Show Steer Won't Eat New Feed

[redandwhite]

Hi!

I recently sold a show steer to a junior at a sale. We feed a pelleted grain to our steers here at home that stores well in our silo. The junior who bought him says he won't eat the sweet bagged grain she is trying to feed him. He is eating hay- so it sounds like he is feeling good. She is about 3.5 hours away from me so it would be diificult to get her some of our grain to mix with hers-but might be possible if that's the only solution. Is there anything she can do? Possibly mix the grain with the hay so he is forced to eat a little and then possibly eventually take to it? Any other ideas??

 

[Chris H]

Try some hay cubes soaked in a bit of water to soften them. Then mix a bit of her grain in it after he's eating the cubes, increase grain until he's up to the desired amount.

We got a bargain on some hay cubes last winter and used them to supplement the cows protein levels. We saw the fall calves really liked them, and did well on them. This summer/fall we have used them as a creep feed to get calves started on grain in preparation of weaning. We needed to soak them this summer, I assume it was because the calves were used to eating grass. We found the calves take to the cubes faster than anything else we've tried.

 

[redandwhite]

Chris H: thanks! The girl called me back and the steer is eating now, guess he decided he missed the grain enough to try something new! Thanks for your info- I will remember that in the future, I like the idea of using the soaked cubes to get those creep feeder calves up and eating.