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<blockquote data-quote="DiamondSCattleCo" data-source="post: 225876" data-attributes="member: 2862"><p>Thats not a real test WO, as the calves held back from their mommas are going to rush to their mothers side. As I said, I've worked ranches with creep fed calves before. I've watched calves who are hungry go to whichever feed source is closest, whether that be momma or the creep feeder. A calf will drain a bag X number of times in a day (unless she's an extreme milker like a holstein). And I'm not talking about a calf eating until 50% full then leaving. Of course he'll stay until either full or the bag is drained. Then he'll bugger off and go play or grab a snooze, and a couple hours later, maybe he'll go have a snack at the feeder instead of momma. You're still reducing his milk consumption, and that still makes it easier on the dam.</p><p></p><p>Even if you can cut that drain by 1 teetful, you're allowing that cow to utilize just a little more of her grass intake for her own upkeep.</p><p></p><p>Another good indication is the grass. Cow/calf pairs with creep will take grass down slower than cow/calf pairs with no creep.</p><p></p><p>Just out of curiosity, have you ever tried to creep feed your calves and really watched your cows? Tried to measure their grass consumption? Watched the behaviour of the calves? </p><p></p><p>I see you're from Arizona. Perhaps maybe on wide open ranges the calves won't even look at the creep feeders, but in my neck of the woods, a 50 acre pasture is a pretty good size that'll keep 50 pairs in grass for 3 months. With calves always being in relative close proximity to the creep feeder, they'll occasionally head to creep before momma.</p><p></p><p>We can probably debate this until we're blue in the face, and niether of us will give. When the summer grazing season is over, I'll post my results on here, including cow condition scores throughout each month. I'm also going to keep track of the number of days each pasture holds out. And since I'll have some calves not on creep, I'll have a control group to compare back to for ADG.</p><p></p><p>Rod</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DiamondSCattleCo, post: 225876, member: 2862"] Thats not a real test WO, as the calves held back from their mommas are going to rush to their mothers side. As I said, I've worked ranches with creep fed calves before. I've watched calves who are hungry go to whichever feed source is closest, whether that be momma or the creep feeder. A calf will drain a bag X number of times in a day (unless she's an extreme milker like a holstein). And I'm not talking about a calf eating until 50% full then leaving. Of course he'll stay until either full or the bag is drained. Then he'll bugger off and go play or grab a snooze, and a couple hours later, maybe he'll go have a snack at the feeder instead of momma. You're still reducing his milk consumption, and that still makes it easier on the dam. Even if you can cut that drain by 1 teetful, you're allowing that cow to utilize just a little more of her grass intake for her own upkeep. Another good indication is the grass. Cow/calf pairs with creep will take grass down slower than cow/calf pairs with no creep. Just out of curiosity, have you ever tried to creep feed your calves and really watched your cows? Tried to measure their grass consumption? Watched the behaviour of the calves? I see you're from Arizona. Perhaps maybe on wide open ranges the calves won't even look at the creep feeders, but in my neck of the woods, a 50 acre pasture is a pretty good size that'll keep 50 pairs in grass for 3 months. With calves always being in relative close proximity to the creep feeder, they'll occasionally head to creep before momma. We can probably debate this until we're blue in the face, and niether of us will give. When the summer grazing season is over, I'll post my results on here, including cow condition scores throughout each month. I'm also going to keep track of the number of days each pasture holds out. And since I'll have some calves not on creep, I'll have a control group to compare back to for ADG. Rod [/QUOTE]
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