Raw Soybean Ration

[The Bachelor]

I picked up an interesting book the other day by a guy named Ensminger called the The Stockman's Handbook. In it he explained different winter rations. One of them was grass hay and raw soybeans as a protein suppliment. Now, this would fit pretty good into my farm and is a simple ration I can grow myself.

I've heard horror stories at the feed store about raw soybeans though about trypsin or something like that.

I was looking around around for some info on this and found a KSU study that said soybeans were OK.

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/Doniphan/DPWebsite/AG/FeedWholeSybean.pdf

I'm wondering if anyone has done anything like this. I'm doing it just to feed some bred momma cows, not to put any weight on em.

Thanks

 

[TexasBred]

Soybeans are a great product but buy them roasted and mix with grain. Whole soybeans are 40% protein and high in fat and energy so a little bit goes a long way.

 

[Chris H]

Soybeans do not need to be roasted for cattle. Hogs need them roasted.
However, I have heard of problems feeding them if they get wet and start to sprout or spoil.
We've fed whole soybeans as a protein supplement and the high fat content was a bonus. It adds calories and helps young cows especially recover from calving and start to cycle faster.

 

[The Bachelor]

Soybeans do not need to be roasted for cattle. Hogs need them roasted.
However, I have heard of problems feeding them if they get wet and start to sprout or spoil.
We've fed whole soybeans as a protein supplement and the high fat content was a bonus. It adds calories and helps young cows especially recover from calving and start to cycle faster.

Hmmm. thanks Chris. Now I just have to put numbers to it to see if the soybeans are better for me than another source of protein

 

[somn]

Soybeans do not need to be roasted for cattle. Hogs need them roasted.
However, I have heard of problems feeding them if they get wet and start to sprout or spoil.
We've fed whole soybeans as a protein supplement and the high fat content was a bonus. It adds calories and helps young cows especially recover from calving and start to cycle faster.

Just curious why would you feed a lower protien raw soybean at $270 per ton vs a higher protien soybean meal at $225 per ton?

 

[Chris H]

Soybeans do not need to be roasted for cattle. Hogs need them roasted.
However, I have heard of problems feeding them if they get wet and start to sprout or spoil.
We've fed whole soybeans as a protein supplement and the high fat content was a bonus. It adds calories and helps young cows especially recover from calving and start to cycle faster.

Just curious why would you feed a lower protien raw soybean at $270 per ton vs a higher protien soybean meal at $225 per ton?

We haven't fed whole soybeans in a couple years, did for several years before that. I've been running the figures using whole cottonseed this year. But back to using whole soybeans, you can't just compare the price between sbm & whole soybeans because you get additional energy from the wsb. If you're feeding low quality forage then wsb will add energy.
I don't have local prices handy for sbm but right now 48% is listed at $245 FOB Mt Vernon, IN; our closest supplier with a price posted. I also haven't checked the price of wsb but at the $270/ton that would be $8.10/bu, not a bad price to receive.
At times feeding wsb is more economical than sbm, right now it's questionable except it's a convenient way to add fat to the diet. There's also costs involved with handling either product, if a farmer has wsb stored on the farm don't forget to factor in the cost of trucking them out to sell and trucking and handling sbm.
It's important for everyone to consider all the costs involved but my main point in my first reply was to counter the myth that you can't feed wsb to cattle.

 

[somn]

Soybeans do not need to be roasted for cattle. Hogs need them roasted.
However, I have heard of problems feeding them if they get wet and start to sprout or spoil.
We've fed whole soybeans as a protein supplement and the high fat content was a bonus. It adds calories and helps young cows especially recover from calving and start to cycle faster.

Just curious why would you feed a lower protien raw soybean at $270 per ton vs a higher protien soybean meal at $225 per ton?

