occasionally feeding sweet feed am I making a mistake?

[uscott]

I live about two hours from my farm and my dad looks after the day to day operations. When I am there I normally buy a few bags of sweet feed to make sure they are easy to corral when we need to work them. Am i screwing up their rumen????

 

[kenny thomas]

As long as you are just giving them a treat I dont see a problem. Actually might make it easier when you go to help work or sort them because they associate you wirh a treat not as a stranger.

 

[Crazy Farmgirl]

As long as it is a small amount per head then you should be fine and as Kenny mentioned it may help in the long run if your the "goody guy"

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

I wouldn't think so. We feed our steer 15 pounds of grain twice a day, and during show season our heifers are on 8 to 12 pounds of grain a day. No problems with the rumens around here.

 

[uscott]

Great the whole herd comes running when i drive in to the pasture now.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

I wouldn't think so. We feed our steer 15 pounds of grain twice a day, and during show season our heifers are on 8 to 12 pounds of grain a day. No problems with the rumens around here.

Yea but they were warmed up to it. What he was asking is if feeding grain can hurt cattle that aren't warmed up, and for that the answer would depended on how much you are feeding. If you got 30 cows and one 5 gal bucket of sweet feed it won't hurt them. If your out dumping the feed on then your going to have a lot of sick cattle.

But I know your not giving much cause I do the same thing. Best cattle call is rattling a bucket. ;-)

 

[inyati13]

I do the same thing. Only I do it more often. I wonder if it also would depend on what sweet feed is. I use a feed called "beef mix". It is about 11% protein and has a lot of alfalfa in it and some grain. I don't use much probably less than a pound per animal. It serves several purposes for me. It assures me they are getting mineral. I put mineral in the feeders before I put the mixed feed in. It is the basis of my baiting system which allows me to trap any cow I want even the harder ones. It keeps them interacting with me which also helps me handle them and provides me the pleasure and joy I get from being with them and petting them.

I also would like to know this - first I will preface it by saying there is so much conflicting information that it all gets confusing - I have been told that even a small amount of "feed" can put too much weight on your cows; then I have heard that a small amount per day does nothing but waste feed because their system cannot utilize it. Which is it? Local farmers that stop by from time to time are mainly of the opinion that my cows are over conditioned. I think it is due to the heavy forage I had including lots of clovers from clearing and seeding pasture over the past 3 years but a couple guys insist that even a hand full of rich feed a day is contributing to the over condition of my cows.

 

[dun]

For the rumen to properly digest grasses a specific combination of rumen flora is required. To properly digest grain a different combination is required. That's why animals taken from a high grain diet to mostly forage will lose so much weight. It's claimed that it takes 2 weeks for the rumen flora to adjust to a different diet, i.e high grain/high roughage. A couple of pounds of grain every once in a while isn;t going to make any real difference. During the 45 day weaning process we feed about 1% of body weight in grain, the rest is hay/grass. When we turn them out on nothing but grass/hay after weaning they don;t lose condition and just continue gaining weight.

 

[chippie]

I do the same thing. Only I do it more often. I wonder if it also would depend on what sweet feed is. I use a feed called "beef mix". It is about 11% protein and has a lot of alfalfa in it and some grain. I don't use much probably less than a pound per animal. It serves several purposes for me. It assures me they are getting mineral. I put mineral in the feeders before I put the mixed feed in. It is the basis of my baiting system which allows me to trap any cow I want even the harder ones. It keeps them interacting with me which also helps me handle them and provides me the pleasure and joy I get from being with them and petting them.

I also would like to know this - first I will preface it by saying there is so much conflicting information that it all gets confusing - I have been told that even a small amount of "feed" can put too much weight on your cows; then I have heard that a small amount per day does nothing but waste feed because their system cannot utilize it. Which is it? Local farmers that stop by from time to time are mainly of the opinion that my cows are over conditioned. I think it is due to the heavy forage I had including lots of clovers from clearing and seeding pasture over the past 3 years but a couple guys insist that even a hand full of rich feed a day is contributing to the over condition of my cows.

It is not a good idea to mix the mineral with the grain. Mineral is designed so that the cows eat what they need - it is self limiting. When you mix it with the grain, a cow can ingest more mineral than needed and cause problems in the long run.

You should keep a mineral feeder available 24/7 so that the cows can eat what they need.

A cow can utilize any amount of feed. Everything that it eats gets digested and the nutrients absorbed. Whether or not the cow actually needs it is the variable. I think what the farmers are trying to tell you is that your cattle would do fine without the grain.
You could always try not feeding any grain for several months, and then look at your cow's condition. If they lose weight, then you will know that they are used to the grain and need it. If they maintain their condition, the grain is not necessary.

