tubs

[farmguy]

Due to so much rain after a dry start my winter grazing will not be the best. I have not used tubs much so I would like advise. I plant a cover crop mixture with sorghum sudan. This spring I planted at the usual time, late may, after a late spring. I sprayed with roundup just before planting. Then the pigeon grass (foxtail) came as I have never seen before. One neighbor had a great looking wheat crop then the pigeon grass took over. Another had soybeans completely taken over by the grass but spray saved the crop. I could not spray due to the variety of plants.
How do you decide best tub? Protein level? Natural protein? Now a loaded question are Rio tubs worth the cost? Thanks farmguy.

 

[BRYANT]

IF, I feed tubs, most of the time I use range meal rather than tubs, but some times I will use a tub I like a cooked tub and I don't like tubes that are getting their protein from chicken feathers. TexasBred can probably give you way better info on this than me.

 

[Rajela]

I feed the "Feed in a Drum 20%" tubes because that is what the local feed store carries. I drop the IGR after the flies leave.

https://feedinadrum.com/products/n-20-igr-fly-control/

 

[wbvs58]

You could try drilling an annual ryegrass into your pastures in autumn to boost the winter grazing.

Ken

 

[callmefence]

Pvm 28is a very good tub imo. Pretty sure is 7 percent natural , the rest from utea. They are hard as glass except in the hottest weather.

http://www.standleyfeed.com/product/pvm ... rotein-tub

 

[Texasmark]

We have a really responsive feed store close by. The owners are BTOs in the area and the store fits right in with their requirements. I can order anything I need and they can get it, usually by the following Monday when the truck arrives.

They stock 2 tubs, one with feathers and the other without. Prices are different as you would suspect. I have fed both. Main thing I look for is a tub that the cows can't eat in a day.....on adequate good quality hay. Some of it has less binder and that's where it's not profitable. It just comes off in chunks.

 

[sstterry]

We have a really responsive feed store close by. The owners are BTOs in the area and the store fits right in with their requirements. I can order anything I need and they can get it, usually by the following Monday when the truck arrives.

They stock 2 tubs, one with feathers and the other without. Prices are different as you would suspect. I have fed both. Main thing I look for is a tub that the cows can't eat in a day.....on adequate good quality hay. Some of it has less binder and that's where it's not profitable. It just comes off in chunks.

And which do you choose? Just curious.

 

[Texasmark]

We have a really responsive feed store close by. The owners are BTOs in the area and the store fits right in with their requirements. I can order anything I need and they can get it, usually by the following Monday when the truck arrives.

They stock 2 tubs, one with feathers and the other without. Prices are different as you would suspect. I have fed both. Main thing I look for is a tub that the cows can't eat in a day.....on adequate good quality hay. Some of it has less binder and that's where it's not profitable. It just comes off in chunks.

And which do you choose? Just curious.

The nutrients are pretty close but the expensive one is the cheapest for the reason given and my choice. My cows didn't show hook and pin bones but weren't Humpty Dumpty either.

 

[farmguy]

How do you know if there are feathers? Labeled as such or another way? How is protein source listed? thanks farmguy

 

[Ebenezer]

Urea in tubs sounds good for high protein but cattle can only utilize a maximum % like 7 or 11. Other is for sales talk of high protein and passes through the cow for no use. Tubs are as expensive feed as you can buy. Bulk feed or other choices can be fed every other day for good results. Feather meal is largely a waste. Also used in dog food.

 

[callmefence]

Urea in tubs sounds good for high protein but cattle can only utilize a maximum % like 7 or 11. Other is for sales talk of high protein and passes through the cow for no use. Tubs are as expensive feed as you can buy. Bulk feed or other choices can be fed every other day for good results. Feather meal is largely a waste. Also used in dog food.

The part about tubs being the most expensive feed is incorrect. In some cases tubs can be the cheapest feed you can by.

 

[Brute 23]

Urea in tubs sounds good for high protein but cattle can only utilize a maximum % like 7 or 11. Other is for sales talk of high protein and passes through the cow for no use. Tubs are as expensive feed as you can buy. Bulk feed or other choices can be fed every other day for good results. Feather meal is largely a waste. Also used in dog food.

The part about tubs being the most expensive feed is incorrect. In some cases tubs can be the cheapest feed you can by.

:nod: They are only expensive if you don't count time, labor, equipment, and other infrastructure to feed other feeds.

