What to feed my cattle

[Anonymous]

I am new to the cattle raising business, am looking for some advice on feeding. I have 3 black angus heifers between the ages of 9 mths and 1 year. They are on pasture now and I have been feeding them a cattle finisher since they were weaned, as well as cattle cubes a few times a week. I need advice on what to continue to feed them now???

 

[KNERSIE]

Take a few photos, post them along with their weights and you'll get much more usefull responses.

Too little info, but it sound OK. Be carefull with the finisher not to get them too fat. All the good hay they can eat should be sufficient.

 

[Anonymous]

thx I will do that.

 

[BlackBaldyMan]

Yeah I wouldnt be using a finisher on heifers, just possibly a light COB mix or no grain at all like was mentioned. We grain our show heifers but replacement commercial heifers get haylage and thats it.

 

[Anonymous]

These are horrible pics but here goes...dont hold back...

 

[Anonymous]

Also at what age should I stop feeding them as calves? Do they need anything besides hay while pregnate and nursing?

 

[BlackBaldyMan]

Late gestation and early lactation are the times were the greatest needs of minerals, protein, and energy have to be fed.

 

[Anonymous]

So how long on the lactating moms do you recommed the grains? How long do you feed your calves grains?

 

[KNERSIE]

The condition on your heifers looks OK considering the time of year. A finishing ration is typically a high energy feed with the purpose of putting on fat. Fatty deposits in the developing udder of a heifer can have serious negative effects on future milking ability and obesity have the same effect on fertility. Your heifers are definately not too fat at the moment.

I would make sure they have enough GOOD quality hay and supplement them with a little proteien. That way they can utilise the hay to produce their own energy.

Good green grass is all that a bred heifer needs provided that she is in good condition to start with. The same goes for a lactating cow. As soon as the grass stop growing in the fall/winter and the quality goes down you can consider supplementing with a little grain, before that it shouldn't be neccesary.

 

[Anonymous]

What is best to use to supplement protein?

 

[BlackBaldyMan]

Protein blocks

 

[blk mule]

This may help, I have found feeding 1% of body wt. Feeding corn gluten & soyhull mix. around 13% protein,will do excellent job for heifers of this age, and they do not become over wt.
Also i feed mixed hay free choice. If they were to become a little over wt. just reduce the feed mix but, i doubt you will have problem with this ration.

Good Luck !!!

blk mule

 

[vs_cattle]

Momma Cows Need More Feed To Produce The Milk The Calves Need Also Is There Much For Them To Forage?

 

[Herefordcross]

good hay, good mineral, good water. Is all you need, unless the weather streeses 'em or there are other factors and assuming that they have been wormed, etc.

 

[guyrob]

make sure you give them about 1kg of cammomile each day. it will really help them grow.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I am new to the cattle raising business, am looking for some advice on feeding. I have 3 black angus heifers between the ages of 9 mths and 1 year. They are on pasture now and I have been feeding them a cattle finisher since they were weaned, as well as cattle cubes a few times a week. I need advice on what to continue to feed them now???

All cows need to eat is grass thats it nothing else, period. A cow/calf that can not grow get fat on hay and grass you have the wrong cows and they need to go to hamburger.

 

[preston39]

I am new to the cattle raising business, am looking for some advice on feeding. I have 3 black angus heifers between the ages of 9 mths and 1 year. They are on pasture now and I have been feeding them a cattle finisher since they were weaned, as well as cattle cubes a few times a week. I need advice on what to continue to feed them now???

=========
B & L..,

Their condition is reasonable.

What is your objective with the heifers? If it is to keep and breed..... at their age... pasture and hay.

During cold periods 2 x daily we give a ration of crushed whole-cob-grain-soy hull-alfalfa hay mix....of about 1% of the body weight....total...just for nutritional purposes...not for fattening.

If you have other objectives for them...it could be different.

 

[Anonymous]

yes we plan on keeping them to breed. I also have a new bull calf that I would like to keep for a bull calf if he looks good when hes a little bigger. Does he need anything else? If so what and when?

 

[preston39]

Nope.....same.

 

[cowcrazy07]

Since you said you don't have much experience, you might go to this website to get an idea of what kind of shape your cattle are in. To me they look to be about 5/6 ? with all that hair it makes it hard to see. http://www.cowbcs.info/ It gives body condition scores for angus cattle-we usually try to keep them a 4/5 after calving thru weaning period where they will re-breed. After breeding season just good grass/hay/mineral and water should be all they need since they have 9 months to pick the weight back up. As for heifers same applies- you want them 65%(12-14months) of their mature weight at breeding and 85%(21-23mo.) at calving. Managing your inputs is what makes or breaks you- unless this is show cattle that you need extra finish on, keep you feeding simple and low cost. Hope this helped.