What is the cheapest way to feed cattle?
— The cheapest way to feed a cow is when she feeds herself, said Travis Meteer, University of Illinois beef Extension educator. “One great way to extend the grazing season is corn stalk grazing. It’s a no brainer,” he said on a warm Nov. 5 evening not far from where about 200 cattle grazed at the Orr Beef Research Center.
What should you feed your cows this winter?
Twenty tips for winter feeding cattle
- Balance rations and test water. Test feed ingredients for moisture, protein, energy, calcium and phosphorus, at a minimum. ...
- Estimate feed intake. ...
- Wasted feed. ...
- Ionophores in rations. ...
- Limit feed. ...
- Emphasize condition. ...
- Later feeding. ...
- Mineral imbalances. ...
- Avoid abrupt change. ...
- Limit oilseeds, fat sources. ...
What to feed cattle to fatten them up?
To ensure a profitable income from fattening cattle, these below factors are to be considered:
- Age- Younger animals need a longer feeding period. ...
- Steers (castrated males) are chosen than heifers due to their inherent capacity to gain weight, grow faster and easier to manage.
- Disposition- An active yet mild, quiet and easily handled steer generally grow fast and fattens easily. ...
What winter supplement is best for cows?
Some basic recommendations for winter mineral supplementation programs are:
- Always provide trace mineralized salt as a minimum.
- Supplement phosphorous when forage is dormant unless distiller’s grain is being used as a protein source.
- Supplement copper if symptoms are present, but be sure to monitor copper status to ensure deficiency is solved without reaching toxic levels. ...
What do farmers feed cows in winter?
In cold weather, livestock animals require more forage to maintain body heat. Appetite increases. Feed them as much forage as they will clean up. Cows can do well on low quality roughages such as straw or mature grass hay (and consume more in cold weather) as long as they have adequate protein to go with it.
What do cows need in winter?
Try to maintain a few fields of cold-hardy grass that your cattle can graze through the winter, even with snow on the ground. Early in the season, use rotational grazing to section off a paddock or two with your electric fencing. In it, grow a tall, highly nutritious grass that will peak out from under a heavy snow.
What is the best thing to feed beef cattle?
Best Healthy Feed for Beef Cattle1) Grain Supplement. Grain can get cattle growing quickly and can help cattle get fat. ... 2) Hay. Hay can provide every important nutrient for cattle, but it has to be picked at the height of its nutrient richness À” that is, before it becomes too dry. ... 3) Pasture and Forage. ... 4) Concentrates.
How much grain should you feed a cow in the winter?
Cows will voluntarily consume about 2 percent of their body weight or 24 pounds per day. The 24 pounds is based on 100 percent dry matter.
Do cows need salt in the winter?
Cattle need salt in the winter In the winter cattle would be eating hay and possibly supplemental feed, so most of their salt needs would be taken care of. All feed sources, forages included, would naturally have some salt in them. Just to be sure keep a salt block available at all times anyway.
How do you feed cattle over the winter?
Feeding an additional 1 to 2 pounds of grain per head per day for every 10°C drop in temperature below -20°C improves energy levels in the diet to meet higher energy requirements. An additional 0.5 to 1.0 pounds of protein supplement may also be needed depending on the voluntary increase in straw consumption.
What is a good grain mix for beef cattle?
Corn, oats, and barley are the primary grains fed to cattle. Oats, which has a lower energy value due to its high fiber content, is considered the "safest" grain in regards to potential digestive disturbances.
What is the cheapest cattle feed?
“Corn residue is one of the lowest cost forages on a cost per pound of energy. That's why mixing a high energy and protein feed like distillers' grains with a low quality forage like corn stalks is so cost effective.
How much grain does a beef cow need daily?
10-15 lbs. per day of corn, oats or barley fed to grazing cattle is a good finishing ration. This fed to a 900-1000 pound steer for 3-4 months should will you a nicely finished animal. If you do not have access to pasture or if you are finishing during the winter, you might increase the amount of grain to 15-18 lbs.
Do cows need grain everyday?
The grain finished cattle need to be checked regularly and fed daily. They live in the pasture their entire lives and also receive natural grain during the last 6 months of their life. It's up to them on if they eat the grass or grain.
Are whole oats good for cows?
Oats is an ideal grain for starting cattle on feed because of its high hull and fiber content. Many experienced cattlemen prefer to start weaned calves on oats as the only or major grain, gradually shifting over to higher-energy grains as the animals become adapted to grain consumption.
