Opinion on my feed

[midtncattle]

This is the tag of of the feed I am using. I hand feed my 300-700 lbs calves daily. How does it stack up ?

 

[Bigfoot]

Have you got something going on, that you need the rumensin?

 

[tom4018]

Looks like Performance Feeds Grower 14. We have used their feeds for several years now as do several in my area. Had good gains on feeders we use it on. We now feed their 16% Optimum feed, for $3.00 more a ton I think it is worth it.

 

[TexasBred]

According to the list of ingredients it doesn't have an ounce of "grain" in it. Just by-products, some alfalfa and a lot of roughage of some type. But Rumensin (monensin) will make a poor feed a decent feed.

 

[tom4018]

According to the list of ingredients it doesn't have an ounce of "grain" in it. Just by-products, some alfalfa and a lot of roughage of some type. But Rumensin (monensin) will make a poor feed a decent feed.

If it is from Performance Feeds there is grain in it, you actually see it. I think from his tag it is from them.

 

[midtncattle]

I don't have anything going on. To my understanding the monensin aides in the digestion process making the feed work better.

 

[TexasBred]

According to the list of ingredients it doesn't have an ounce of "grain" in it. Just by-products, some alfalfa and a lot of roughage of some type. But Rumensin (monensin) will make a poor feed a decent feed.

If it is from Performance Feeds there is grain in it, you actually see it. I think from his tag it is from them.

If it has grain in it grain products should be named in the list of ingredients.

 

[Ojp6]

Is corn screenings considered a by-product? Ive seen that used in a lot of feed before.

 

[TexasBred]

Is corn screenings considered a by-product? Ive seen that used in a lot of feed before.

It's trash with some corn in it. Very light bushel weight compared to corn but I suppose if it has a bit of corn then you have grain. Still very unusual for a company to not list grain as an ingredient as that's the lst things most folks look for.

 

[Ojp6]

My grandpa fed 5,000 hd on nothing but a mix of corn screenings, soy hull pellets, and sunflower seed shells. Quality of screenings between elevators changed greatly. One elevator it was just about as good as rolled corn and the next it was half dust. When he started feeding it they gave it to him for free, now they charge you pretty good for it.

 

[jedstivers]

Have you got something going on, that you need the rumensin?

Calves always grow better with rumensin or bovatic.

 

[jedstivers]

To the op you need more energy for calves. That stuff is junk. TB can explain it better than me but what I'm doing right now till I get test results back is feeding 1% plus one pound of protein and all the free choice good hay they want.
A 500lbs calf gets 5lbs whole corn and 1lbs cottonseed plus the best crabgrass hay I have.
I'm actual bumping the corn a little more than that too. I always round up and err on the side of caution.
If I had a grinder I would be grinding corn and soybeans. I'd get the pound of protein from the beans.
I have a friend feeding 1/2 corn and 1/2 DDG's. He's doing very well with that. I don't know his numbers though.

 

[Bigfoot]

I was 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. I took out soyhull pellets, and I'm now half ddg, half corn. I've had calves hitting 3 pounds a day on it, and it's "fairly" cheap.

 

[TexasBred]

My grandpa fed 5,000 hd on nothing but a mix of corn screenings, soy hull pellets, and sunflower seed shells. Quality of screenings between elevators changed greatly. One elevator it was just about as good as rolled corn and the next it was half dust. When he started feeding it they gave it to him for free, now they charge you pretty good for it.

Ojp6 not saying it can't be done but real corn would have done a better job. Even free is expensive sometimes. Jed feeds a lot of calves and I'm sure he's penciled out using quality over feeding cheaper ingredients. True some screenings are good but most are not. Remember this is the junk pulled off corn to clean it to export quality. (They get the good stuff and we get the junk). ;-)

 

[JWBrahman]

We usually have grass all winter but if it snows we feed good feed with the hay and have never regretted it. This is what a good feed label looks like.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Looks like like your average run of the mill (no pun intended) bag feed, that is mostly trash, and urea.
Find a mill that will mix, bag feed for you, you'll be a lot happier with the product.


JW, I would love to have a semi load of that mix.

 

[Ojp6]

My grandpa fed 5,000 hd on nothing but a mix of corn screenings, soy hull pellets, and sunflower seed shells. Quality of screenings between elevators changed greatly. One elevator it was just about as good as rolled corn and the next it was half dust. When he started feeding it they gave it to him for free, now they charge you pretty good for it.

Ojp6 not saying it can't be done but real corn would have done a better job. Even free is expensive sometimes. Jed feeds a lot of calves and I'm sure he's penciled out using quality over feeding cheaper ingredients. True some screenings are good but most are not. Remember this is the junk pulled off corn to clean it to export quality. (They get the good stuff and we get the junk). ;-)

He fed both and there wasn't all that big off a difference in rate of gain between the two. Fed a lot of screenings but it wasn't available all the time so fed a lot of rolled corn too. He had a big shed he would dump about 30 semi loads of screenings in the fall so it would last into winter a little while. He only fed about 1000 himself and custom fed the rest. He had a good relationship with a bunch of area elevators and if they consistently had low quality screenings he quit buying it.

I have a question for you. I have some 17 month old angus bulls that lost some weight over the summer(turned out with too many cows at 13 months old). They bred all the cows but need to put on some weight. What kind of a ration would you recommend for them to have them ready to go back with cows in the spring?

 

[TexasBred]

I have a question for you. I have some 17 month old angus bulls that lost some weight over the summer(turned out with too many cows at 13 months old). They bred all the cows but need to put on some weight. What kind of a ration would you recommend for them to have them ready to go back with cows in the spring?

Bulls will usually put on conditioning very easily when they have nothing to do but eat and ruminate. Good quality hay should have them ready by spring. (Keyword: Good). If you have them segregated you can always feed them a few pounds of corn everyday just for additional energy.