What and why supplements do you use?

[CowboyRam]

Besides the mineral blocks....bread, green beans, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, apples, lettuce, pineapples, oranges, pasta, cake, corn flakes, blueberries, strawberries, radishes, sweet potatoes, de-pitted peaches, de-pitted plums, cantaloupe, watermelon, whole corn, bananas, banana peels, orange peels, grapes, pears, cucumbers, oats, grits, asparagus, apple cider, apple juice.
The only food -supplement cows didn't like and would not eat it....WAS Drum-Roll.......White Hominy. Although it's a corn product...cows don't like it and won't eat it. Told my wife to never buy Hominy again...if cattle won't eat it...I shouldn't be eating it either.

My ex wife tried feeding me some couscous once, I told her never ever buy that again.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Besides the mineral blocks....bread, green beans, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, apples, lettuce, pineapples, oranges, pasta, cake, corn flakes, blueberries, strawberries, radishes, sweet potatoes, de-pitted peaches, de-pitted plums, cantaloupe, watermelon, whole corn, bananas, banana peels, orange peels, grapes, pears, cucumbers, oats, grits, asparagus, apple cider, apple juice.
The only food -supplement cows didn't like and would not eat it....WAS Drum-Roll.......White Hominy. Although it's a corn product...cows don't like it and won't eat it. Told my wife to never buy Hominy again...if cattle won't eat it...I shouldn't be eating it either.

Who could argue with logic like that?! I could add zucchini and also I can't figure out a way to induce them to try tomatoes.
It is my unsolicited opinion , a cow that eats table scraps is more likely to try an odd plant or grass that another cow will pass up.
which aids in better utilization of resources.

 

[Little Joe]

Besides the mineral blocks....bread, green beans, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, apples, lettuce, pineapples, oranges, pasta, cake, corn flakes, blueberries, strawberries, radishes, sweet potatoes, de-pitted peaches, de-pitted plums, cantaloupe, watermelon, whole corn, bananas, banana peels, orange peels, grapes, pears, cucumbers, oats, grits, asparagus, apple cider, apple juice.
The only food -supplement cows didn't like and would not eat it....WAS Drum-Roll.......White Hominy. Although it's a corn product...cows don't like it and won't eat it. Told my wife to never buy Hominy again...if cattle won't eat it...I shouldn't be eating it either.

Ration that I finish with is 50% hominy and they eat it fine.

 

[TexasBred]

Ration that I finish with is 50% hominy and they eat it fine.

But your probably referring to hominy feed. A great ingredient.

 

[Little Joe]

But your probably referring to hominy feed. A great ingredient.

Yes I am, I didn't realize it was different

 

[kenny thomas]

Yes I am, I didn't realize it was different

What is the difference? I'm not sure either is available here.

 

[Little Joe]

What is the difference? I'm not sure either is available here.

Maybe @TexasBred will explain it to us

 

[anewcomer]

Use a pretty good quality loose mineral,year round. With our poor quality hay, we feed 1:1 cotton seed meal and white mixing salt to improve consumption of hay. If cows cannot maintain condition, go to 2:1 meal:salt. Protein aids in utilization of poor quality hay and increases consumption to fill requirements.

 

[TexasBred]

Maybe @TexasBred will explain it to us

Joe here's a copy/paste:

Hominy feed is a mixture of corn bran, germ and unextracted starchy portion of the kernel. It is a high energy feed can replace corn in livestock and poultry rations. It equals corn protein content. Hominy feed can effectively same as a basic ingredients for dairy cattle feeding is superior beef cattle finishing feedstuff.​

 

[greybeard]

Mine wouldn't eat flour tortillas from the bread store. Corn tortillas YES! but not the big flour burrito tortillas. Horses gobbled them up tho, but would touch the corn tortillas..

(my father bought bread store old bakery products by the pickup truck load. It was a pita to unwrap em all, especially since he insisted we save all the plastic coated wire ties that closed the bread sacks. NEVER let bread sit in a closed up 55 gal drum too long. It goes into a mostly liquid form, thick with maggots and has a pungent aroma you will never forget.)

 

[Dave]

All of mine get loose minerals and a salt block. The main ingredient in their diet is grass hay. The 4 weight steers get 2 pounds of cracked corn a day and about 5 pounds of alfalfa every third day. The old broken mouth cows get about 27-28 pounds of grass hay a day and about 12 pounds of alfalfa twice a week. Grass hay gets cut back the appropriate amount on alfalfa days.

 

[TCRanch]

Mine wouldn't eat flour tortillas from the bread store. Corn tortillas YES! but not the big flour burrito tortillas. Horses gobbled them up tho, but would touch the corn tortillas..

(my father bought bread store old bakery products by the pickup truck load. It was a pita to unwrap em all, especially since he insisted we save all the plastic coated wire ties that closed the bread sacks. NEVER let bread sit in a closed up 55 gal drum too long. It goes into a mostly liquid form, thick with maggots and has a pungent aroma you will never forget.)

$10 a rack and they loved it!

 

[Dave]

I know a guy who had a smallish feedlot in western Oregon. He was real close to a a taco shell factory and a processing plant that canned or froze green beans. He fed steers on broken and waste taco shells and silage of green bean waste put up from the bean plant. He got both of those basically for hauling them off. This was also in the heart of grass seed country. He would add some grass seed straw to the mix to give the cattle some fiber. All three ingredients were nearly free. He was also a cattle buyer, buying kill cows. So he was at the sale 4 days a week. He would buy steers for himself that were cheap that day.