What do you supplement with and how do you store it?

[SSS Angus]

I'm looking to hear what everyone likes to supplement with and how you all store it. Right now I'm supplementing with Purina show chow and range cube mix. Buying the developer by the 50 lb bag is a bit of a pain in the ass and a little on the pricey side so I would like to buy in bulk but I don't have a way to store it. I have been looking at small silo's but can't find anything that's not several thousand$$. I would like to ideally pick up a used one that a local rancher no longer uses but have yet to find one. I would also like to hear what everyone prefers to supplement with along with what exactly it is there supplementing(IE: Heifers, bred heifers, cows bred or un bred, bulls, ect.). I would like to hear any and all opinions. :)

 

[Wewild]

In the spring, summer, and fall we feed grass. In the winter we feed hay when they need it.

 

[SSS Angus]

In the spring, summer, and fall we feed grass. In the winter we feed hay when they need it.

Thats why I said "supplement", and not "feed". ;-)

 

[Bez]

I think Wewild was trying to say there is no supplement.

We use a bag of mineral - topping it up year round - nothing else is really required.

A bit of corn when the weather hits minus 20 - 30. A lot of corn when it goes below minus 40.

Sack feeding is a money loser.

Regards

Bez

 

[Wewild]

I think Wewild was trying to say there is no supplement.

We use a bag of mineral - topping it up year round - nothing else is really required.

A bit of corn when the weather hits minus 20 - 30. A lot of corn when it goes below minus 40.

Sack feeding is a money loser.

Regards

Bez

I think your right.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

My cows also only get grass & hay, but my weaned calves are supplimented with a 14% protein pelleted feed. And this time of year we are feeding our showstring a pelleted feed.
We used to buy in bag, but got too old to buck the 100# bags & they were too costly.
We put a used stainless steel "hopper" up in our hayloft, cut a hole in the floor of the hayloft & built a chute so I can pull a board on the bottom to fill buckets or let it flow into a tub to scoop up. We can puchase 3-5 tons at a time. We had to put in a blower pipe for the truck to hook up to & fill the hopper. We put a tarp over the top of the hopper, just in case the roof of the barn leaks. Wet pellets is not good!!!!
Before you purchase anything, find out what the minimum number of tons your feed company will deliver. Ours is 3 tons. An old hopper wagon will work.

 

[dun]

We've never had to supplement in the past very much but when we did we used corn gluten pellets. That was during the last drought.
During this drought we're using Mix 30, it's a liquid and we just keep it in old water tubs until we need it then dump it into the water tub in the pasture.
It's claimed in their literature and we're finding it to be true that we have fewer flys on the cows since they;ve started getting the stuff. In normal years they are on good pasture (even if it is fescue) and other then minerals that's it. This year they;re on fescue stubble and stems.

dun

 

[TXBobcat]

In the winter, I feed round coastal hay bales, and supplement with some range cubes. I don't feed a lot of cubes, so I don't really want to store several tons. I have asked around and finally found a feed store that will let me purchase by the ton, but I only have to take a few sacks at a time. This fall I plan to order a couple of tons, and then pick them up a little at a time, say 10-20 sacks at a time.

 

[Dee]

Right now, since they are on pasture, it's just salt and bagged mineral. When the replacements come up to the yard I have corn cracked and put in a feed hopper bin, (bought it from a hog farmer that retired) and auger it out into the feed wagon every day. They also get soybean meal, which I put in a poly water tank with a tarp over. It holds 2,000#. Scoop out into buckets, dump into the loader and dump into the feed wagon. And also gluten or distillers, which I set up bales into a rectangle shape on an old cement pad from a grain bin that's no longer there, the truck backs in and dumps it, put a tarp over the bales, and scoop up with the loader, dump into the feed wagon. Creep feed is in a grain wagon with a hydraulic auger. Hook it up to the tractor, and make the long trip to all the pastures to fill the feeders. I keep that in the quanset. Cubes are just a treat here, so I always keep a few bags around incase I need to lead the girls, or call them into a corral to capture someone.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

I'm looking to hear what everyone likes to supplement with and how you all store it. Right now I'm supplementing with Purina show chow and range cube mix. Buying the developer by the 50 lb bag is a bit of a pain in the ass and a little on the pricey side so I would like to buy in bulk but I don't have a way to store it. I have been looking at small silo's but can't find anything that's not several thousand$$. I would like to ideally pick up a used one that a local rancher no longer uses but have yet to find one. I would also like to hear what everyone prefers to supplement with along with what exactly it is there supplementing(IE: Heifers, bred heifers, cows bred or un bred, bulls, ect.). I would like to hear any and all opinions. :)

I'm originally from a family farm in SW Denton County. Can be hot & humid there in summer. Would not recommend storing but only a few bags of sweet feed at a time as it will tend to mold. May be same for other types of bagged supplements.

