aplusmnt
Well-known member
ALX.":36fwq2bz said:
Thats my point!
ALX.":36fwq2bz said:
Just feeding round bales and grass
- Thread starter lancemart
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Thats my point!
ALX.
Well-known member
ALX.":26fnw7ne said:
What part of being honest frightens you?
dcara
Well-known member
Once again you have contributed nothing but a useless opinion, wasted people's time reading your useless post, and proved aplus point.
I don't see anything honest about anything you've said. Just because you can spout off useless BS doesn't mean your honest. But then I'm not sure you can tell the difference.
grannysoo
Well-known member
Good grass, good hay, and some minerals are the diet that my lovely ladies eat. They get a little grain (sweet feed) 1 time a week as a reward for going into the corral (and that's less than 1 lb. per cow). Just enough to keep them thinking the corral is special....... 
We feed the same way, just grass and hay and the cows do great. We put out protien blocks or tubs a couple weeks before calving, and tubs again in early spring to combat against milk fever (not a big problem for most of our beef cows) and grass tetany. Also we put out some cubes (cake) and a little extra feed before/during any blizzards.
ALX.
Well-known member
Sorry guys, Mod1 wanted to use my name for a little while so I let him/her/them. :lol:
dcara, I was going to point out how ironic it was that you treat folks like you did in your thread -
http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=
and then come into this thread announcing you were going to hijack.
I am starting to understand the 2 sets of standards thing though.
Waiting for the yappy little mutt that smells like a urinal puck to start trying to nip again. :lol: :lol:
dcara, I was going to point out how ironic it was that you treat folks like you did in your thread -
http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=
and then come into this thread announcing you were going to hijack.
I am starting to understand the 2 sets of standards thing though.
Waiting for the yappy little mutt that smells like a urinal puck to start trying to nip again. :lol: :lol:
ALX.
Well-known member
lancemart, if it has been working for years then you are ahead of the game. Cattle are grass critters first, there needs to be a reason to put them on grain.
As long as your grass/hay has the protein and minerals they need to stay healthy and fertile you got it made.( But most of us do need to supplement some minerals/salt, usually I would venture just to be on the safe side ).
As long as your grass/hay has the protein and minerals they need to stay healthy and fertile you got it made.( But most of us do need to supplement some minerals/salt, usually I would venture just to be on the safe side ).
ALX.":1buyu696 said:
Just out of idle curiosity, since when did mineral and salt become "supplements"? In my experience, they are necessities (sp?). Maybe I'm wrong here, but I believe Lancemart was speaking of options for feedstuffs - as in nutrition. One has the option of feeding many different things, but salt and mineral are required - regardless of what one is feeding.
ALX.
Well-known member
msscamp":2zg12ze5 said:
Supplementing means in addition to the minerals/vitamins/trace elements already in their feed.
Which brings up a good point - those pastures and hay supplies can vary in mineral and nutritive content from year to year, and can decline over time without being looked after.
It's never a bad idea to get a feed sample.
I thought by the time I was 53, I would know it all. Still not theremsscamp":2i0ya72g said:
. I'm hoping I can eventually cut back or eliminate the need to supplement minerals by improving the nutrition in my fields. I free choice minerals and salt. Figuring most of what they consume comes out the other end helping to improve the soil. I've been using high density grazing. I 'm thinking that I will switch to ultra high grazing someday soon. I'm trying everything I can think of to reduce my costs. I may have to always free choice minerals, hopefully they will consume less. Time will tell.
Bluestem
Re:
For about the last 10 years the magic number has been $500.
By that I mean your expense to produce a calf is $500. That's for purchasing a cow, breeding, feeding and maintaining the cow and putting a calf on the ground.
Which means, to break even, that calf must weigh 500 lbs if sold for $1 per pound.
And if you sell the calf before it weighs 500 lbs, you lost money.
If you sell the calf over 500 lbs you make money. It's that simple.
So you see, your problem may not be your expenses, but instead when you sell your calves.
SL
Re:
That's fine but that may not be where your problem is. It may be on the other end.
For about the last 10 years the magic number has been $500.
By that I mean your expense to produce a calf is $500. That's for purchasing a cow, breeding, feeding and maintaining the cow and putting a calf on the ground.
Which means, to break even, that calf must weigh 500 lbs if sold for $1 per pound.
And if you sell the calf before it weighs 500 lbs, you lost money.
If you sell the calf over 500 lbs you make money. It's that simple.
So you see, your problem may not be your expenses, but instead when you sell your calves.
SL
Bluestem":q7cxwl5y said:
No soil/feed stuff can produce everything an animal needs, in the proper balance, to thrive and prosper. If that was possible, there would have been no need to develop bagged mineral.
Well good point. But if I could kill two birds with one stone I'll be money ahead. Lower my costs and sell at the optimum weight.
The weather here in Texas the last few or more years is harding my view of the way it works. I culled very heavy. I don't want any gov. help or interference. Its getting tough to cover fixed costs right now, but I vowed I would not buy another animal. I kept my best animals. I'll keep the heifers and steer the rest. My plans are those steers will leave in a box. With a fair return on my investment. The steers I sold this year had good margins. If I can keep building on that I'll be ok. Of course all this could change by spring.
The weather here in Texas the last few or more years is harding my view of the way it works. I culled very heavy. I don't want any gov. help or interference. Its getting tough to cover fixed costs right now, but I vowed I would not buy another animal. I kept my best animals. I'll keep the heifers and steer the rest. My plans are those steers will leave in a box. With a fair return on my investment. The steers I sold this year had good margins. If I can keep building on that I'll be ok. Of course all this could change by spring.
You folks can type faster than I can Think. But I'll disagree. I think I can supply all the nutrients that are needed through forage. I have not decided where salt fits in. But I'm working on it. Bagged minerals used to have a good salesman behind it, now we just except it as fact. Good salesman.msscamp":3mhc870a said:
Bluestem":phxkw5zm said:
You probably can NEVER satisfy your cow's mineral requirements. IF you had 100,000 acres, perhaps the cows could find natural salt licks, mineral springs, different forages, etc too self balance their own ration. Most of us would kill for 200 acre pastures. It is highly unlikely that everything they need can be found on that small a piece of ground. Most of the better deer hunters are providing year round minerals. You can certainly decrease your mineral costs; but ever getting to the point that you would not get some benefit from (AT LEAST) trace mineral salt blocks is probably not an achievable goal.
Well, at the risk of sounding hard headed, I was trying to say in so many words that I have left the old cattle business. I'm getting to old for another downward cattle cycle. I've got to get up early in the morning and my fingers hurt. Good night.msscamp":3amy5pmz said:
Bluestem":1z128mjn said:
You might want to pay a little more attention to the 'old' cattle business - they made a living without the internet, without all the publications that are available today, and without a lot of the benefits that are available in this day and age. There is nothing you can do about cattle cycles except suck up, try to plan ahead, and endure - if you think otherwise, you're only deceiving yourself.
