Is this a good feed???

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akfarmgirl

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I am new to cows and have a question about the feed we give our calves. We have two 3 month old Holstein that my children are raising for 4H. They will be sold as young beef at the begining of September. They weight about 300 lbs to date and by their sell date need to weigh miniuim 400lbs but no more then 600 lbs . We feed them unlimited alapha and timothy hay. We also give them 4 coffee cans of a feed called grow and show that constists of -
14% crude protein -
2.5% crude fat - (salmon)
7% crude fiber
4% calcium
4% phosphorus
(fresh delta barley, cracked corn, protein products, molasses)
We live in Alaska so that might be why we have salmon in our cow feed??? They say it is a good source of protein and the cows love it. I asked about beet pulp but they don't sell it were we get our feed because they say that there special mixture above is all they need.

We also feed them 2 quarts each of milk replacer in the morning.

When should we think of weaning them?? Are we feeding them enough or to much? Is the feed we are giving them the best for them?

I was heistate to get cows but I love my calves and am trying to learn all that I can to take care of them. My daughter who is 12 and raising one of them wants to grow up and own a ranch. She is hooked and these cows! :heart:
 
Ak, really hard to say from your short description. Probably not bad..Is it a pellet or sweet feed? Low fiber so you'll need to keep that hay in front of them and with the alfalfa the 14% protein in the feed should be adequate. Has way too much calcium in it. They're probably using that as a cost cutter. I think you mean to put .4% phosphorus which is a little low.

Quit feeding cans full and weigh out your feed so you'll know exactly how much you're feeding.
 
It is a pellet feed. I did double check the % and phosphorus is 4%. Is that to high?? I will start to weigh their feed but in weight how much should I be giving them???
 
if the calves are eating 5 to 6lbs of grain a day.you can wean them from their milk.an slowly increase their feed another 3 or 4lbs a hd a day.
 
akfarmgirl":p07kjwoy said:
It is a pellet feed. I did double check the % and phosphorus is 4%. Is that to high?? I will start to weigh their feed but in weight how much should I be giving them???

Gotta be a "typo" on the feed tag. Nobody puts that much phos in feed especially when it cost as much as it does today. You'll probably be ok with the feed. Just depends on what your goal is.
 
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