cake

[tlakota]

So ive been reading on here for awhile and a lot of topics are about protein and cake. What exactly does it cost and the ways of feeding it? I have seen those hydra beds with cake feeders on them but those are to expensive for my operation. I graze a lot of cornstalks and need a little protein supplements. Are there other ways to feed the cake? and what does it run per cow per day? thanks
tlakota

 

[Cal]

If you're set up so you can feed distillers grain, or some other type of meal, you're money will likely go further. Cake is just more convenient. Talk to a good beef nutrition specialist.

 

[Anonymous]

. I graze a lot of cornstalks and need a little protein supplements. Are there other ways to feed the cake?
tlakota

Scoop Shovel :wink: :lol:

 

[Horseless]

I used to shovel it on to the back of the pickup, then put it in first gear and start shovel. Thats when I started teaching the kids to drive, put it in first and let them steer. Lots of fun rides there!! Even at times shovel into bucket of tractor and slowly sprinkled it off as I drove. Finally as the kids where in school and the herd got to big for shovelling, I bought a cake feeder, the shoveling days are over. Don't forget the auger.
You should have alot more sources of feed where you live, corn gluten, wheat mids and much more. Prices vary so much each year and the cost of pelleting has gotten high.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I have a heater oil tank cleaned out with an old auger laid in the bottom. It is driven by a 12V drill fill motor. The auger is in the original tube with holes in the bottom side. I have used it for corn and now small pellets. I had to open the holes up a bit for the pellets cause it doesn't run like corn.
Any old combines hanging around that the hopper could be salvaged from. I have seen a nice feeder made from a old CCIL pull type combine hopper.

 

[Soapweed]

So ive been reading on here for awhile and a lot of topics are about protein and cake. What exactly does it cost and the ways of feeding it? I have seen those hydra beds with cake feeders on them but those are to expensive for my operation. I graze a lot of cornstalks and need a little protein supplements. Are there other ways to feed the cake? and what does it run per cow per day? thanks
tlakota

The price of cake varies depending on the protein involved. Say that twenty percent protein cake is costing $200 per ton. That is 10 cents per pound. If you are giving two pounds per head per day, it is costing 20 cents per head per day for the cake. This is $6.00 per head per month just for the protein, without figuring the cost of hay, cornstalks, or whatever form of roughage they are getting.

Cake can be purchased in 50 pound paper sacks. This usually figures out to an extra $25 or $30 per ton over the price of cake in the bulk. For a small bunch of cattle, this is an easy way to feed the cake. When I was a kid, cake came in one hundred pound burlap bags. We'd always save the sacks for either feeding more cake later, or if they had holes in them, we'd wrap them around chains on "backrubbers". We'd dope these sacks up with insecticide for cattle fly control.

I've fed a lot of cake in these used burlap bags. We'd put two five gallon buckets full of cake in each sack to be hauled out to the pastures. Usually I'd tie the steering wheel of the pickup to the gear-shift lever, then jump up in the back to feed out the cake.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

So ive been reading on here for awhile and a lot of topics are about protein and cake. What exactly does it cost and the ways of feeding it? I have seen those hydra beds with cake feeders on them but those are to expensive for my operation. I graze a lot of cornstalks and need a little protein supplements. Are there other ways to feed the cake? and what does it run per cow per day? thanks
tlakota

The price of cake varies depending on the protein involved. Say that twenty percent protein cake is costing $200 per ton. That is 10 cents per pound. If you are giving two pounds per head per day, it is costing 20 cents per head per day for the cake. This is $6.00 per head per month just for the protein, without figuring the cost of hay, cornstalks, or whatever form of roughage they are getting.

Cake can be purchased in 50 pound paper sacks. This usually figures out to an extra $25 or $30 per ton over the price of cake in the bulk. For a small bunch of cattle, this is an easy way to feed the cake. When I was a kid, cake came in one hundred pound burlap bags. We'd always save the sacks for either feeding more cake later, or if they had holes in them, we'd wrap them around chains on "backrubbers". We'd dope these sacks up with insecticide for cattle fly control.

I've fed a lot of cake in these used burlap bags. We'd put two five gallon buckets full of cake in each sack to be hauled out to the pastures. Usually I'd tie the steering wheel of the pickup to the gear-shift lever, then jump up in the back to feed out the cake.

