winter nutritution
- Thread starter tncattle
- Start date
randiliana
Well-known member
That is all we do.
herefor-hereford
Member
Depends on the hay. I've fed hay that did it all and hay that is only a filler at best.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Hay, cubes, water and fresh air.
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herefor-hereford
Member
All hay is not created equal
Had to use alot of protein tubs this year due to most of the hay being overmature Johnson grass. The fescue I have ain't so great either and the heard is calving now plus I was worried that the heifers weren't developing well. Could have minimized this by cutting hay a little earlier.
Breds get hay & mineral - open replacements get shell corn w/ hay & min
Jake
Well-known member
Couple pounds of distillers and as much crop residue as they can eat.
Lucky_P
Well-known member
We limit-feed; Cows are held in a 'sacrifice lot', they get an hour and a half at the hay feeders each morning - works out to 10-15#/hd/day - then they come out to eat 7-8# dry distillers' grain product. That's it until the next day. Free-choice loose mineral. They'd like more(don't they always?), but it's enough to meet their nutritional needs.
Started this regimen in 2007 when hay was in short supply and unbelievably expensive. Cows came through the winter in better shape than they'd ever been when they had all the sorry locally-produced 'hay'('residue' would better describe it) they could eat - and they're much easier to handle now than they were 4 years ago.
Once all the purchased hay is fed out, they go to stockpiled fescue.
Started this regimen in 2007 when hay was in short supply and unbelievably expensive. Cows came through the winter in better shape than they'd ever been when they had all the sorry locally-produced 'hay'('residue' would better describe it) they could eat - and they're much easier to handle now than they were 4 years ago.
Once all the purchased hay is fed out, they go to stockpiled fescue.
tncattle":3cwoyzh0 said:
This is not a one scenario fits all kind of thing. What we did in the winter depended on what the winter was like, what the hay was like, how much hay we had, and what the overall condition of the cows was like. Obviously, when there was significant snowfall on the ground, hay was fed so the girls maintained their body condition. How much hay and when it was started depended on the circumstances, whether or not we were in drought, and what the body condition of the girls was. Living in Wyoming, our winters are worse than yours, so our feeding of hay started much sooner, and cattle cake was also fed on a daily or every other day basis depending on the circumstances. How much and how often depended on how bad the winter was as well as how much snowfall we got. What, exactly, is it that you're trying to figure out here?
Lucky P - there was a reseach about limit feeding cows and was very successful. That would be our next management change that we "should" do. My lazyness is the biggest factor. That would mean I had to physically let them in & get them out. Our cows are wintered in one of our "back lots". Not always easily accessable walking our 4-wheeler. More like snow shoes or tractor. I'm getting too old to ADD labor intensive management practices - although it would help keep me in shape :banana:
And the research did not recommend it for c/c pairs - just wintered dry cows.
And the research did not recommend it for c/c pairs - just wintered dry cows.
Lucky_P
Well-known member
Jeanne,
We started limit-feeding in 2007 - out of necessity. Disastrous Easter freeze followed by severe drought(1" of rain between May 10 and October 30) decimated pastures and locally-produced hay was virtually nonexistent. Some folks were paying $90/roll for cornstalks or CRP residue harvested in late October.
It was a case of 'limit feed, or sell out'.
It worked so well - and the cows came through the winter in so much better condition than they had in the past - that the farm manager(my wife, also a DVM{retired}) decided that we'd just continue doing it.
More time-consuming than labor intensive, really. She goes out at 5 am, lets the dry cows/weaned heifers in to hay, then goes back to bed. At 6:30 we put out the distiller's grain, the first group comes into the barnlot to eat DDG, and the Fall cows/calves come in to eat hay. When the first group finishes their grain ration, we drive them out and put out the DDG for the second group, then go to the house for breakfast. At 8 am she lets the second group in to eat grain, closes the gate to the hay lot, and lets them depart the barnlot at their leisure. She can then go on to her tennis game or whatever and close the barnlot gate when she comes home. Three hours, and not all that physically demanding.
