ny_grass
Well-known member
Many members of forum have chimed in on my problems with my skinny cows (this thread: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=52911); the upshot was that I need to begin feeding my beef cows some grain to help them gain back their condition.
So, here are some pictures of the feeder I just built. I can already see that it's not ideal (the bottom board should have been 10" or 12" instead of 6", but that's all I had. It probably should be off the ground too (since I've already seen them step in it). But they had their first grain yesterday. This morning I fed about 18 lbs (as measured by weighing a 4/5 filled 5 gallon bucket). I'm going to try to work them up to about 4 lbs/day. Given that the calves will finally be separated from them by Wednesday, I think 4lbs/day per cow will be enough to help get them back in shape.
Anything I'm missing? Is 4lbs/day not enough?
Here's the breakdown of the grain I'm feeding them:
grain products
processed grain products
cane molasses
soybean meal
vit. A palmites
vit. D2 supp
They told me, at the mill, that this 16% mix contained: corn, oats, distillers by products, molasses.
Here's the analysis:
min crude protein: 16%
min crude fat: 3.5%
max crude fiber: 9%
So, here are some pictures of the feeder I just built. I can already see that it's not ideal (the bottom board should have been 10" or 12" instead of 6", but that's all I had. It probably should be off the ground too (since I've already seen them step in it). But they had their first grain yesterday. This morning I fed about 18 lbs (as measured by weighing a 4/5 filled 5 gallon bucket). I'm going to try to work them up to about 4 lbs/day. Given that the calves will finally be separated from them by Wednesday, I think 4lbs/day per cow will be enough to help get them back in shape.
Anything I'm missing? Is 4lbs/day not enough?
Here's the breakdown of the grain I'm feeding them:
grain products
processed grain products
cane molasses
soybean meal
vit. A palmites
vit. D2 supp
They told me, at the mill, that this 16% mix contained: corn, oats, distillers by products, molasses.
Here's the analysis:
min crude protein: 16%
min crude fat: 3.5%
max crude fiber: 9%