GEEZ Soapweed I have been trying to forget refilling those darned old bags . Alway had to take off the mitts to tie them. :? :roll:

 

[Shortgrass]

My cake is running $220/ton bulk right now. 22% protien. I used a shovel and 5 gallon buckets for years, and Ill bet that still works to carry it out to them about as cheap and efficiently as any other way for a small string of cows. My understanding is that cake actually feeds the rumen bacteria so that the animal better utilizes her roughage. Two lbs/hd/dy will be adequate for that.

 

[Soapweed]

So ive been reading on here for awhile and a lot of topics are about protein and cake. What exactly does it cost and the ways of feeding it? I have seen those hydra beds with cake feeders on them but those are to expensive for my operation. I graze a lot of cornstalks and need a little protein supplements. Are there other ways to feed the cake? and what does it run per cow per day? thanks
tlakota

The price of cake varies depending on the protein involved. Say that twenty percent protein cake is costing $200 per ton. That is 10 cents per pound. If you are giving two pounds per head per day, it is costing 20 cents per head per day for the cake. This is $6.00 per head per month just for the protein, without figuring the cost of hay, cornstalks, or whatever form of roughage they are getting.

Cake can be purchased in 50 pound paper sacks. This usually figures out to an extra $25 or $30 per ton over the price of cake in the bulk. For a small bunch of cattle, this is an easy way to feed the cake. When I was a kid, cake came in one hundred pound burlap bags. We'd always save the sacks for either feeding more cake later, or if they had holes in them, we'd wrap them around chains on "backrubbers". We'd dope these sacks up with insecticide for cattle fly control.

I've fed a lot of cake in these used burlap bags. We'd put two five gallon buckets full of cake in each sack to be hauled out to the pastures. Usually I'd tie the steering wheel of the pickup to the gear-shift lever, then jump up in the back to feed out the cake.

GEEZ Soapweed I have been trying to forget refilling those darned old bags . Alway had to take off the mitts to tie them. :? :roll:

If you put three five gallon buckets full of cake in a bag, the sack needs to be tied. By only putting two buckets in, they could be stood up in the back of the pickup without being tied. Mittens could then be left on for the whole process. :wink:

 

[Andy]

On cornstalks I supplement with alfalfa and distillers grain. It is alot cheaper than cake and you can use it too supplement drymater as well.

 

[Northern Rancher]

That Soapweed he's a crafty one lol. The last year we fed pellets the kids and I pailed 15,000 pails of them that winter-it really helped jr's hockey shot lol. during the drought screening pellets were cheaper per pound than hay-nobody thought cows would eat flax straw so I was able to gather up some of that too.

 

[movin' on]

There are a lot of protein tubs/lick tanks that work excellent for supplementing cows on cornstalks. Plus some of them even provide all the necessary minerals. The usually cost .17-.25 cents a day. Put them out and drive away. Fairly low handling costs.

 

[Jassy]

Oh Soapweed did you ever stir up memories...when my g-pa was alive and before all the fancy cake bins...he use to do the same thing with the cake in the burlap sacks...he fed many cows that way...I remember and old piece of #9 wire he used to tie the steer wheel to the gear shift..at just the right angle to get the perfect circle. When I got old enuff to reach the pedals...I got to steer for him...I'm sure glad g-pa was athletic enuff to hang on when I drove! And my circles were never as perfect as his. Thanks for the memories...I needed that...

 

[Soapweed]

Oh Soapweed did you ever stir up memories...when my g-pa was alive and before all the fancy cake bins...he use to do the same thing with the cake in the burlap sacks...he fed many cows that way...I remember and old piece of #9 wire he used to tie the steer wheel to the gear shift..at just the right angle to get the perfect circle. When I got old enuff to reach the pedals...I got to steer for him...I'm sure glad g-pa was athletic enuff to hang on when I drove! And my circles were never as perfect as his. Thanks for the memories...I needed that...

