your gold. If not, I'd supplement. Imho, a poor quality hay, and a supplement are cheaper than high quality hay.

I also believe one of our long wet winters, calls for a little supplement come February. That's regardless of the quality hay you feed. One of our cold muddy winters can take a toll on a cow. Better to spend $25 on a good supplement, than wreck cows on breeding back. Just throwing that out there. It's so diverse on climate etc with people that post here, what might work one place, may not work on a Ky hillside.


Thanks for the info. I will contact my local ag dept and see if they can do a hay quality test.
 
Bigfoot":1m9uxzsc said:
A tub is the most expensive supplement you will ever buy.
Not trying to be a smart a## but can you explain this comment?
 
kilroy60":3c7q139y said:
Bigfoot":3c7q139y said:
A tub is the most expensive supplement you will ever buy.
Not trying to be a smart a## but can you explain this comment?

For the actual volume/weight, how ever you want to look at it, the tub is very expensive for what you get. You are buying the convenience of not having to fight the elements to put out feed.
 
Just go to the feed store and look at the price board. A quick bit of math will answer your question very quickly.
 
The tubs aren't cheap, but I have found that our heifers do alot better with that to go to, and just being on pasture. Once we get them in closer and can feed more easily then we don't use them much, but they have gotten some pretty iffy animals into alot better shape on pasture. And they also see us when we take them out, and fill mineral/salt feeders, and then they come and look for a little grain and we've got them to where they are saying, hey, these guys bring us good stuff....We cannot visit every pasture every day so the tubs do good for us. We don't find that they are that expensive when we see the improved condition. We have some poor pastures, and they seem to do the most good on those places. When you rent, sometimes you just have to do what you can; and what is sensible in a money input manner. We have renovated some pastures that we have had for years, but we have some that are iffy year to year, so we supplement the animals and don't get excited about the pasture. There are times that having a place to move animals to is as important as the quality, and we do have a fair amount of fescue at some places. There is also some rocky/shaley ground at some due to years of abuse and when we rent them we know what we are getting into and it is still beneficial to have turnout places for different groups even if the eating isn't top notch. All depends on the rental cost of the place. Many are low or no cost just so the owners can get the ag exemption for reduced taxes so it's not so bad. We can split our groups up smaller, give the good places a little break too.
 
We don't feed much or any grain to beef cows through the winter, but watch their condition closely. We have fed some corn silage but I am not sold on it except for the old cows, as it helped them keep their condition alot better. We feed a little grain maybe 2-3x week in the real cold to get them to all come in or up to the bunks to be able to really look them over good. Monitoring their condition is the best bet and checking out the quality of your hay is also important.
 
TexasBred":28rxwzz6 said:
Just go to the feed store and look at the price board. A quick bit of math will answer your question very quickly.
Comes out to around $0.20 per pound.
 

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