When we started, we were primarily a spring-calving operation, with just a few fall-calving cows, but we've moved more and more to fall calving in the meantime. I will say that this year's fall cows have not all maintained the body condition that I'd like to see - 1st calf heifers, especially - even though the fall calves are 'creep grazing' stockpiled forage in the creekbottom field adjacent to the sacrifice lot(there's a high spot in the fence where it crosses a waterway - calves can/will go in/out, but the cows won't try it). About half the fall herd cycled back in timely manner and most appear to have stuck on 1 AI service, but some we just turned to the bull we've not seen in heat; Time will tell, however, whether they bred back or not.
Calves all grow up knowing what feed & feedbunk are - weaning and getting 'em started on feed is no problem; the next person down the production chain should have no issues there. Manageability of the herd as a whole is markedly increased. One person can pretty well cut out individual animals at the gate now without 'em getting crazy - 5 years ago, that would have been unimaginable.
We started limit-feeding in 2007 - out of necessity. Disastrous Easter freeze followed by severe drought(1" of rain between May 10 and October 30) decimated pastures and locally-produced hay was virtually nonexistent. Some folks were paying $90/roll for cornstalks or CRP residue harvested in late October.
It was a case of 'limit feed, or sell out'.
It worked so well - and the cows came through the winter in so much better condition than they had in the past - that the farm manager(my wife, also a DVM{retired}) decided that we'd just continue doing it.
More time-consuming than labor intensive, really. She goes out at 5 am, lets the dry cows/weaned heifers in to hay, then goes back to bed. At 6:30 we put out the distiller's grain, the first group comes into the barnlot to eat DDG, and the Fall cows/calves come in to eat hay. When the first group finishes their grain ration, we drive them out and put out the DDG for the second group, then go to the house for breakfast. At 8 am she lets the second group in to eat grain, closes the gate to the hay lot, and lets them depart the barnlot at their leisure. She can then go on to her tennis game or whatever and close the barnlot gate when she comes home. Three hours, and not all that physically demanding.
When we started, we were primarily a spring-calving operation, with just a few fall-calving cows, but we've moved more and more to fall calving in the meantime. I will say that this year's fall cows have not all maintained the body condition that I'd like to see - 1st calf heifers, especially - even though the fall calves are 'creep grazing' stockpiled forage in the creekbottom field adjacent to the sacrifice lot(there's a high spot in the fence where it crosses a waterway - calves can/will go in/out, but the cows won't try it). About half the fall herd cycled back in timely manner and most appear to have stuck on 1 AI service, but some we just turned to the bull we've not seen in heat; Time will tell, however, whether they bred back or not.
Calves all grow up knowing what feed & feedbunk are - weaning and getting 'em started on feed is no problem; the next person down the production chain should have no issues there. Manageability of the herd as a whole is markedly increased. One person can pretty well cut out individual animals at the gate now without 'em getting crazy - 5 years ago, that would have been unimaginable.
Lucky - thanks for you explaination. It's got to be a good way to save hay - also less wasted hay.
I realized it wouldn't be labor intensive DOING the ins & outs - it would be labor intensive for ME to get to them to put them in & out due to the location. We winter two groups "out back" - not like it's major far - maybe takes 15 minutes to walk back there and as I said, it's not that I couldn't use the exercise. Just wouldn't want to be committed to doing that on a time schedule twice a day. Like, we just got about 10" fresh snow today. On days that I don't feed back there, I take the quad - but sometimes I can't do that.
I realized it wouldn't be labor intensive DOING the ins & outs - it would be labor intensive for ME to get to them to put them in & out due to the location. We winter two groups "out back" - not like it's major far - maybe takes 15 minutes to walk back there and as I said, it's not that I couldn't use the exercise. Just wouldn't want to be committed to doing that on a time schedule twice a day. Like, we just got about 10" fresh snow today. On days that I don't feed back there, I take the quad - but sometimes I can't do that.
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