When Peach Blossom and I got married in 1979 and started ranching, we had an old M Farmall tractor that was reversed (like a hay sweep), and it had a Farmhand loader on it. I stacked our loose hay in a hay cage with this outfit, and we fed the first two winters with four head of horses. After that I used our 4x4 pickup to feed with if the snow wasn't too deep. I'd just load bulk cake in the back for traction, and could pull half of a four ton stack onto a light haysled. After getting the hay loaded, I'd turn the pickup loose and shovel out the cake to the cows. Then I'd hook on to the haysled and tie the steering wheel to the gear shift while I pitched hay. One time our oldest boy was with me (he was about two). I tied the steering wheel like always and told him to drive. I was pitching hay right along, and he hollered out the window, "Dad, come here." I walked up alongside the moving pickup. He leaned out the window and said, "You drive and I'll pitch." It was hard to convince him that he was probably too young to pitch hay. :wink:

 

[Denny]

Were feeding 30#s of wet distillers per day per cow it was free other than trucking which figured out to $210 per semi load it is 65% moisture and 32.76% protein in dry form.It figures out to a little less than a 1/2 cent per lb.I just feed it with a rear unload forage wagon.

 

[Jerry H]

i worked on a place in southern colorado a couple of years ago and we fed cake out of those burlap bags and they most likly still do
it was a good workout loading 40 of those 80# bags on a truck 3 times a day to feed
i worked on another place that in the same area later and we had an over head cake bin and we had a bunch of crystal licks tubs we built a chute that would come down to the level of the truck and sit on a tub just pull the handle and fill the tub and when you got to the cows just tip the tub over the side of the truck and spread it out
worked pretty good and inexpensive also
we had to ts trip hopper cake feeders on the ranch that worked but with the feeder on our flat beds we could not load 2 4x8 bales of hay and flake them off very well
until later
jerry

 

[JF Ranch]

it was a good workout loading 40 of those 80# bags on a truck 3 times a day to feed

jerry

Boy! Times have sure changed. Back when we fed cottonseed cake in burlap bags, they weighed 100 pounds each.

Once when I was still in grade school, the truck arrived with our cake order and the driver was anxious to unload. These truckers were notorious for not calling ahead, so you'd never know for sure when they'd arrive. I was the only one at home and being a responsible kid, proceded to help him unload the semi-truck.

The trailer was the typical type with a tarped top but the driver didn't want to mess with rolling the tarp back. We carried each bag stooped over because there wasn't enough head room to stand up fully.

He was able to only help with a very small part of the job because he had a "bad back". It was up to me then, to carry each bag to the back of the truck and when I had a nice pile of them there, I'd jump out and stack them in the building. He watched comfortably against the wall of our shed.

I had about half the load unloaded by the time my Dad arrived. I had never seen him so mad! He refused to take the rest of the load unless that driver carried the rest of them by himself. There was a momentary stand-off, but bad back or not, he finished the job while Dad & I waited for each sack at the back of the truck.

Dad told me that I should have never gone along with this idiot and just waited for help, but I was young and it never occured to me that I had that option. I had a sore back for awhile, but got over it and have never had much back trouble since. Maybe that incident cured me for life!

 

[katrina]

Some of my best memories is going caking...... Go to the pasture and holler come boss...... The cows would pour out of those big sandhills. Would wait for the stragglers and feed the gentle ones by hand while you waited... Then drive in a big circle pretty fast at the beginning so the cows wouldn't run in front of ya and stop you.... Great life........

 

[Jinglebob]

Back when I wintered many cows and fed any cake or ear corn, we would use the old manure spreader to feed it. Dad always hooked it onto the back of the tractor. When I went to using a team, I put a tounge for horses back in it.

I built some higher sides on it, so I could get more ear corn on it. I had a red heeler dog one time and all she was good for was to ride on the load of corn and bite any cow who tried to reach over the top and get an ear of corn.

We always used a beet fork to shovel the corn on, so that we would save the shelled out corn at the pile. This would be shoveled into buckets and feed to the calves in bunks.

Sure didn't have to worry about a pot belly, when I was shoveling cake, corn or pitching hay. :wink:

 

[Tap]

30% protein cake is about 200 dollars/ton delivered here. It is all natural cake with no screenings.

Cake is a convenience feed. We could feed around 9 lbs. of alfalfa for the same cost per day as feeding 3 lbs. of cake. But cows do not tend to scatter out and graze as well after they have been fed hay vs. cake.

It is also easier to take cake further distances than hay, and we can load enough to feed more than one bunch of cows without returning to HQ.