Key points when feeding weaners
- Protein and urea. Suitable protein sources for weaners include soybean and copra meal. ...
- Dry licks and phosphorus. ...
- Rumensin. ...
- Special consideration for calves under 100kg. ...
- Segregation and yard/trough space is important. ...
- Timing/amount of feeding and monitoring intakes. ...
What do calves need to be weaned?
Weaners require good quality hay and supplements immediately upon weaning to maintain an active rumen and a positive growth rate. If the feed on offer is good quality wet season pasture that is highly digestible and high in protein, calves weaned as light as 100kg don’t need any supplements.
What do you feed weanlings?
Weanlings are often used to feedstuffs such as grass and hay, which are not rich in nutrients, so producers must find a way to balance the familiar feedstuff with new, nutrient-rich feeds. The dry matter intake on calves is often about 1 percent of body weight, Waggoner said.
What supplements do I need when weaning my cattle?
When weaning occurs with adequate green feed available, the only supplements that may be required are phosphorus, copper, cobalt or selenium. TIP: Complete a chemical analysis of grazing pastures to work out the availability of these minerals on your property.
What is the best way to get calves to eat?
A quality, palatable starter feed will get calves eating quickly during the first 10 to 14 days post-weaning and help them stay healthy. Does your cattle nutrition program stack up?
What do you feed a weaner calf?
Weaners: 1 to 4-5 weeks oldMilk replacer should be fed at about 10% of body weight per day. From about one week of age, calves need only be fed once per day. ... Ad lib access to a high energy, very high crude protein (18-21%), grain-based ration. ... Good quality hay (ad lib).
What is the best thing to feed 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.
What is the cheapest way to feed cattle?
“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. Distillers' is often a low-cost source of both energy and protein.
What is the best grain to feed 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 best feed mixture for beef cattle?
Cattle weighing 700 pounds or more should be fed a ration containing 11 percent crude protein in a ration composed of grain (usually corn, but barley and wheat are often also used), protein sources, and roughage.
How do you fatten up a cow quickly?
0:222:30Cattle Fattening Techniques - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThey grow normally well when given the right feed adequate feeding is attained through grass pastureMoreThey grow normally well when given the right feed adequate feeding is attained through grass pasture grain and roughage is supplemented with protein minerals vitamins carbohydrates.
How long should you grain feed a cow before slaughter?
The Food and Drug Administration requires cattle to be implanted 100 days before slaughter and removal of hormone feeds from the ration 48 hours prior to slaughter.
Do you have to feed cows 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.
What is a weanling's diet?
Weanlings are often used to feedstuffs such as grass and hay, which are not rich in nutrients, so producers must find a way to balance the familiar feedstuff with new, nutrient-rich feeds.
Why is it important to keep calves eating?
“It is important to keep the calves eating because there are many times where we create more problems for ourselves in a weaning program by getting ahead of the calves and offering them too much feed ,” Waggoner said.
What is the K-state Hays weaning protocol?
Waggoner referenced a series of studies called the K-State Hays weaning feed management protocol, a step-by-step process used to wean calves so it would be standardized across different treatment groups. It transitioned the calves from a grass and milk diet to some sort of a total mix ration.
What happens if you don't feed your cows?
If they do not eat properly there’s an increased risk of disease. * Feeding both cows and calves a small amount of a supplement or the weaning ration out of a bunk prior to weaning when the calves are with the cows can be a good way to acclimate them to those feeds.
Is spring beef weaning good?
GARDEN CITY, Kan. – As spring beef calves are beginning to be weaned, it is the producer’s responsibility to help make that transition as smooth as possible. Improper weaning can result in poor growth, which may stay with the animal through its life, according to Kansas State University animal scientist Justin Waggoner.
What to feed a weaned calves?
What to feed weaners. Weaners require good quality hay and supplements immediately upon weaning to maintain an active rumen and a positive growth rate. If the feed on offer is good quality wet season pasture that is highly digestible and high in protein, calves weaned as light as 100kg don’t need any supplements.
What supplements are needed for weaning?
When weaning occurs with adequate green feed available, the only supplements that may be required are phosphorus, copper, cobalt or selenium. TIP: Complete a chemical analysis of grazing pastures to work out the availability of these minerals on your property.
What is the challenge for northern beef?
The main challenge for northern beef enterprises is when calves are weaned during a period of declining feed quality. So, supplementation programs need be designed for weaners of various weight ranges on a low or declining level of nutrition as shown below.
Is it good to supplement heavy weaners?
There may be little benefit in supplementing heavy weaners unless their survival is compromised by other events such as sudden cold/wet periods. Other benefits created by good weaning supplementation practices include: selling steers earlier. ensuring heifers achieve their critical mating weights at joining.
Feed availability and space
It is important to remember what feeding was like when the piglet was with the sow – food was ad-lib and sociable.
Transition
Training the gut by introducing solid food before weaning is important. Young piglets have milk-digesting enzymes, but low levels of carbohydrate-digesting enzymes. Solid food offered in the farrowing house will aid production of the latter.
Explore more Know How
When creep feed was introduced at seven days of age, 80.2% of piglets were eating creep at weaning
Suggested intakes
Feed intakes will vary greatly depending on animal health, diet quality, availability and feeding skills. A rough guide to total intakes of diets and daily feed intake targets can be seen below.
Water
Pigs that don’t drink, don’t eat. Good water drinking is required to maintain feed intakes and growth rates (see “Water specifications” below), so producers should look at:
Acidification of water
With piglets no longer consuming milk, they do not have as much lactic acid in their stomachs. This increases gut pH, providing an ideal environment for bacteria to proliferate, which can cause post-weaning diarrhoea.
How to feed cattle urea?
You need to mix 3 kg of urea with a bucket of straw. Not only that, but it’s also great to add 300 to 400 grams of molasses to the mixture as well. This is to add the right nutrients for the cattle’s health. That mixture would fill up all the needs that these cattle might have for their growth and not only that but they are going to be growing at exceptional rates so you will get them to fatten up pretty quickly.
Why are cattle grown?
Cattle are grown all across the world for milking them and for their meat as well. When it comes to the cattle, the fat they are, the more meat they are going to have and that would make them better to be consumed as food. That is why a number of people are concerned about getting the best grain to fatten up the cattle.
Can you give rye berries to cattle?
Rye Berries are the perfect choice for you to get your cattle. That would make it a perfect fit for their daily diet. Ray Berries have fiber is not only the grain but also the kernels. With Rye Berries, there are seldom chances of anything going wrong and you should give them to the cattle as a whole for them to graze on it and grow fat rather quickly with all those fibers and other nutrients from the Rye Berries, you will get your cattle to fatten up exactly as you like them to be.