What we feed our seedstock Longhorn herd in Texas Panhandle is: Year around bermuda pasture (some of it is irrigated) plus round bales year around in each pasture. Use special "Longhorn" mineral tubs that are 30% protein along with another 2% mineral tub + free choice salt blocks. In cold weather and when pasture is really down, supplement with 20% range cubes--1 to 2 lbs a day per head. Last month of pregnant cows & 1st month after calving (mama & calf kept in a private paddock w/shed), get bermuda hay, sweet feed (Hi-Pro #287), plus little corn plus range cubes then turned out to pasture with rest of cattle. With this program, we've had excellent results with body condition, hair coat appearance, and health. Not all that expensive and works for us!

 

[Medic24]

We get them to eat grass as early and also as late as we can before we start feeding, why heck, we have even invested in extra large sunglasses for them, so if an early snow comes we put them on , and they eat the snow, and grass underneath, they dont know the difference cus everything looks green with those sunglasses on! 8)

Actually, we do suppliment with grain on those blustery days....but we have just got lucky and struck a deal with a neighboring farmer for extra rolls of hay this year at only 12 bucks each...so we will be loading them up with the hay..as much as they can stand I suspect. :cboy:

 

[Crowderfarms]

In warm weather, I feed about 100 lbs. of Range Cubes, a week, just to keep them used to me. Best way to store them on a small scale is in a Metal garbage can. Wont sweat like plastic, and keeps the mice out. Even if you buy cubes in bulk, you'll find them a little pricey, plus the cost of a bin to store em' in.

 

[Tod Dague]

We use cotton seed and are going to pick up a peanut wagon this week for pick up and storage. ;-)

 

[Jake]

we use Dried Distillers Grain (DDGs) for protien supplement in the winter along with salt and mineral year round.

The pellets make the cows a lot easier to handle, they get about 3 lbs. each time we check them to keep them coming to the bucket. heck of a lot easier and cheaper than gas or feed for a horse

 

[ALACOWMAN]

i start putting protein blocks out for my cows after first frost & just before i start feeding hay.i do feed my replacement heifers just enough to keep there body condition & growing i dont see how anybody rich or poor can aford to feed year round.

 

[lahunter]

I'm not sure what your definiton of supplements is, but use Ralgro to stimulate growth and weight gain. The stuff works real well and as long as you keep it out of the water and extreme heat, you're in good shape.

 

[milkmaid]

I supplement all my cows/calves with a mixed grain of some sort. Calves are growing, cow is raising 4 calves and needs a little bit of help so she doesn't drop weight, and of course the show steer gets the most grain of any of them.

I feed a mix of corn, barley, and cottonseed (with Purina Growena or Purina Show Chow for some). Store it in those 55 gallon plastic barrels. Cut the tops off, fill, put tops back on as lids...works great. I drill holes near the top so I can run rope handles in the barrels. They'll hold about 200lbs of grain so it works nicely. I go through...oh, an easy 50lbs of grain per day. May be more.

 

[msscamp]

From the first part of June til October our cows are on summer pasture and we only give them salt and mineral, from October until about the first to the middle of February they are on corn stalks or volunteer barley (depending on what the renter has planted) in the pivot and we supplement with alfalfa when it snows heavily or if they run out of feed plus salt and mineral, from the middle of February/beginning of March they are in a feedlot situation plus limited pasture and are supplemented with ground hay (alfalfa and straw), and beet pulp, plus salt and mineral, then the first part of June they go out to summer pasture again. At weaning time the middle to end of October, the calves are on ground hay and beet pulp, plus licorice flavored medicated pellets and a couple five gallon buckets of corn until about December, at which time they get ground hay + beet pulp (plus crystal x tubs) only. The steers are then sold (except for the couple kept for slaughter which continue to receive corn), and the replacement heifers continue until they go out to summer pasture the end of June or so.