We haven't fed whole soybeans in a couple years, did for several years before that. I've been running the figures using whole cottonseed this year. But back to using whole soybeans, you can't just compare the price between sbm & whole soybeans because you get additional energy from the wsb. If you're feeding low quality forage then wsb will add energy.
I don't have local prices handy for sbm but right now 48% is listed at $245 FOB Mt Vernon, IN; our closest supplier with a price posted. I also haven't checked the price of wsb but at the $270/ton that would be $8.10/bu, not a bad price to receive.
At times feeding wsb is more economical than sbm, right now it's questionable except it's a convenient way to add fat to the diet. There's also costs involved with handling either product, if a farmer has wsb stored on the farm don't forget to factor in the cost of trucking them out to sell and trucking and handling sbm.
It's important for everyone to consider all the costs involved but my main point in my first reply was to counter the myth that you can't feed wsb to cattle.

You might have added energy to the diet because of the oil content but that high oil content has made the ability to digest forage decline dramatically and if the forage was poor quality to start with it would seem you have dug yourself deeper into a hole. Because of the high fat content in whole soybeans you will need to feed alot more Vitamin E another expense. In our case we feed urea so if I fed whole soybeans I would need to take the urea out. We never seen whole soybeans able to replace the value of the urea. After having soybeans in the diet for extended periods of time I have even witnessed the cattle would not eat the feed any longer I'm not sure if that was a taste deal or actually a negative side effect from feeding the beans for so long.

 

[footballjdtractor]

I have fed whole soybeans to cows many times. I fed up to 3 pounds a day and had no problems.

 

[Chris H]

Good point about not feeding them with urea. We don't feed urea for various reasons. So supplementing hay with whole soybeans worked out well for us when we did it.
btw, today SBM was quoted at $312/ton bulk, delivered. That makes your own beans an attractive alternative. We're looking at pelleted whole cottonseed this year.
Bachelor, it looks like the article you linked at oznet covers everything to watch for. It even gives the calculation on how to figure whether it's more economical to feed whole beans or sbm. A lot comes down to the convenience factor now.

 

[The Bachelor]

Soybeans do not need to be roasted for cattle. Hogs need them roasted.
However, I have heard of problems feeding them if they get wet and start to sprout or spoil.
We've fed whole soybeans as a protein supplement and the high fat content was a bonus. It adds calories and helps young cows especially recover from calving and start to cycle faster.

Just curious why would you feed a lower protien raw soybean at $270 per ton vs a higher protien soybean meal at $225 per ton?

Well, I was thinking about taking an acre or two out of pasture to grow some. 80 bushels an acre is 2 tons of beans. I need about 3 tons to make it through a winter. I thought about raising some beans instead of corn. They're a good soil nitrogen source too. Might be a win-win.

My corn all dried up this year. Looks like I'm gonna be using some cotton seed too.

 

[Chris H]

Soybeans do not need to be roasted for cattle. Hogs need them roasted.
However, I have heard of problems feeding them if they get wet and start to sprout or spoil.
We've fed whole soybeans as a protein supplement and the high fat content was a bonus. It adds calories and helps young cows especially recover from calving and start to cycle faster.

Just curious why would you feed a lower protien raw soybean at $270 per ton vs a higher protien soybean meal at $225 per ton?

Well, I was thinking about taking an acre or two out of pasture to grow some. 80 bushels an acre is 2 tons of beans. I need about 3 tons to make it through a winter. I thought about raising some beans instead of corn. They're a good soil nitrogen source too. Might be a win-win.

My corn all dried up this year. Looks like I'm gonna be using some cotton seed too.

Got someone available to harvest them? What about storage?

We've been looking at buying pelleted cottonseed from cottonfloz.com, that might be pretty economical for you.

 

[somn]

Good point about not feeding them with urea. We don't feed urea for various reasons. So supplementing hay with whole soybeans worked out well for us when we did it.
btw, today SBM was quoted at $312/ton bulk, delivered. That makes your own beans an attractive alternative. We're looking at pelleted whole cottonseed this year.
Bachelor, it looks like the article you linked at oznet covers everything to watch for. It even gives the calculation on how to figure whether it's more economical to feed whole beans or sbm. A lot comes down to the convenience factor now.

