Winter protein for the dollar

[Limomike]

For the winter-time, what kind of protein do you feed to get the most bang for your buck? Creep pellets? Liquid tub? Alfalfa? Just curious as to what everyone uses.

 

[LimiMan]

38% cubes, by far the best bang for your buck.

 

[Redman]

rye or whole cotton seed

 

[Redman]

rye or whole cotton seed

 

[msscamp]

For the winter-time, what kind of protein do you feed to get the most bang for your buck? Creep pellets? Liquid tub? Alfalfa? Just curious as to what everyone uses.

We fed a mixture of beet pulp (10-12% protein), and ground grass/alfalfa/straw hay. We also put out a Beef-lyx (made by Crystl-X) tub. Nothing got grain, except for the weaning calves. When snowstorms hit, our 50 head of cattle got an additional 12-15 small square bales/day of afalfa and grass - at the rate of 1 bale of alfalfa for every 2 bales of grass.

 

[msscamp]

rye or whole cotton seed

I believe I would be very careful with whole cotton seed - the last I knew, it causes sterility in bulls.

 

[dun]

rye or whole cotton seed

I believe I would be very careful with whole cotton seed - the last I knew, it causes sterility in bulls.

Temporary sterility in bulls

 

[msscamp]

rye or whole cotton seed

I believe I would be very careful with whole cotton seed - the last I knew, it causes sterility in bulls.

Temporary sterility in bulls

Oops - thanks for the correction, dun. I apologize for the misinformation, Redman.

 

[dun]

When we needed to feed extra protein we hand fed corn gluten one winter. That was after we had culled to the bone.

 

[Chris H]

We'll be supplementing cornstalks with dried distillers grain & corn.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Lots of talk about how to better utilize wet distillers grain. Apparently some folks are mixing it with cheap fiber and putting it into a bunker silo or a pile. This sounds like a lot of handling unless you already have a tub grinder and a feeder wagon...

Any thoughts on how to handle distillers grain?

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

38% cubes, by far the best bang for your buck.

I agree. No waste. They come runnin like you were giving them candy.

 

[TSR]

When we needed to feed extra protein we hand fed corn gluten one winter. That was after we had culled to the bone.

At about what rate did you feed the corn gluten?

 

[rk]

In this area, especially with abundance of grass, I don't know of a better buy than a good liquid supplement, in most situations.

 

[dun]

When we needed to feed extra protein we hand fed corn gluten one winter. That was after we had culled to the bone.

At about what rate did you feed the corn gluten?

Around 2-3 lbs a head a day. Depending on how fast an eater a particular animal was.

 

[Limomike]

In this area, especially with abundance of grass, I don't know of a better buy than a good liquid supplement, in most situations.

Liquid feed is what we normally go with during the winter.

 

[hayray]

For the winter-time, what kind of protein do you feed to get the most bang for your buck? Creep pellets? Liquid tub? Alfalfa? Just curious as to what everyone uses.

Last winter while grazing winter pasture once the snow was flying and the stockpiled grass went way down in protein I fed roasted soybeans at 2 lbs./day/head. The roasted beans are less than the meal in protein but real high in energy also because the fat is still in the beans. This summer during the drought on pasture I used the Crystallex HP 40% protein tubs. The tubs are expensive but for labor reasons I think they pay for theirselves in certain situations. I could not get to all my cows everyday in the summer and feed them buckets of soybeans.

 

[grannysoo]

I think that you'll find different answers to the question based upon what is available in each of our local market.

As for me:

Bermuda Grass Hay
Liquid Molassas
Peanut Hay

 

[Limomike]

grannysoo.. how does that peanut hay do for you?

 

[gabby]

grannysoo.. how does that peanut hay do for you?

I ain't grannnysoo, but I will say my girls will practically knock you down to get peanut hay. I fed quality coastal bales along with it and they wouldn't touch the coastal till the goober hay was vacuumed up.