Walking W
Well-known member
Grain feeding for freezer beef. About 30 days in and feeding 18 lb/day of a mixed whole corn/12% sweet feed with hay available to a 900 lb Charolais heifer.
Had to go out f town for 4 days but have a home-made automatic feeder that feeds 9 lbs 2-times per day.
Isolated the heifer where the water , hay and feed trough are located. Checked to make sure everything works.
Auto water fill- check
Auto feeder working - check and double check
about 10 days of feed in the feeder - check
plenty of standing forage available - check
Electric fence working - ouch - check
Came home tonight and the heifer was nowhere in sight and the feed trough had about 60 lbs of grain mixture piled up in it.
Looked everywhere- it was pitch dark- no heifer where she should have been.
Started checking fence line for breaks - no breaks and gates secure.
Finally looked in the other pasture - sure enough, there she was.
She was smart enough to cross the electric fence(probably to visit the neighbors and talk shop across the fence. I assumed the electric fence would keep her contained. It always had before.
She was too smart to go back across the fence to get to hay/grain and especially water. I assumed water and food would be a great motivator.
She was very thirsty and worked on the 6 lbs of grain mixture that I left for her.
You just can't motivate dumb. All the automation in the world cannot overcome dumb. By dumb, I mean me since she is just doing what come naturally.
I guess I'm starting over getting her up to speed on grain. I'll try to not be so dumb in the future.
Had to go out f town for 4 days but have a home-made automatic feeder that feeds 9 lbs 2-times per day.
Isolated the heifer where the water , hay and feed trough are located. Checked to make sure everything works.
Auto water fill- check
Auto feeder working - check and double check
about 10 days of feed in the feeder - check
plenty of standing forage available - check
Electric fence working - ouch - check
Came home tonight and the heifer was nowhere in sight and the feed trough had about 60 lbs of grain mixture piled up in it.
Looked everywhere- it was pitch dark- no heifer where she should have been.
Started checking fence line for breaks - no breaks and gates secure.
Finally looked in the other pasture - sure enough, there she was.
She was smart enough to cross the electric fence(probably to visit the neighbors and talk shop across the fence. I assumed the electric fence would keep her contained. It always had before.
She was too smart to go back across the fence to get to hay/grain and especially water. I assumed water and food would be a great motivator.
She was very thirsty and worked on the 6 lbs of grain mixture that I left for her.
You just can't motivate dumb. All the automation in the world cannot overcome dumb. By dumb, I mean me since she is just doing what come naturally.
I guess I'm starting over getting her up to speed on grain. I'll try to not be so dumb in the future.
on my lil jersey when Big Sexy was here. 
