Menu
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New profile posts
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Forums
Non-Cattle Specific Topics
Tips 'n Tricks
How to get a steer to eat?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Help Support CattleToday:
Message
<blockquote data-quote="rk" data-source="post: 156202" data-attributes="member: 2993"><p>Usually when intake is depressed, it is either some type of sickness or, more often, the steer is "burned out" from too high of a starch intake, resulting in a depressed pH in the rumen, killing off the "good" bacteria. I've seen this when folks try to get the corn level too high without enough fiber in the diet. Usually, the droppings are very loose before and during this. I can't be sure if this is true in your case, but if the grain content is much over about 45%, with less than about 15% fiber, it may be. If so, back him off to just hay for about 3 days, then gradually bring him back onto full feed over about </p><p>7-10 days. Be careful not to overfeed him.....you want his trough to be clean from the previous feeding when you feed him, without letting him get overly hungry. </p><p>Mother nature intended for cattle to be forage/fiber consumers, but we have to use more nutrient/grain dense diets for performance. The trick is use a dense enough diet for good gain, but still maintain a healthy rumen and avoid digestive upsets by having just enough fiber to do so.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="rk, post: 156202, member: 2993"] Usually when intake is depressed, it is either some type of sickness or, more often, the steer is "burned out" from too high of a starch intake, resulting in a depressed pH in the rumen, killing off the "good" bacteria. I've seen this when folks try to get the corn level too high without enough fiber in the diet. Usually, the droppings are very loose before and during this. I can't be sure if this is true in your case, but if the grain content is much over about 45%, with less than about 15% fiber, it may be. If so, back him off to just hay for about 3 days, then gradually bring him back onto full feed over about 7-10 days. Be careful not to overfeed him.....you want his trough to be clean from the previous feeding when you feed him, without letting him get overly hungry. Mother nature intended for cattle to be forage/fiber consumers, but we have to use more nutrient/grain dense diets for performance. The trick is use a dense enough diet for good gain, but still maintain a healthy rumen and avoid digestive upsets by having just enough fiber to do so. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Non-Cattle Specific Topics
Tips 'n Tricks
How to get a steer to eat?
Top