smallrancher
Well-known member
What percent of weight are some of you feeding grain to your weanlings?
weaning
- Thread starter smallrancher
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For heifers we are retaining we start them out at around 1/2% gradually work it up to about 1 1/2 percent then usually at about 30 days taper them off to nothing by 45 days and turn them out to pasture with the cows.smallrancher":1x99y989 said:
Steers and heifer going to the feedlot we do the same except they stay on grain the whole 45 days or so till the get shipped. This year we did the steers the same as the heifers since we're holding them till spring to sell.
smallrancher
Well-known member
thanks dun
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
It also depends on your weather. I have pretty easy fleshing cattle, but if I didn't keep my replacements on grain, they would be a pretty sorry sight by spring.
We start out at about 1/2% body weight and increase to about 5#/hd/day - that's where they are at right now. I will keep them at that, unless I see their BCS changing and I will adjust. And they get our best baleage.
We start out at about 1/2% body weight and increase to about 5#/hd/day - that's where they are at right now. I will keep them at that, unless I see their BCS changing and I will adjust. And they get our best baleage.
Douglas
Well-known member
dun":3pq709b6 said:
Dun is this in addition to grass and hay. I have 10 heifers I am retaining and will be feeding my best hay and maybe some stockpiled grass. Would you still add the feed as well?
We use a creep feeder for weaning. We buy the cheap creep feed and grind a roll of our good alfalfa and a roll of "pasture trash" to bulk up the mix. Calves don't need grain like dun says, it just helps with the transition. I have weaned them on a mix of ground alfalfa and "pasture trash" but it takes more work.
There are other issues that go with how you wean them. The main one for most would be weaning weight. If you bulk them up on grains for weaning and put them back on to grass afterwards I found they don't gain weight very well for 30 to 60 days because there body has to readjust to grass. I keep them on pretty good pastures during weaning.
I know a few farms that use milk pellets or milk replacer mixed with good ground hay for weaning. But once they don't leave the moms with them long once they put out there weaning mix.
There are other issues that go with how you wean them. The main one for most would be weaning weight. If you bulk them up on grains for weaning and put them back on to grass afterwards I found they don't gain weight very well for 30 to 60 days because there body has to readjust to grass. I keep them on pretty good pastures during weaning.
I know a few farms that use milk pellets or milk replacer mixed with good ground hay for weaning. But once they don't leave the moms with them long once they put out there weaning mix.
Let mamma cut them off. It might not fit into your operation but the mammas that I did test did a good job and the numbers were not that bad (compared to others that got little grain during weaning at 1 year old). I tried it on 5 of them one year.
I don't want to fill them full of grain. If you feed good hay out of a grinder it works well to.
What's that saying I keep reading in a lot of treads? Ahh I found it. "This all goes back to the old thing that ANY animal should only be kept in an environment that it can flourish in." (Thanks Running Arrow Bill) How many times have you seen Mother Nature put grain in the woods for cattle?
I know I'm going to he11 for saying that. I know that there is a lot of you'll that are not into the grass fed market so what I do will not work for you. Yes there are higher weights with feeding the grain at weaning and that's how you'll make the money witch is cool.
The other post should have been worded differently with you can bulk up the grain with some grass to cheapen the mix, but this will affect the end weight. For them to get to the grain they will get some filler that will help them wean, but will not give the weight that most of you want and need.
I don't want to fill them full of grain. If you feed good hay out of a grinder it works well to.
What's that saying I keep reading in a lot of treads? Ahh I found it. "This all goes back to the old thing that ANY animal should only be kept in an environment that it can flourish in." (Thanks Running Arrow Bill) How many times have you seen Mother Nature put grain in the woods for cattle?
I know I'm going to he11 for saying that. I know that there is a lot of you'll that are not into the grass fed market so what I do will not work for you. Yes there are higher weights with feeding the grain at weaning and that's how you'll make the money witch is cool.
The other post should have been worded differently with you can bulk up the grain with some grass to cheapen the mix, but this will affect the end weight. For them to get to the grain they will get some filler that will help them wean, but will not give the weight that most of you want and need.
How many years have you seen Ma Nature maintaine a 365 day calving interval and a 45 day calving season to say nothing of sticking her arm up their butt to get better quality calves?mobgrazer":uy8s0l5e said:
SRBeef
Well-known member
There are good points made here.
Personally I feel that there is, as in most things, a middle ground between the grass-only and high-grain schools of thought.
Someone earlier commented that they gave the weaned calves grain because their rumens couldn't hold enough roughage at first. I find a little grain for the weaned calves along with good mineral and hay availability seems to keep them growing. I guess I've averaged about 2.5 lb of grain mix per 600 lb calf per day in the month since weaning.
Some of the weaned calves, especially the larger steers, seem like they are always at the hay feeder, some don't seem to eat quite so much hay. They also seem to be going through about 0.8 lb of Mineralyx and about 0.25 lb of kelp per day per calf. The kelp is an experiment.
It's tough to say what their hay consumption has been since there is so much waste with the calves and std ring feeder and I moved it to give them some hay to bed on when the temp was near zero (F) last week.
They seem to be doing fairly well. I guess what I am trying to say is that I feel there is a useful middle ground between pure nature's way and pure man's way.
Here's a a picture of some of the now month-weaned mostly calves
View attachment 1
Personally I feel that there is, as in most things, a middle ground between the grass-only and high-grain schools of thought.
Someone earlier commented that they gave the weaned calves grain because their rumens couldn't hold enough roughage at first. I find a little grain for the weaned calves along with good mineral and hay availability seems to keep them growing. I guess I've averaged about 2.5 lb of grain mix per 600 lb calf per day in the month since weaning.
Some of the weaned calves, especially the larger steers, seem like they are always at the hay feeder, some don't seem to eat quite so much hay. They also seem to be going through about 0.8 lb of Mineralyx and about 0.25 lb of kelp per day per calf. The kelp is an experiment.
It's tough to say what their hay consumption has been since there is so much waste with the calves and std ring feeder and I moved it to give them some hay to bed on when the temp was near zero (F) last week.
They seem to be doing fairly well. I guess what I am trying to say is that I feel there is a useful middle ground between pure nature's way and pure man's way.
Here's a a picture of some of the now month-weaned mostly calves
View attachment 1
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
What I was trying to point out is that MOTHER NATURE is a bit different in different locations. Mother Nature is a lot different between NY & Wisconsin & VA. Weaned calves battling near zero temps have a difficult time maintaining their body weight without a decent suppliment.
Yes, there is a middle of the road between full grass fed & full grain fed. It is economical to feed some grain in harsh weather.
Yes, there is a middle of the road between full grass fed & full grain fed. It is economical to feed some grain in harsh weather.
