Range feeding ear corn to bred cows

[Allgonoshow]

I have the ability to purchase ear corn for a fairly reasonable price, compared to hay anyway. I would like to hear from some cow calf producers that have supplemented ear corn on dormant winter pasture. I would prefer to stretch my hay until I bring them home in Febuary. I plan on feeding 3 lbs ear corn per day. They will be getting grass hay on the very cold/stormy days. How much grass hay will 3lbs of ear corn replace? I will also be feeding 1 lb of 20% cake per day. These are black angus, early march calvers. Thanks for any advise or information provided.

 

[pricefarm]

Are you going to grind the ear corn?

 

[Bigfoot]

I read this the first time thru, and the numbers didn't make sense. 1lb of range cubes? As a young man, I fed a lot of eared corn. 3 pounds don't go terribly far toreplacing anything.

 

[Till-Hill]

I read this the first time thru, and the numbers didn't make sense. 1lb of range cubes? As a young man, I fed a lot of eared corn. 3 pounds don't go terribly far toreplacing anything.

What he said. I found this on a quick google search. 70 lb. of dry ear corn = 1 bushel (56 lb.)of dry corn Feeding 3# of even shelled corn doesn't replace a whole lot. Buddy is feeding 8# corn and 2# DDG to some younger open late calvers that we are going to breed for falls. I'd say you would need to feed 10#+ or ear corn to get much hay saved.

 

[Allgonoshow]

I have 1200 lb cows. You don't want to feed more than .25 of the cows body weight in corn other wise you can disrupt the rumen's ablility to digest the forage. Only want to supplement some, not gain weight on them. I don't plan on grinding the ear corn. These are range cows that have grass in front of them right now. I am feeding the cake to get some protein. Corn is roughly 1.5X-2X the energy of grass hay. It just looks a lot cheaper than buying additional hay.

 

[Allenw]

One pound of 20% range cubes isn't going to do much for protein supplementation. You need a 30% + product to have enough protein vs starch to supplement their protein.

Shell out 3lbs of ear corn and see how much actual grain your feeding them, the cob is just filler.

 

[Son of Butch]

I have 1200 lb cows. You don't want to feed more than .25 of the cows body weight in corn other wise you can disrupt the rumen's ablility to digest the forage.

1200 lbs x .25 = 300 lbs of corn
Yes that would certainly disrupt an individual's rumen.
Best of luck in calculating your rations :tiphat:

 

[callmefence]

I would think switch the amounts and add a zero to corn
10 pounds ear corn
3 pounds cubes.
And the available dry grass

 

[TexasBred]

I have the ability to purchase ear corn for a fairly reasonable price, compared to hay anyway. I would like to hear from some cow calf producers that have supplemented ear corn on dormant winter pasture. I would prefer to stretch my hay until I bring them home in Febuary. I plan on feeding 3 lbs ear corn per day. They will be getting grass hay on the very cold/stormy days. How much grass hay will 3lbs of ear corn replace? I will also be feeding 1 lb of 20% cake per day. These are black angus, early march calvers. Thanks for any advise or information provided.

Corn is NOT a replacement for hay.

 

[skyhightree1]

I have the ability to purchase ear corn for a fairly reasonable price, compared to hay anyway. I would like to hear from some cow calf producers that have supplemented ear corn on dormant winter pasture. I would prefer to stretch my hay until I bring them home in Febuary. I plan on feeding 3 lbs ear corn per day. They will be getting grass hay on the very cold/stormy days. How much grass hay will 3lbs of ear corn replace? I will also be feeding 1 lb of 20% cake per day. These are black angus, early march calvers. Thanks for any advise or information provided.

Corn is NOT a replacement for hay.

Now you tell me ;-) :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[ChrisB]

1 pound of shelled corn will replace about 1.7 pounds of grass hay. South Dakota State tests included up to 12 pounds of corn and only a few pounds of hay with satisfactory results. Quite a few research trials show up if you google it.

 

[RanchMan90]

With corn prices at $3.20 a bushel or 6¢ a lb it looks pretty cost effective.

 

[TexasBred]

1 pound of shelled corn will replace about 1.7 pounds of grass hay. South Dakota State tests included up to 12 pounds of corn and only a few pounds of hay with satisfactory results. Quite a few research trials show up if you google it.

You can feed it instead of hay or in addition to hay as a energy and protein supplement but it does not replace hay.

 

[TexasBred]

I have the ability to purchase ear corn for a fairly reasonable price, compared to hay anyway. I would like to hear from some cow calf producers that have supplemented ear corn on dormant winter pasture. I would prefer to stretch my hay until I bring them home in Febuary. I plan on feeding 3 lbs ear corn per day. They will be getting grass hay on the very cold/stormy days. How much grass hay will 3lbs of ear corn replace? I will also be feeding 1 lb of 20% cake per day. These are black angus, early march calvers. Thanks for any advise or information provided.

Corn is NOT a replacement for hay.

Now you tell me ;-) :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Don't tell me Sky....you sold all your hay and filled up everythign on the farm with corn. :lol: :lol:

 

[skyhightree1]

Corn is NOT a replacement for hay.

Now you tell me ;-) :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Don't tell me Sky....you sold all your hay and filled up everythign on the farm with corn. :lol: :lol:

I did... Well at least I know they will taste good :lol:

 

[Allgonoshow]

Sorry meant .0025% of body weight not .25. One quarter of one percent is what an article that I read said. I am not replacing hay with corn, just supplementing it. I will run the cows on grass with the ear corn supplementing them while on pasture from Nov to Feb. When I bring them home in Feb, I will feed them 15 lbs grass hay, 3-5 lbs ear corn, and a cake protein supplement. I am just looking for a way to give them some extra energy to make the pasture and hay stretch out a little.

 

[TexasBred]

Sorry meant .0025% of body weight not .25. One quarter of one percent is what an article that I read said. I am not replacing hay with corn, just supplementing it. I will run the cows on grass with the ear corn supplementing them while on pasture from Nov to Feb. When I bring them home in Feb, I will feed them 15 lbs grass hay, 3-5 lbs ear corn, and a cake protein supplement. I am just looking for a way to give them some extra energy to make the pasture and hay stretch out a little.

Corn will certainly give them the extra energy. Have you had your hay tested?? If it's good enough you may not need to feed the cake.

 

[Allgonoshow]

I have not had the hay tested, the hay is 2 year old grass hay. I do plan on getting it tested.

 

[Allgonoshow]

Next question. Is all corn created equal when it is being sold by the ton? I have heard that there is a certain density that it should be in order for it to have a certain starch level? I am a corn feeding newbie if you can't tell.

 

[Son of Butch]

Sorry meant .0025% of body weight not .25. One quarter of one percent is what an article that I read said.

:lol2:
.0025% = 25/1000 of 1%
.25 = 1/4 aka 25%
1/4 of 1% = 0.25%

A local pharmacy darn near killed me by prescription error (200% over prescribed amount and 50% over the legal limit)
before I caught their mistake. I was taking it and feeling worse and worse until I figured out their mistake.
All because otherwise intelligent people seem to have trouble understanding fractions and percentages.
Over 100,000 die each year from medical errors and prescription error is the leading medical error in hospitals.

Back to topic.
Ground ear corn is great and better for cows than shell corn. Because the cob is >20% of its weight and cow is forced
to eat some of the cob (which is mostly all fiber) with each bite of grain. Eating the additional fiber at the same time
helps to keep rumen moving and aids in preventing compaction and acidosis.