Range cube price

[houstoncutter]

I find it interesting that our ag secretary is talking about helping out the producers in a drought......Hmmmm wonder where he was last year. My goodness you dont think that maybe hes playing politics for votes do you...So who knows you might be getting a big ol fat check from Guvment shortly!

 

[Caustic Burno]

Before the drought I had 37 momma cow's and at the end 10 and a bull. I virtually gave away 4 yearling Hereford bulls to keep them from going to slaughter.
Since this spring I have added an additional 10 cow's and pasture's are still flourishing.
Five of these girl's will get culled in the next couple of month's picked up as opportunity cows.


Most people started culling based on the amount of hay we had on hand last summer to carry us to the next spring.
You will be amazed at your hay requirement's I started the drought with two year's worth of hand and ended it with four roll's . That was along with supplemental bulk feed. Down here several of us were buying barge sweeping's for bulk feed to supplement hay at 220 a ton. You could find lot's of hay cheap out of state the trucking cost of 4 dollars a loaded mile wouldn't justify the cost. Your have to remember your normal 4 month hay supply has to last 9 to 10 month's now.
Planted winter pasture's of rye grass and clover to supplement hay.
As hay supply dwindled I culled along the way, I sold seed stock cow's to slaughter that hurt.
This get's down to ruthless culling to survive to fight another day.

Some of ya'll might find this link helpful
http://www.hayexchange.com/tx.php

May God have mercy on you.

 

[Limomike]

Yep,. you can bet on all feed costs going up, even know as we speak corn is at 8.08 a bushel. That transfers into higher costs for all of us. This years drought is affecting more of the nation, and burning up corn and soybean crops in the main producing states. It's gonna be a tough tough rest of the summer AND winter months for many.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/ ... MP20120719

 

[backhoeboogie]

I don't have a clue....Bought a couple bags earlier in the year to pen some cows when the grass was green, but not something I feed.

I usually keep a bag around for such things. Or if someone runs into a fence and the cows get out etc. My problem is the things start to mold if you don't use them within a month or so.

 

[dcara]

Cubes are 8.20 here. A couple of other alternatives are:
- Range meal (usually CSM with salt limiter to make it free coice). still 20% protien as fed but usually a little cheaper.
- Cotten Seed meal. 10.46 a bag here but at 41% protien it is still way cheaper per pound of protien. Not free range though.
- 10 % protien Hay at $200/ton works out to same protien cost as $10/bag cubes but doesn't have all the minerals cubes have.

 

[TexasBred]

Cubes are 8.20 here. A couple of other alternatives are:
- Range meal (usually CSM with salt limiter to make it free coice). still 20% protien as fed but usually a little cheaper.
- Cotten Seed meal. 10.46 a bag here but at 41% protien it is still way cheaper per pound of protien. Not free range though.
- 10 % protien Hay at $200/ton works out to same protien cost as $10/bag cubes but doesn't have all the minerals cubes have.

The cattle will benefit much more from that ton of hay than they will those $10 cubes if you have to make the choice.

 

[TXBobcat]

I believe the last 20% cubes I bought were around 9.75, which comes out to $390 ton. Normally around here they give you a .20 per bag discount if you buy a ton, which would be $382 ton. I would expect that coming into winter they'll be around 450 ton.

We culled quite a bit last year and have some standing forage in the hopes we'll have to use less hay. Our avg stocking rate right now is 1 cow per 20 acres. I believe you are money ahead to stock less to provide more pasture and supplement with protein (cubes) rather than stocking at a denser rate and having to feed a lot of hay, and possibly protein too.

Feeding $450/ton (.225 cents per lb) cubes Nov thru Mar - 18 weeks

Feed 5 lbs per head, 3 times a week = 15lbs per head per week or $3.375 wk

$3.375 wk x 18 wks = $60.75 per head

Feeding $75 roll hay for 18 weeks would cost $187.50 per cow at 2 1/2 rolls per cow.

 

[TexasBred]

You're limit feeding the cubes and free choicing the hay. Not an accurate comparison.

 

[slick4591]

Just came home from Atwoods and they are $8.45 over there.

 

[Arkansas]

What is a 50 lb bag of 20% range cubes going for in your area. Here in Arkansas, where the drought is reaching epic proportions, cubes are up to 8.75 a bag. I am looking for other supplements but with a shortage of hay I am not sure how to make this pencil out. We went through this last year as well and at the time I said another year like this would drive me out of the business. Maybe it will.

Yaw's in a drought down there here in Northeast Arkansas were doing fine. Hay is as cheap as its ever been.. Granted we dont run alot of cattle farms around here but still... Range cubes is that the same thing as cake ? Nevermind on drought just read that AR in the South, West and parts of the North are in Extreame Drought and Heat We have got raind about 3 of the past 7 days here in Northeast.

 

[ousoonerfan22]

20% cubes went up to $9.50 a bag today

 

[James T]

Cubes are 8.20 here. A couple of other alternatives are:
- Range meal (usually CSM with salt limiter to make it free coice). still 20% protien as fed but usually a little cheaper.
- Cotten Seed meal. 10.46 a bag here but at 41% protien it is still way cheaper per pound of protien. Not free range though.
- 10 % protien Hay at $200/ton works out to same protien cost as $10/bag cubes but doesn't have all the minerals cubes have.

The cattle will benefit much more from that ton of hay than they will those $10 cubes if you have to make the choice.