 

[TexasBred]

A cow can utilize any amount of feed. Everything that it eats gets digested and the nutrients absorbed. Whether or not the cow actually needs it is the variable. I think what the farmers are trying to tell you is that your cattle would do fine without the grain.
You could always try not feeding any grain for several months, and then look at your cow's condition. If they lose weight, then you will know that they are used to the grain and need it. If they maintain their condition, the grain is not necessary.

Let's not go quite that far. They can and will eat plenty...but there is a reason pee smells like ammonia.....nitrogen (excess protein)...blood or milk samples will give you a good indication when cattle are being fed excess protein as well.

 

[Banjo]

I live about two hours from my farm and my dad looks after the day to day operations. When I am there I normally buy a few bags of sweet feed to make sure they are easy to corral when we need to work them. Am i screwing up their rumen????

Having cattle that are easy to get up or corral is very handy...but don't forget it makes them easier to steal....cattle rustling is alive and well in this day and time with cattle prices high and getting higher.

 

[SRBeef]

Having cattle that develop a bit of a sweet tooth makes it a lot easier to handle them when necessary. Much better to have them come to you than to try chasing them around. Get them to want ot come where you want them to come.

I use sweet feed as a treat, usually no more than 3 or 4 lb per time per head. A hint - I always use the same white 5 gallon bucket for the sweet feed and bang on it and use the same call. I could stand at the corral with a white bucket, bang on the bucket while calling them and they will come barreling out of the woods 1/4 mile away! Some cows seem to have more of a sweet tooth than others but once a few get moving they usually all follow.

As mentioned above, you just don't want to give them too much, especially if it's sporadic. Most of the year I give a sweet treat maybe once a week or once in two weeks. A bit more often to weaning calves right after fenceline weaning. A treat settles them down so even the more skittish ones gradually get used to walking by me. I always stand at the entrance to the corral as they come in for a treat and usually as they leave. This gentles them. Good luck.

Jim

 

[TexasBred]

I live about two hours from my farm and my dad looks after the day to day operations. When I am there I normally buy a few bags of sweet feed to make sure they are easy to corral when we need to work them. Am i screwing up their rumen????

IF they know what range cubes are they'll come to them as well..and they're 20% protein and don't contain much grain. Takes some cattle a few trips to figure out what they are tho.

 

[inyati13]

chippie, I think you are right on with your comment. I do keep loose mineral out so they can get it free choice. I don't put a lot in with the feed but your point is a good one. Someone else told me that might be a problem. I did have the University of KY extrension agent out to look at my pasture during the summer. She was impressed with the quality of the forage. Her advice was to do more rotational grazing and thus reduce the amount of particularly clover they could get into. I think all that clover, put weight on them and it is just not coming off like I hoped this winter. I did make some pasture changes this fall and should be able to control things a bit this coming spring. Her is a picture of some of the clover they had this past year.

 

[blainesdad]

A friend of mine summed this up well...A bag of feed is worth 10 men when you are working cattle. I feed mine every time I stop by to check on them. Not a lot, just enough to make them want to come to me when I call for them. Now if I could get my dad to do the same...I could quit having to chase his cattle through the field...haha

 

[dun]

A friend of mine summed this up well...A bag of feed is worth 10 men when you are working cattle. I feed mine every time I stop by to check on them. Not a lot, just enough to make them want to come to me when I call for them. Now if I could get my dad to do the same...I could quit having to chase his cattle through the field...haha

This morning we had to move the cows just under a 1/4 mile to get them up to sort out a heifer to breed. Drove down to the pasture and yelled and held up a white bucket. I was driving the mule and about half of them beat me to the catch pen. All that for about a 1/3 of a five gallon bucket of grain.

 

[Anonymous]

A Bag of cubes would get the same response from the cows as the sweet feed. But the cubes are mainly pressed and ground alfalfa and other things. And the rumen is already adjusted for them

 

[greybeard]

A Bag of cubes would get the same response from the cows as the sweet feed. But the cubes are mainly pressed and ground alfalfa and other things. And the rumen is already adjusted for them

So will an empty bucket or bag----once--maybe twice.
And it will get them into the general work area where you want them, but once the fun starts, most bets are off. They don't care how many buckets or what's in 'em--they just want out.

 

[Anonymous]

Can't feed them an empty bucket between working them to KEEP then tamed down. Haha

 

[greybeard]

Been my experience that once you start working them it don't much matter what's in the bucket, no matter how calm ya try to be with them--they still want out more than they want to eat.