Growing your own feed despite the cost of time and equipment can have many benefits. Having an inventory on hand can reduce some risks of short supplies. It can also help protect you from any seasonal price volatility. Both energy and protein production can better match your herd’s requirements for simple feed use.
However, despite all of this, there is still the risk of the weather turning against you. Weather events in the weeks, days, and even hours leading up to the harvest can ruin your best efforts. It can transform a carefully raised feed source into a nutritional time bomb. If you are not careful, it can not only reduce your production. Still, it can also endanger the lives of your animals.
Times of extreme stress, like currently with the drought, can cause a build-up of nitrates. While consuming some of them is not bad for your animals, if they eat too much of them, then it can become deadly. Here are some things to look for to prevent this from happening.
Breeding season puts a lot of demands on cows. During this time, she is expected to provide adequate nutrition for her calf while her body recovers from giving birth. Then she is expected to return to estrus just before she is bred again. All of this is expected to occur within 90 days after calving to maintain a yearly calving interval.
Having to feed supplements is sometimes necessary for cattle operations. That being said, it is something other than what most ranchers like to do. Feed costs remain the single most considerable expense for any cattle producer. The amount really depends on different things, but it can easily be half of the total annual expenses.
Providing a feed supplement to cattle that are grazing in certain areas is pretty common and for good reason. Cattle are often not able to get enough from just rangelands to meet their nutritional requirements. Producers have many choices when it comes to feeding supplements. But it is best to be careful when deciding what supplements to use.
Salt, along with other minerals, is necessary to sustain life in cattle. Much like humans they are essential building blocks for living beings to perform at their best. It is needed for the body to perform even the most basic of functions.
A feed tag is a very informative but often overlooked item on a commercially produced feed. Other than looking at the Crude protein or maybe the energy content not many people really look at them. With some of the confusing numbers and such listed on them, it is understandable how that can happen.
A good pasture is the foundation of any profitable livestock operation. It provides the forages needed to not only sustain but also allow the livestock to grow. Having enough forages for all of the animals is important to keep your feed costs down to a manageable level. However, keeping a pasture at this level can be a little complicated.
When it comes to the cattle industry there are many myths floating around the internet. Many of these are simply misunderstandings but mostly from a lack of knowledge. One where chocolate milk comes from brown cows is one that immediately comes to mind. Now while some may be innocent there are some that are spread by people with more than malicious intent.
Formulating a ration for cattle is key to any successful beef operation. There are times when forages alone will not supply what the cows need for the stage they are in. When it comes that time you will need to provide a supplement that will fill in the gaps to keep them producing.
Roughages are an important but often overlooked part of a cow’s diet. Most of the time people only focus on things like crude protein, energy, and mineral content. While those are vital for the overall production of cattle roughages play just an as important role. Consuming a certain amount of roughage is important to keep the rumen functioning in allowing the digestion of things like protein, energy, and minerals.