Wow talk about a rip off $312 per ton delivered. You could buy it from my local cruch plant haul it anywhere in the state of Ohio for less than that. That price is a $62 per ton positive basis over Chicago. Are they also paying a 24% positive basis on the soybeans they are buying to crush. That would make cash beans at that plant $11.22 per bushel. Something sounds wrong with these numbers or else somebody is really getting ripped off.

 

[Chris H]

Good point about not feeding them with urea. We don't feed urea for various reasons. So supplementing hay with whole soybeans worked out well for us when we did it.
btw, today SBM was quoted at $312/ton bulk, delivered. That makes your own beans an attractive alternative. We're looking at pelleted whole cottonseed this year.
Bachelor, it looks like the article you linked at oznet covers everything to watch for. It even gives the calculation on how to figure whether it's more economical to feed whole beans or sbm. A lot comes down to the convenience factor now.

Wow talk about a rip off $312 per ton delivered. You could buy it from my local cruch plant haul it anywhere in the state of Ohio for less than that. That price is a $62 per ton positive basis over Chicago. Are they also paying a 24% positive basis on the soybeans they are buying to crush. That would make cash beans at that plant $11.22 per bushel. Something sounds wrong with these numbers or else somebody is really getting ripped off.

Don't know who's getting ripped off. Only got the quote from one local place that's generally the cheapest supplier for mixed feed. He does not handle a lot of bulk ingredients. The other thing I'd have to check is what exactly he's talking about. I'm not sure the guy who quoted the price knows what he was checking on. Check this commodity price list and you'll see there some difference in types of SBM which greatly affect prices. http://agebb.missouri.edu/dairy/byprod/bplist.asp The prices for 'SBM' are running from $240-$273/ton at the plants, at the high end then it looks like the $312 delivered could be accurate, depending on what product he's pricing.

 

[somn]

Good point about not feeding them with urea. We don't feed urea for various reasons. So supplementing hay with whole soybeans worked out well for us when we did it.
btw, today SBM was quoted at $312/ton bulk, delivered. That makes your own beans an attractive alternative. We're looking at pelleted whole cottonseed this year.
Bachelor, it looks like the article you linked at oznet covers everything to watch for. It even gives the calculation on how to figure whether it's more economical to feed whole beans or sbm. A lot comes down to the convenience factor now.

Wow talk about a rip off $312 per ton delivered. You could buy it from my local cruch plant haul it anywhere in the state of Ohio for less than that. That price is a $62 per ton positive basis over Chicago. Are they also paying a 24% positive basis on the soybeans they are buying to crush. That would make cash beans at that plant $11.22 per bushel. Something sounds wrong with these numbers or else somebody is really getting ripped off.

Don't know who's getting ripped off. Only got the quote from one local place that's generally the cheapest supplier for mixed feed. He does not handle a lot of bulk ingredients. The other thing I'd have to check is what exactly he's talking about. I'm not sure the guy who quoted the price knows what he was checking on. Check this commodity price list and you'll see there some difference in types of SBM which greatly affect prices. http://agebb.missouri.edu/dairy/byprod/bplist.asp The prices for 'SBM' are running from $240-$273/ton at the plants, at the high end then it looks like the $312 delivered could be accurate, depending on what product he's pricing.

$273 is still above Chicago and Chicago trades 48%. Why go all the way to MO for sbm I know there are crush plants in Ohio. I understand you are trying to validate your opinion however that would be similiar to me saying gas is $9.00 per gallon in Southern MN after I have it delivered from a Shell station in Los Angeles. But one fact will never change the SBM price is set by the soybean price. Pound for pound SBM has a better return on investment when used as a feedstuff than does whole soybeans.