How can you mitigate cold stress?
Cold stress mitigation should start with keeping cattle warm. Offering protection from the elements like bedding, windbreaks, snow breaks and a place to get out of the mud can all help keep cattle warm and dry. Protecting cattle from wind, rain and snow isn’t always enough, however.
Why do cows have weaker calves?
Nutritional deficiency resulting from cold stress can lead to cows producing lighter and weaker calves. Low-quality colostrum and later return to estrus in the breeding season can also result, compromising conception rates and weaning weights. Strategies for managing and feeding cattle in the winter can help alleviate cold stress ...
Why do cows spend less time grazing?
Cows will likely spend less time grazing as temperatures decline. Less grazing time results in reduced forage intake which makes it challenging to meet cow energy requirements. Feeding cattle in winter with low-quality hay might not be enough to offset reduced forage intake.
What does LCT mean for cows?
The LCT helps us understand when cows start experiencing cold stress. See the chart to the right for LCT broken down by hair coat. As temperatures decrease, cow nutritional requirements increase. Add in precipitation or wind and requirements increase even more.
How much energy does a cow need to maintain body condition?
However, cow body condition scores impact nutritional requirements. A cow in a BCS 5 needs 30% more energy to maintain body condition than a cow in a BCS 6 at 32 degrees.
How much TDN does a cow need?
A third trimester 1300-pound cow requires 13 pounds of TDN at 32 degrees. However, at 0 degrees the same cow needs an additional 4 pounds, or roughly 17 pounds of TDN. For comparison, the temperature drop means the same cow now requires 8 more pounds of 50% TDN hay.
What is cold stress?
Cold stress occurs when cattle require more energy to sustain basic bodily functions at a specific temperature, called the lower critical temperature (LCT).
Why is hay important for cattle?
High quality hay is a great source of energy for your cattle. Intakes will increase in the winter, so purchasing and storing high quality hay is crucial. To ensure adequate nutrition, have your hay sent in for a forage analysis. Match animal nutrition requirements to the quality of your forage. For example, heifers and thin cows require a more energy dense diet, compared to older or fleshy cows. Sorting animals into groups based on body condition allows you to feed the available forage more effectively.
How to prevent hay loss?
The best way to prevent losses from storage is to store all hay in a barn or shed. If that is not possible, the next best options, according to University of Tennessee research, are net wrapping your bales, or storing them covered on tires .
What is a drylot?
First, we will define an animal feeding operation (AFO). Drylots are AFOs with total containment of runoff and manure (Figure 1) . Lots are usually dirt surfaces that are shaped and sloped to engineering specifications to allow proper drainage and collection of runoff.
Why is wintering important for beef?
Wintering sites selected and managed to maintain consistent vegetative cover will minimize the environmental risk of runoff and seepage when compared with bare ground. Additionally, the cost from the buildup of manure and bedding can be mitigated by utilizing practices that limit confinement.
What are some management practices that can help with nutrient filtration?
Management practices such as buffer strips or leaving crop residue can aid in nutrient filtration and reduce pollution from wintering sites.
Why is it important to move cattle?
Allowing limited access and moving cattle frequently is important for uniform manure distribution. Additionally, it can reduce feed waste (Berger and Volesky, 2006). Depending on snow accumulation, a moveable electric fence system can be utilized for consistent grazing across a pasture.
How does manure affect water quality?
Manure nutrients, such as phosphorus, can reach surface water through runoff and cause oxygen-limiting algae blooms. Nitrogen in manure can pollute ground waters through leaching. Additionally, changes in regulatory guidelines may precipitate a need for changes to traditional winter cattle management practices.
How long should a portable windbreak be?
A durable option would be portable windbreaks constructed on 25-foot lengths of pipe frame with board slots, guardrails or sheets of steel (Figure 5). Paneling of 6 to 10 inches works well.
What are some examples of cattle management practices?
Some examples are winter feeding cattle in a field or the installation of a clean-water diversion at a wintering or calving site. Although costly, permitted drylots are another common and effective way for cattle producers to meet the regulation criteria.
What should cows be given to clean up?
During extremely cold or windy weather, cows should be given all the hay they’ll clean up, or a protein supplement on dry pastures to encourage them to eat more. As long as protein is adequate, cows can process/ferment sufficient roughage to provide energy and body heat.
What to feed a cow after calving?
