Starting my herd

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Bfields30

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Winnsboro tx
Finally purchasing a couple older cows next week both 8 yrs old angus and red angus one has a char baby calf on her side and the other is light bred. I'm excited to say the least. I have water troughs and feed troughs and getting couple bales of hay this upcoming week. Few questions on what type of feed do I need to get as well as What type of mineral do I need to put out and how much feed do I need to feed a week or just in general. And let me know if I'm missing anything. Suggestions would help a lot ?
 
Congratulations
Grass should be coming on. For the most part that should have feed covered. Buy some bags of cake to get to know them and trained to come to you. Check with your feed dealer( NOT TSC) about what mineral is used locally.
 
Congrats and good luck. Smart to start with some older experienced animals. Mineral should be offered free choice. Use a Hi-mag mineral in the spring due to fast lush growth of grass being low in magnesium.
We feed our hay free choice in big round bales. Don't know if that is what you have in mind. Our rule of thumb here in winter is 1 round bale per 20 head per day. Our bales are 5x5 and weigh in the neighborhood of 1000 to 1200 lbs. This is just an average general basic to work off of. If you feed small square bales you are going to have to figure at least 1 per cow per day at a minimum. If there is some grass/green growth, they will eat a little less hay.
As for feed. If they are used to getting feed, then try to find out what they were getting fed before. Easier to start with the same if possible. Beef cattle do not need alot of extra feed. Most of us feed a little to get them to come into a catch pen and to keep them calm and friendlier rather than them running wild with no human interaction. Maybe less than a third of a 5 gallon bucket a couple times a week? We feed about a 5 gallon bucket per 7-10 head twice a week or even only once a week. They learn what a bucket is for. If they are thin you might want to give it a little more often, but they are not dairy cows and do not need to be making tons of milk and they need to be able to go about being beef cows on basically hay and grass. They don't need to be too fat, but the one with the calf doesn't need to be losing weight either. The one that is short bred you don't want to get too fat as that can lead to calving difficulties.

Best of luck.
 
farmerjan":18jkuc1a said:
Congrats and good luck. Smart to start with some older experienced animals. Mineral should be offered free choice. Use a Hi-mag mineral in the spring due to fast lush growth of grass being low in magnesium.
We feed our hay free choice in big round bales. Don't know if that is what you have in mind. Our rule of thumb here in winter is 1 round bale per 20 head per day. Our bales are 5x5 and weigh in the neighborhood of 1000 to 1200 lbs. This is just an average general basic to work off of. If you feed small square bales you are going to have to figure at least 1 per cow per day at a minimum. If there is some grass/green growth, they will eat a little less hay.
As for feed. If they are used to getting feed, then try to find out what they were getting fed before. Easier to start with the same if possible. Beef cattle do not need alot of extra feed. Most of us feed a little to get them to come into a catch pen and to keep them calm and friendlier rather than them running wild with no human interaction. Maybe less than a third of a 5 gallon bucket a couple times a week? We feed about a 5 gallon bucket per 7-10 head twice a week or even only once a week. They learn what a bucket is for. If they are thin you might want to give it a little more often, but they are not dairy cows and do not need to be making tons of milk and they need to be able to go about being beef cows on basically hay and grass. They don't need to be too fat, but the one with the calf doesn't need to be losing weight either. The one that is short bred you don't want to get too fat as that can lead to calving difficulties.

Yeah the one with the calf a little thin and the owner told me he has them on a mixture of corn ..

Best of luck.
 
Bfields30":3scnpawc said:
Finally purchasing a couple older cows next week both 8 yrs old angus and red angus one has a char baby calf on her side and the other is light bred. I'm excited to say the least. I have water troughs and feed troughs and getting couple bales of hay this upcoming week. Few questions on what type of feed do I need to get as well as What type of mineral do I need to put out and how much feed do I need to feed a week or just in general. And let me know if I'm missing anything. Suggestions would help a lot ?


Congrats buddy
 
Keep loose mineral and loose salt out year-round. If you can find it, get EDDI salt. It has iodine added to help prevent foot rot (and I know from personal experience that it works). As others have said, you don't necessarily need to put out feed as long as there's plenty of grass, but it's a good idea to feed them once or twice a week to keep them gentle and easy to catch.
 
Rafter S":3sch687e said:
Keep loose mineral and loose salt out year-round. If you can find it, get EDDI salt. It has iodine added to help prevent foot rot (and I know from personal experience that it works). As others have said, you don't necessarily need to put out feed as long as there's plenty of grass, but it's a good idea to feed them once or twice a week to keep them gentle and easy to catch.
can I just put the mineral and salt in a small trough separately
 
ALACOWMAN":hzwkq38o said:
Congratulations,, Bet you are excited to get started,i was... It ain't rocket surgery. So don't pressure yourself..
Feel like a kid a again opening up Christmas presents.
 
Bfields30":24fzuc3h said:
Rafter S":24fzuc3h said:
Keep loose mineral and loose salt out year-round. If you can find it, get EDDI salt. It has iodine added to help prevent foot rot (and I know from personal experience that it works). As others have said, you don't necessarily need to put out feed as long as there's plenty of grass, but it's a good idea to feed them once or twice a week to keep them gentle and easy to catch.
can I just put the mineral and salt in a small trough separately

Yes you can , but I put both in same trough separate
 
Bfields30":3hwzt8lx said:
Rafter S":3hwzt8lx said:
Keep loose mineral and loose salt out year-round. If you can find it, get EDDI salt. It has iodine added to help prevent foot rot (and I know from personal experience that it works). As others have said, you don't necessarily need to put out feed as long as there's plenty of grass, but it's a good idea to feed them once or twice a week to keep them gentle and easy to catch.
can I just put the mineral and salt in a small trough separately

Probably so. I didn't mention it earlier, but I assume you have a place to put it out of the rain? If not, they make some divided feeders that sit on the ground, with a rubber flap the cattle lift up to get at the salt and mineral that work pretty good.
 
Make sure you have good fencing!

Good luck! And always post here with questions. There are always good people on here willing to help out.
 
Bfields30":21qi6buh said:
How many square bales = a round bale ??
Usual range is 15-25 but an unanswerable question without knowing the weight of the round bale or the squares.

Assuming 45 lb small sqs then there are 20 in a 900 lb round bale, 17 in a 765 lb bale and 25 in an 1125 lb round bale
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":37w0nm97 said:
The mineral needs to be kept out of the rain. You can get a 50 gal drum, cut a hole big enough for their heads to easily get in, and hang it under a tree.
That's the cheapest way I seen so far will for sure do that
 
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