 

[Chris H]

Good point about not feeding them with urea. We don't feed urea for various reasons. So supplementing hay with whole soybeans worked out well for us when we did it.
btw, today SBM was quoted at $312/ton bulk, delivered. That makes your own beans an attractive alternative. We're looking at pelleted whole cottonseed this year.
Bachelor, it looks like the article you linked at oznet covers everything to watch for. It even gives the calculation on how to figure whether it's more economical to feed whole beans or sbm. A lot comes down to the convenience factor now.

Wow talk about a rip off $312 per ton delivered. You could buy it from my local cruch plant haul it anywhere in the state of Ohio for less than that. That price is a $62 per ton positive basis over Chicago. Are they also paying a 24% positive basis on the soybeans they are buying to crush. That would make cash beans at that plant $11.22 per bushel. Something sounds wrong with these numbers or else somebody is really getting ripped off.

Don't know who's getting ripped off. Only got the quote from one local place that's generally the cheapest supplier for mixed feed. He does not handle a lot of bulk ingredients. The other thing I'd have to check is what exactly he's talking about. I'm not sure the guy who quoted the price knows what he was checking on. Check this commodity price list and you'll see there some difference in types of SBM which greatly affect prices. http://agebb.missouri.edu/dairy/byprod/bplist.asp The prices for 'SBM' are running from $240-$273/ton at the plants, at the high end then it looks like the $312 delivered could be accurate, depending on what product he's pricing.

$273 is still above Chicago and Chicago trades 48%. Why go all the way to MO for sbm I know there are crush plants in Ohio. I understand you are trying to validate your opinion however that would be similiar to me saying gas is $9.00 per gallon in Southern MN after I have it delivered from a Shell station in Los Angeles. But one fact will never change the SBM price is set by the soybean price. Pound for pound SBM has a better return on investment when used as a feedstuff than does whole soybeans.

Only point I was trying to make is the $312/ton sbm quote was from supplier 3 miles from our house. Given I don't know exactly what sbm he was quoting, I gave the link to show the great variance in price for sbm, depending on what you're buying. My inclination is our supplier is not ripping us off and since they are good friends, and honest people, I guess I took offense to you implying they were ripping us off.
Nearest crush plant that I'm aware of is Morristown Indiana. We'll soon have an ethanol plant within an hour drive and I expect distillers grain will end up being the cheapest for us.
But back to the original question, yes, you can use whole sb in cattle feed. Got the means to plant, harvest, store, & feed, then they can be a viable alternative to sbm.

 

[Stocker Steve]

[quote Well, I was thinking about taking an acre or two out of pasture to grow some.[/quote]

In this country a couple acres of beans becomes a deer food plot because they will take it all.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Good point about not feeding them with urea. We don't feed urea for various reasons. So supplementing hay with whole soybeans worked out well for us when we did it.
btw, today SBM was quoted at $312/ton bulk, delivered. That makes your own beans an attractive alternative. We're looking at pelleted whole cottonseed this year.
Bachelor, it looks like the article you linked at oznet covers everything to watch for. It even gives the calculation on how to figure whether it's more economical to feed whole beans or sbm. A lot comes down to the convenience factor now.

How about using just the soybean hulls to supplement forage?

 

[The Bachelor]

In this country a couple acres of beans becomes a deer food plot because they will take it all.

Hmmm... Good point!!

 

[hayray]

Soybeans do not need to be roasted for cattle. Hogs need them roasted.
However, I have heard of problems feeding them if they get wet and start to sprout or spoil.
We've fed whole soybeans as a protein supplement and the high fat content was a bonus. It adds calories and helps young cows especially recover from calving and start to cycle faster.

Just curious why would you feed a lower protien raw soybean at $270 per ton vs a higher protien soybean meal at $225 per ton?

Last year I was going to buy raw beans out of the field from other local producers but I was able to buy the roasted beans for the same price or even a little cheaper, so the same thing for me, it just boiled down to the price because either source had plenty of protein and energy to supplement cows on winter pasture, the roasted beans have more usable protein.