I have a question

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

I've googled and can't find anything about any study on this. Do calves gain better fed in the mornin or evenin? or does it make a difference?

I know if you feed cows in the evenin when it's close to time for them to calve, they will be more likely to calve in the daylight hours. But I was just wonderin about feedin times with calves.

Well I say calves.....what got me wonderin is, Lil Lilly's Commercial heifer pen usually gets fed in the evenins. For the simple fact that they aren't here at the house, they are on the other side of town where all the rest of our cows are, and it's just not handy to go feed in the mornin's. She gets up and feeds her horses here, and then we feed her heifers in the evenin. We got to talkin last night and I wondered if they were fed in the mornin, would it make a difference in their gain.

Anyone know???

[Mike]

Calves do better when fed 2-3 times per day.

[Jason]

The only difference in once a day feeding is the time when the weather is hottest/coldest. If the weather is hot and the animals won't eat as much because digestion creates heat, you lose gain. If the animals get cold because you missed the digestion factor in the coldest part of the day (night) you can lose some efficiency.

Most research says you can gain some from being able to feed more smaller portions, i.e a TMR that is available all day/night. I know that isn't feasible in most situations.

As long as they are fed consistantly, morning or evening isn't a big deal.

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Well these are all between 15 and 18 mo old now. So they really aren't calves persay. They are around 700 lbs now.

The last two years we've fed, we had an average of 3.4 lbs a day gain, but the feed we are using doesn't have a limiter in it, so it can't be in a bunk. They get 7 lbs of feed per day, along with free choice hay and they are in a small coastal pasture. The last two months before the fair we bumped em up to 10 lbs a day.

[fedup2]

You might find some useful information here.

http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/animal/az1054.pdf

[Jason]

Your not pushing them hard enough to gain from a split feeding. The difference in gain can be genetic, or the feed quality. Substitutions in rations is common based on price, not all feeds are equal even if a nutritionist says they are.

[Mike]

[Turkey Track Bar]

Lilly:

I googled this and found a mountain of research and data:

"Bunk management effects on cattle gain"

Including this from OK State:
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/research/1998rr/15.html

and this from Colorado State:
http://ansci.colostate.edu/files/research_reports/06ResearchReports/Schutz.pdf

This article talks about the number of times a day cattle are fed and it's effect on feedlot performance and carcass characteristics.

A good nutrition contact in Texas for you would be Dr. Ron Gill, TAMU...

This is the contact info. for him, that I got off the web:
Ronald Gill, Ph.D.
Professor & Extension Livestock Spec.
Texas Cooperative Extension
1229 N. US Hwy 281
Stephenville, Texas 76401
Office: (254) 968-4144
E-mail: RGill@ag.tamu.edu

I have emailed Ron a couple of times, and he's always very helpful. One note is that TAMU has some pretty good SPAM blockers in place so if you do email, and don't hear back from him, give him a call.

Hope this helps...

Cheers---

TTB

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Thanks TTB for takin the time to look that up. I guess I wasn't using the right words in my google searches. But from the first article, it says morning fed is more efficient and gain faster.

I"m not displeased at all with the rate of gain the heifers have had in the past. I just had the "wondering thought" of if it made a difference in what time of day they were fed. So now I know LOL

It still would be really inconvenient to hafta go feed in the mornings, but we'll talk about it. means gettin up an hour earlier ever mornin (which that part I won't like a bit LOL) I'm sure Lil Lilly will have somethin to say about that too, she goes to bed at about 8:30 as it is, on her own. I'm all for the kids doin the work for their projects theirselves, that's the whole point of the program. Several of the "competition" have openly admitted that they have "Jose" that works for them feed their heifers and the kids never see em till it's time to show. She has always done the biggest majority of her feedin of all of her critters.
If we could get the feed we buy with a limiter to bunk feed it would make it much simpler, but it's not available. But this way too we know exactly what they get each day, and you hafta know that for the record book. We buy by the ton from a feedlot. And it's much cheaper than what they sell at the feedstore, and we seem to get better gains than the others feedin alot less lbs per day.
The first set of heifers we had, we did what everyone else does. Go to the feedstore and ask them, "what kinda feed do you have for show heifers?" Then it was $8.95 for #50 bag, recommended to get them up to #25 per head per day. The heifers wouldnt touch a bale of hay, which if you read the tag on the bag it's mostly roughage (that's why you hafta feed #25 a day) That's $27.00 a day in feed alone for 5 heifers. When now we feed (when they get to #10 a head per day) 1 #50 sack that costs us $4.95 a bag and get better gains than the feedstore feed.

[Northern Rancher]

I actually read some research where they did better fed later in the day. We feed our 4h calves about 5'00 in the afternoon so the kids aren't stumbling arund out there in the dark before school. Not really light here till after 9'00 this time of year.

[Faster horses]

As far as free choice feeding with a limiter, remember this Lilly,

"You can't manage what you can't measure."

These have been good words for me to remember.

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

I don't mind havin to go out and feed daily, gives you a chance to monitor not only the feed but if there's anything else that might need attention. It would be too tempting if there was a free choice bunk feeder to say, "oh they'll be alright not checkin on em for one day" This way that don't happen