An adequate, balanced diet may merely mean adding a trace-mineral supplement to native pasture, some good hay, a protein supplement if grass becomes too dry, or hay if the grass becomes depleted or snowed under. If a cow is deficient in protein or phosphorus through fall and winter, she won’t rebreed on time after calving. Plus, thin cows are unable to handle the stress of bad weather and lose more weight. And, it takes more feed to put weight back on a cow during cold weather.
What is the body condition score for cows?
James England, University of Idaho DVM, says cows must be in good condition (preferably a body condition score 6) to handle weather, calving and rebreeding. “With adequate condition at the start of winter and good maintenance throughout, most animals winter well. But, without adequate nutrition, anything else we do is set up for failure,” he says.
What are the factors that influence a winter feeding program?
Many factors influence a winter-feeding program. These include climate and grass growth ; whether pastures snow under and can’t be grazed; the available forage your climate or operational design (irrigated vs. nonirrigated pastures, forage varieties, crop aftermath, etc.) allows; and the type of cattle.
What is the most important factor in cow management?
But, probably the most important factor affecting winter cow management is matching cattle to the environment and your management style. Cows that need extra feed to maintain body condition and remain in the herd under “normal” conditions aren’t the kind of cattle you want. If pastures are managed properly, forage-efficient cows won’t lose weight during fall or winter grazing.
Why do cattle need more energy?
In cold or stormy weather, cattle need more energy to maintain body heat. This can be adequately supplied by forages, since fermentation breakdown of roughage in the rumen produces heat. If cattle aren’t fed additional energy, they rob body fat to keep warm, and lose weight.
How do stockmen reduce winter feed costs and labor?
Some stockmen reduce winter feed costs and labor by relying less on harvested forage. This strategy might include stockpiling pastures or windrowing forage for winter use, or bale grazing (leaving big bales in fields for cattle to eat).
Why is it important to estimate forage intake?
Selk says that estimating forage usage by cows is an important part of the task of calculating winter feed needs. "Hay or standing forage intake must be estimated in order to make the calculations. Forage quality will be a determining factor in the amount of forage consumed. Higher-quality forages contain larger concentrations of important nutrients so animals consuming these forages should be more likely to meet their nutrient needs from the forages. Also cows can consume a larger quantity of higher quality forages," he says.
Do cows eat forages?
Higher-quality forages contain larger concentrations of important nutrients so animals consuming these forages should be more likely to meet their nutrient needs from the forages. Also cows can consume a larger quantity of higher quality forages ," he says.
Why do cows need cubes?
Cattle Cubes. Cattle cubes help your herd maintain both their weight and condition because they are formulated to supplement fair and low-quality forage. Cattle cubes provide the protein, minerals, and vitamins a cow’s forage sometimes lacks. Cattle cubes come in several different sizes, making them easier for your cattle to eat.
What to do if cattle have insufficient forage?
With insufficient forage, cattle need feed. You should take action right away if you know that your herd’s grazing will be limited. You could simply reduce the number of cows in your herd, which would immediately reduce the amount of supplemental feeding the remaining cows require.
Why is pelleted feed digestible?
Another reason pelleted cattle feed is more digestible is the thermal process used to manufacture it. The thermal process locks in amino acids and other nutrients, providing better nutritional benefits for your cattle.
What is textured feed?
Textured cattle feed is made from flaked corn, molasses, protein pellets, and several other energy sources. It is also fortified with macro and micronutrients, vitamins, and other natural ingredients. Because it contains molasses, textured cattle feed is often referred to as “sweet feed.” Today’s textured cattle feed, which uses less molasses than in the past, still provides an advantage; it makes the feed more palatable, which is good news for your cattle.
What are cattle cubes?
Cattle cubes come in several different sizes, making them easier for your cattle to eat. Most cattle cubes contain 20% crude protein but also can be found in higher protein percentages. TIP: To reduce competition among your herd, your best choice is to feed them with ground, free-choice cattle cubes.
Why is it important to have enough forage for cattle?
The quantity of forage available to your herd is paramount to their health and longevity. With insufficient forage, cattle need feed. You should take action right away if you know that your herd’s grazing will be limited.
What do cows eat?
Most of a cow’s life is spent eating grasses and hay. During the spring and summer, when the grass grows plentifully, beef cattle eat more pasture grasses. During the late fall and through the winter cattle are fed hay. In a perfect world, this rotation—grass in the growing season and hay through the fall and winter—would be enough.
