What to feed calves

[bncsimps]

Howdy. I'm very new to this industry; small herd located in Hillsboro, AL. I have a four registered black angus calves that were calved in Sept/Oct this year. I'm curious as to what's the best type of feed to feed them. They've nursed fine since birth; the pasture is still in decent shape; and we've been feeding hay since late Oct. Thanks for the assist.

bks

 

[dun]

If they haven;t been weaned, minerals, water, hay/pasture is all they should need. If they've been weeaned, a cople of poundso f grain a day for a couple of weeks then turn them back out with water, minerals, hay/pasture.

 

[bncsimps]

If they haven;t been weaned, minerals, water, hay/pasture is all they should need. If they've been weeaned, a cople of poundso f grain a day for a couple of weeks then turn them back out with water, minerals, hay/pasture.

So what is all the hoop-la I hear/read about creep feeding calves for growth? Am I missing something here? Someone please explain as I'm trying to learn.

 

[rockridgecattle]

for us, creep feeding is out of the question. Really costly. We feed hay to our weaned calves and mineral and salt. The are groing well. May be a little slower, but the inputs are less, hopefully more $ in our pockets

We also have our future replacements in the pen. We do not want them to grow to fast or fat. Too fast and we will pay for it later on, too fat equals poor milkers and they will lose lbs on the grass in the spring rather than gain and grow.

 

[dun]

If they haven;t been weaned, minerals, water, hay/pasture is all they should need. If they've been weeaned, a cople of poundso f grain a day for a couple of weeks then turn them back out with water, minerals, hay/pasture.

So what is all the hoop-la I hear/read about creep feeding calves for growth? Am I missing something here? Someone please explain as I'm trying to learn.

With poor quality forage/hay while a calf is nursing creep will ease some of the nutritional load from the cow.

 

[Aero]

unless you are planning on selling them by the pound, you dont need to creep feed them while you have decent pasture.