Maintaining body condition

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DORIAN

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I am feeding my cattle dry corn stock with little grain. My question is what would be a good idea to improve this feed with little cost?

If I provide them with enough minerals would this only maintain their frame score?

Thanks for any advice
:help:
 
DORIAN":2rawu55a said:
I am feeding my cattle dry corn stock with little grain. My question is what would be a good idea to improve this feed with little cost?

If I provide them with enough minerals would this only maintain their frame score?

Thanks for any advice
:help:

Are they turned out on the corn stalks, or are you feeding baled corn stalks? If they are turned out on them, and your winters are fairly mild, they should do great. If your winters are bad, you will probably need to supplement with grass/alfalfa during storms. If you're feeding baled corn stalks, I think I would watch them and add a few bales of good quality grass and/or alfalfa hay to their diet if/when needed.
 
msscamp":2xqueijn said:
Are they turned out on the corn stalks, or are you feeding baled corn stalks? If they are turned out on them, and your winters are fairly mild, they should do great. If your winters are bad, you will probably need to supplement with grass/alfalfa during storms. If you're feeding baled corn stalks, I think I would watch them and add a few bales of good quality grass and/or alfalfa hay to their diet if/when needed.

msscamp,we have good pastures for about 5 months out of the year and the rest of the year we feed bails of corn stock and dry pastures. Normally the cattle maintain a decent frame score but I want to improve their nutrition so they come into heat 60 days after they calve. We calve year round because that's the way my dad was raised but now we are closing our calving months. I do understand why its way smarter to have a 3 month calving season instead of year round and I am working on this aggressively. The reason we buy corn stock bales is because we get them for 50 cents per bail and this is one of the cheapest ways in my area to raise cattle. Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Frame is one thing-tallness, I think you're really talking about BCS (Body Condition Score). But I've been wrong before!
 
dun":3o972vit said:
Frame is one thing-tallness, I think you're really talking about BCS (Body Condition Score). But I've been wrong before!

You are correct Dun just confusing my terms.
 
I know of a few guys that will inject liquid feed (molasses) into their corn stalk bales. Adds protein to the feed as well as increasing palatability. Sounds like it works pretty well from what I understand.
 
DORIAN":ur9r3u74 said:
I am feeding my cattle dry corn stock with little grain. My question is what would be a good idea to improve this feed with little cost?

If I provide them with enough minerals would this only maintain their frame score?

Thanks for any advice
:help:

Mineral meets vitamin and mineral needs....has little to nothing to do with body score. I'd supplement with some good protein source as corn stalks don't have much protein and the cow will burn about as much energy eating it as she'll get from it. Lots of options but some form of liquid feed as well as the higher quality molasses tubs will supplement protein but many are low in energy. If you feed the liquid look for one that has a relatively high fat content. 5% or higher. If you have access to WCS you can't beat them IF you can buy them at a reasonable price.
 
TexasBred":2hva09yu said:
DORIAN":2hva09yu said:
I am feeding my cattle dry corn stock with little grain. My question is what would be a good idea to improve this feed with little cost?

If I provide them with enough minerals would this only maintain their frame score?

Thanks for any advice
:help:

Mineral meets vitamin and mineral needs....has little to nothing to do with body score. I'd supplement with some good protein source as corn stalks don't have much protein and the cow will burn about as much energy eating it as she'll get from it. Lots of options but some form of liquid feed as well as the higher quality molasses tubs will supplement protein but many are low in energy. If you feed the liquid look for one that has a relatively high fat content. 5% or higher. If you have access to WCS you can't beat them IF you can buy them at a reasonable price.

Can someone provide some input on a product like this link? http://www.supremestockfeeds.com.au/_we ... le_MAX_-_P
Is this a cost effective way to provide the extra protein and energy. Do you think if I provide a product like this in combination with dry pasture and bales of corn stock will do the job?

Thanks
 
First off, just so you know the product you linked to above is an Australian company. I don't see any mention of fat in the product. As was mentioned you would be better served to include fat to boost the energy.

http://www.mix30.com/applications.html
I would look at something like this. If you do a search there have been several threads discussing Mix 30. I've not used it myself but have used similar products with good results.
 
DORIAN":116dsj7d said:
msscamp":116dsj7d said:
Are they turned out on the corn stalks, or are you feeding baled corn stalks? If they are turned out on them, and your winters are fairly mild, they should do great. If your winters are bad, you will probably need to supplement with grass/alfalfa during storms. If you're feeding baled corn stalks, I think I would watch them and add a few bales of good quality grass and/or alfalfa hay to their diet if/when needed.

msscamp,we have good pastures for about 5 months out of the year and the rest of the year we feed bails of corn stock and dry pastures. Normally the cattle maintain a decent frame score but I want to improve their nutrition so they come into heat 60 days after they calve. We calve year round because that's the way my dad was raised but now we are closing our calving months. I do understand why its way smarter to have a 3 month calving season instead of year round and I am working on this aggressively. The reason we buy corn stock bales is because we get them for 50 cents per bail and this is one of the cheapest ways in my area to raise cattle. Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

You might want to look into injecting the baled corn stalks with liquid nitrogen. I know a guy who does that around here - he injects straw, I believe, rather than corn stalks, but he said it adds protein, and that it works well for him. I have no idea whether it would be cost effective or not, but it's another option.
 

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