Oats vs. Barley Creep Feed ?

[Stocker Steve]

We have had good results from feeding straight home raised oats as a creep feed. Any issues with using barley the same way?

 

[Till-Hill]

We have had good results from feeding straight home raised oats as a creep feed. Any issues with using barley the same way?

I don't know anything about barley so can't help you there.
If a guys was running yearlings on grass and grass got short do you think oats if bought right out of the field for cheap would be a good supplement for them?
Pail feeding them is a bigger chore than be worth, accuration has it's place but don't want to get them fleshy to sell either. Buddy has been wondering and I know back in the old days we put out just oats for the calves as soon as they combined them. Once they got started we added some corn or ear corn.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Oats puts a shine on calves and they don't get too fleshy. That said, corn based rations have a lower cost of gain than oats.

So supplementing home raised grains depends a lot on how you are set up. Free choice oats in a creep feeder or corn fed daily in a bucket.

The other September option is feeding wet hay. With average MN fall weather it is hard to get upland hay below 25 to 30% moisture, but you can bale it and then feed it immediately. For me baling a load every other day works well and avoids rejection due to heating.

 

[WFfarm]

Haven't fed barley, but looking at the numbers it has a higher Protein percent than oats, a quite a bit more than corn. It's hard to get barely around here because everyone is trying to raise and sell it to the mircobreweries.

 

[Josher]

Have you tried S01 oats? It's supposed to have similar feed value to barley but it's nonbloating oats

 

[CG1]

I had to just recently go a month with only barley (with molasses added) as the feed store was out of grain. Not long enough to give you any real results but my cows didn't love it. They all had the runs but they were also on pasture. I had to start giving them hay because they had the runs so bad. Only assumption is too much barley. I wouldn't do it again. Could be too much protein like WEfarm mentions.

 

[cbcr]

Here is an article from Penn State that might help.

https://extension.psu.edu/feeding-small-grains-to-beef-cattle

 

[Silver]

Most Canadian feedlots fatten cattle on a barley ration. Can't speak to it for a creep feeding situation but we have supplemented breds with barley chop in years we were short on hay. Cattle do love it. And it makes the best grain finished beef. The last is of course my personal opinion.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Is chop bale age?

 

[Josher]

I believe chop is just grain that's been run through a roller mill or hammer mill. End product is the grain kernel is cracked/ mashed open making it more digestible for cattle

 

[Stocker Steve]

Here is an article from Penn State that might help.

https://extension.psu.edu/feeding-small-grains-to-beef-cattle

Great article. Some data and some practical tips.