 

[Ebenezer]

Urea in tubs sounds good for high protein but cattle can only utilize a maximum % like 7 or 11. Other is for sales talk of high protein and passes through the cow for no use. Tubs are as expensive feed as you can buy. Bulk feed or other choices can be fed every other day for good results. Feather meal is largely a waste. Also used in dog food.

The part about tubs being the most expensive feed is incorrect. In some cases tubs can be the cheapest feed you can by.

If that is good for you, it's good for me.

 

[Ebenezer]

Urea in tubs sounds good for high protein but cattle can only utilize a maximum % like 7 or 11. Other is for sales talk of high protein and passes through the cow for no use. Tubs are as expensive feed as you can buy. Bulk feed or other choices can be fed every other day for good results. Feather meal is largely a waste. Also used in dog food.

The part about tubs being the most expensive feed is incorrect. In some cases tubs can be the cheapest feed you can by.

:nod: They are only expensive if you don't count time, labor, equipment, and other infrastructure to feed other feeds.

It only takes any of us a #2 pencil and the back of an envelope to know what works.

 

[callmefence]

Urea in tubs sounds good for high protein but cattle can only utilize a maximum % like 7 or 11. Other is for sales talk of high protein and passes through the cow for no use. Tubs are as expensive feed as you can buy. Bulk feed or other choices can be fed every other day for good results. Feather meal is largely a waste. Also used in dog food.

The part about tubs being the most expensive feed is incorrect. In some cases tubs can be the cheapest feed you can by.

:nod: They are only expensive if you don't count time, labor, equipment, and other infrastructure to feed other feeds.

That's exactly right.

 

[farmguy]

I thought I posted this but it got lost. Ebenezer I agree that tubs are expensive protein and feed. But here in Minnesota when the snow is two feet deep and the drifts around buildings much higher they have there place. Cattle will make trails to bale feeding and winter grazing. A snowmobile can drag tubs where needed. Cubes dumped on the snow will be a waste, farmguy

 

[callmefence]

The part about tubs being the most expensive feed is incorrect. In some cases tubs can be the cheapest feed you can by.

:nod: They are only expensive if you don't count time, labor, equipment, and other infrastructure to feed other feeds.

It only takes any of us a #2 pencil and the back of an envelope to know what works.

As long as you include all the numbers.

 

[Brute 23]

I'm not saying tubs are a silver bullet by an means. We run in to a lot of times when we have plenty of grass but the protein is pretty low most likely due to high temps and/ or lack of rain. Tubs can fill a gap and put off all out hay or grain feeding until (hopefully) the next rains come.

Some of our operations are quite spread out. Just making it by every place once a week is cost and labor intensive. We would not be able to operate going every other day. Its not an option.

 

[TexasBred]

Urea in tubs sounds good for high protein but cattle can only utilize a maximum % like 7 or 11. Other is for sales talk of high protein and passes through the cow for no use. Tubs are as expensive feed as you can buy. Bulk feed or other choices can be fed every other day for good results. Feather meal is largely a waste. Also used in dog food.

Cattle can utilize up to 25% of the crude protein in a feed from Non Protein Nitrogen sources (urea). Protein from any source can pass through the cow if she's feed excessive amounts of protein. Tubs are expensive from the viewpoint of initial cost but if you value your time and the convenience of having a protein source available for the cattle at all times it takes some of the sticker shock away. Most good cooked tubs use high quality protein sources (soybean meal or cottonseed meal) while some will use feather meal in an effort to make a high protein tub while also advertising it as "all natural protein". Feather Meal is 80% crude protein but not highly digestible, stinks to high heaven and is usually disclosed as "animal protein by-products". It's simply feathers from chickens or turkeys that have been processed, dehydrated and sold. Just another use of what would otherwise be wasted. There may be some dog foods that use it but I'm not aware of any.

There is only so much you can do with a molasses tub. I checked the Rio Tub at their website. They advertise a lot of bells and whistles (and they are there) but you also will see that they do not use the premium quality of these additives but go with the lower cost brands. As for intake control, just cook it until it sets up hard as a brick. That thin 1" layer on the top of the tub will soften each day due to humidity and that is what that cattle will and can eat.

 

[elkwc]

Our experience last fall and early winter was the tubs were close to the same cost as feeding cake on a regular basis. Especially when you consider you don't have to go check pastures but twice a week when using the tubs. We go every other day feeding cake unless it is cold and have to go everyday to break ice and check everything. When that happens it is cheaper during that time to feed cake only. This year I plan on using both. A feeding trip for us is 40-60 miles depending on what pastures we are using. So every trip we eliminate saves money in fuel.