summer drylot -light calves

[Anonymous]

I'm in SE Kansas and am seeing lots of 350 to 400 lb heifers in the salebarns that noone seems to want. At 75 cent/lb they look cheap. My pasture is taken by cow/calf operation. Average alfalfa hay is worth 80/ton and soyhulls, grain, DDG, and other suppliment ingredients are less than 100/ton. I've never drylot cattle this size through the summer before but I'm tempted. Anyone have any experience or advice that my be helpful? Thanks.



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[Anonymous]

If I was you I'd grab about 120 head of those heifers and put them on a ration of DDG, Soyhulls, and corn. We've been doing it for a couple years and have had great luck the cattle always look great we always end up moving a few to the freezer. Jake

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[Anonymous]

> If I was you I'd grab about 120
> head of those heifers and put them
> on a ration of DDG, Soyhulls, and
> corn. We've been doing it for a
> couple years and have had great
> luck the cattle always look great
> we always end up moving a few to
> the freezer. Jake No roughage at all? I thought the hulls might be too digestable to count for all the fiber.

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[Anonymous]

Not much if none at all if you think they are over-eating give them a bale of straw for something for them to chew when they get bored other wise if you get the right ration you don't need the roughage.

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[Anonymous]

how long are they fed on that low structure diet???

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[Anonymous]

I believe it was a hundred days or maybe a few more I don't remember right now haven't done the math for a while.

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[Anonymous]

correction it is 180 days so your looking at december if you buy them right now.

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[Anonymous]

that's a long time on o low roughage diet. no problems with rumen pH going too low?

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[Anonymous]

> Heifers here (S. Louisiana) 350-400 lbs. will cost 85-95. I guess there's no getting over that cost? What is DDG? I sure would like to find some nitch in the cattle business other than the cow-calf market. I buy thin stock in Oct. and winter them on rye until Apr. and turn a few bucks, but if some die or the market turns sour, it too is a loss.



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[Anonymous]

We've only had two calves in 3 years have problems. And they got bored and ate themselves sick. The bale of straw that gives them entertainment is all they have needed to stay in good shape and finish well

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[Anonymous]

DDG stands for dry distillers grain. It's the afterproduct from the corn or milo used to make ethanol. You have to get a mixed mineral bag to make up for some of the nutrients lost in making the ethanol but since we've been using them on calves and our cows the whole herd is easier to handle and disposition was helped in some of the highstrung animals. Which was an unexpected plus. I doubt the disposition thing is true for everybody though. Good luck

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[Anonymous]

We finish out cattle on a no roughage diet, the slow ones may be on it for up to 6 months, and we have had very few problems.

In the past we would feed holsteins a no roughage diet for up to a year, but we did have a pretty high rate of foundering. Probably around 5% of steers would have at least a touch before they were finished.