Well, not necessarily. If he were feeding nothing but range cubes, that is, his cattle had no opportunity to pasture, then yes he might come out ahead. But rarely, unless he is running a feedlot, does the average producer just feed out range cubes and nothing else. He mentions hay at 10% protein, so I gather it's been tested and that is an absolute number for that hay bale. But, what about the others, what about micro-nutrients? Odds are, those are unknowns. With range cubes, you know what your getting, every time, every bag and if the cattle have access to any roughage at all, they'll be good. As Caustic mentioned, a good liquid feed with cheap hay will work real well, keeping the cattle in condition.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Our local feed mill just went to TSC and bought them out of corn.
They had not updated their costs and they could buy it cheaper by the bag than bulk shipped in or local.
things are getting very screwy and its only going to get worse.

 

[bigbull338]

every1 in the drought areas are in a tough spot either cull your herd to the bone.an buy feed an hay for whats left or sell all the cows an quit.we managed to feed through the drought last year on a shoestring an didnt go broke only culling what needed culling.we are feeding some hay now to get the cows to come up.right now we have over 220 bales of hay.

 

[1982vett]

Boy's we just went through the worst drought since 1910.
You can not feed your way through it.
As hard as it is to do the way is to cull while you have decent price's.
Most everyone here culled 60 to 70%. All it takes to get more cow's is a checkbook.
It takes years to rebuild a destroyed pasture. You have to do the math when are you losing money feeding through a drought, slaughter cow's are bringing a 1000 dollar's here good replacement's 1600 to 1800.
The way my math work's you can put 800 dollar's in your best cow's and break even.
I culled 70%

I think we had all better listen to Caustic on this. Yea cattle are a business for some of us, yea cattle are a hobby for others. The truth is either way you can't feed hay and supplement from now till spring, and justify doing it. I'm going to give it just a little while longer, and start culling. I know we all worked hard to get our herds where we have them, but you just can't make keeping them work on paper. Keep the best of the youngest and start over.

Problem with that thought...you are not guaranteed next spring/year will be any better than this one. Thinking it will be is the optimist in all of us. Once one figures that out they realize culling is/was the right answer. If and when the weather pattern settles into a predictable rhythm then you could try holding on and feeding your way through.

 

[1982vett]

Cubes are 8.20 here. A couple of other alternatives are:
- Range meal (usually CSM with salt limiter to make it free coice). still 20% protien as fed but usually a little cheaper.
- Cotten Seed meal. 10.46 a bag here but at 41% protien it is still way cheaper per pound of protien. Not free range though.
- 10 % protien Hay at $200/ton works out to same protien cost as $10/bag cubes but doesn't have all the minerals cubes have.

The cattle will benefit much more from that ton of hay than they will those $10 cubes if you have to make the choice.

Well, not necessarily. If he were feeding nothing but range cubes, that is, his cattle had no opportunity to pasture, then yes he might come out ahead. But rarely, unless he is running a feedlot, does the average producer just feed out range cubes and nothing else. He mentions hay at 10% protein, so I gather it's been tested and that is an absolute number for that hay bale. But, what about the others, what about micro-nutrients? Odds are, those are unknowns. With range cubes, you know what your getting, every time, every bag and if the cattle have access to any roughage at all, they'll be good. As Caustic mentioned, a good liquid feed with cheap hay will work real well, keeping the cattle in condition.

This may be out of context by now and I haven't reread the whole post so....

if the hay was tested correctly the 10% should hold as the test material shouldn't have come from ONE bale...if that is a true statement then the need for cubes or supplement is naught....as the hay is sufficient enough to maintain a cow....yes without a calf....and the right choice in minerals supply the micro-nutrients the hay may be lacking.

One should also keep in mind, unless the cow is kept in a dirt pen, she is going to find at least something to browse on...

 

[TexasBred]

Well, not necessarily. If he were feeding nothing but range cubes, that is, his cattle had no opportunity to pasture, then yes he might come out ahead. But rarely, unless he is running a feedlot, does the average producer just feed out range cubes and nothing else. He mentions hay at 10% protein, so I gather it's been tested and that is an absolute number for that hay bale. But, what about the others, what about micro-nutrients? Odds are, those are unknowns. With range cubes, you know what your getting, every time, every bag and if the cattle have access to any roughage at all, they'll be good. As Caustic mentioned, a good liquid feed with cheap hay will work real well, keeping the cattle in condition.

Buy a bag of loose mineral and let them get enough vitamins and minerals to be beneficial...Range cubes like any other pelleted feed can contain anything. You have no idea what is in it. They will always match the guarantees but nothing more. IF the hay tested 10% they should need very little supplementation anyway other than the loose mineral.

 

[Massey135]

Or you could feed em a few lbs of cotton seed cubes/day and limit feed em the hay.

In any scenario, $1.50 worth of csc goes farther than a $1.50 of hay.

 

[TexasBred]

Or you could feed em a few lbs of cotton seed cubes/day and limit feed em the hay.

In any scenario, $1.50 worth of csc goes farther than a $1.50 of hay.

10% hay is a nickel a pound...the cubes are $.30 a lb. Wanna put one of your fancy heifers on 5 lbs. a day of 40% cubes and nothing else and see what happens as apposed to 30 lb. of 10% hay. :dunce:

 

[James T]

Or you could feed em a few lbs of cotton seed cubes/day and limit feed em the hay.

In any scenario, $1.50 worth of csc goes farther than a $1.50 of hay.

10% hay is a nickel a pound...the cubes are $.30 a lb. Wanna put one of your fancy heifers on 5 lbs. a day of 40% cubes and nothing else and see what happens as apposed to 30 lb. of 10% hay. :dunce:

I'd give you that one for sure. We don't know if Nap's cattle have any access to forage and even if they did, we still don't know what type of protein in range cubes he's talking about. Some forms of protein enhance digestibility but almost all that I know of will stimulate foraging or a need for available roughage (hay). I would take high quality hay any day, over range cubes. Now days, it's difficult to get tested hay. I don't mention loose mineral availability because it's a no brainer; they should always be made available. If no hay is available and no pasture, then all you have is a feedyard.