what are people using as roughage

[EKUgrad]

...to mix with their ground feed? We have been out of it for several years and plan to give it a go again this fall. In the past we used ear corn, but it is much harder to come by now and our corn picker is shot. I almost bought one yesterday at a sale, but I really wanted a two row. BTW, someone got a one row for a steal yesterday -- $275 for a New Idea 323 that was kept inside and never picked over two acres in any year -- almost perfect condition. First time that I have ever had non-buyers remorse....

Back to the subject -- someone told me to use soybean husks which can be gotten from a few local places. what do y'all think?

 

[Bez]

I have some questions to ask you in response to your question.

When you grind your feed, what is it you are grinding?

Oats? Barley?

Are you adding anything to it - ie: mineral?

Is your operation a feedlot style, or are you garzing cattle - then parking them in a winter yard and feeding hay when the snow comes?

Now, what we do. We are a cow calf operation and during the summer, we strictly use grass and mineral.

In the winter there is no need to add any roughage to hay fed animals - just roll the grain - whatever it may be - and feed it out. Provide mineral free choice, or mix with the grind.

Cheapest way is ALWAYS the best - money cannot be made when feeding from a sack - and I am sure you know this already.

Regards,

Bez

 

[farmer rich]

Wheat or barley straw works fine for me

 

[frenchie]

I like oat or barley straw for roughage especially, if the kernals were cured. And it was cut a little on the green side.That way we still get get grain and decent quality roughage.

 

[MrBilly]

we use cotton seed hulls.

Billy

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Roughage = Hay + Pasture.

Cattle Need: Roughage, Minerals, Salt, Water.

Bonus: Grains, Bagged Feed, Range Cubes, Etc., for other purposes.

 

[EKUgrad]

I have some questions to ask you in response to your question.

When you grind your feed, what is it you are grinding?

Oats? Barley?

Are you adding anything to it - ie: mineral?

Is your operation a feedlot style, or are you garzing cattle - then parking them in a winter yard and feeding hay when the snow comes?

Now, what we do. We are a cow calf operation and during the summer, we strictly use grass and mineral.

In the winter there is no need to add any roughage to hay fed animals - just roll the grain - whatever it may be - and feed it out. Provide mineral free choice, or mix with the grind.

Cheapest way is ALWAYS the best - money cannot be made when feeding from a sack - and I am sure you know this already.

Regards,

Bez

The last time we did it (a few years back, in the early 90's -- after which we gave up b/c we were barely breaking even) we fed out 15-20 steers using ground ear corn. We have a mixer/grinder and added soybean meal to the mix. It seems that we added a small amount of something else to it that was bought in small plastic bags, but for the life of me I cannot remember what it was. They were fed a little hay as well.

Since that time we have been a cow/calf operation similar to you with pasture supplemented with mineral block and hay/mineral through the winter.

When we did feed some out, they were kept in a smaller field of probably 10-15 acres or so. We had one feeder that we kept full of ground corn and a couple of homemade jobs that we would line with hay and corn once or twice a day, depending on how much they were eating. We let them get to about 700 - 800# before throwing the corn to them and finished them out over the next 2-3 months with most of them around 1200#, anywhere from 11-1350#. Again, this is all from memory, from my high school years at that, so don't shoot me if the numbers don't add up perfectly. These were angus mix mutts, heavy on the Angus with a little Simmental and/or Charolais thrown in (for some color, you know ;-) )

 

[Bez]

Well, from what I read I would not worry about adding anything to the grain - they got hay for roughage.

Bez