Feeding oats to calves.

[burnt]

I had a bunch of oats that I fed whole and free choice to the calves for the past couple of months but just emptied the last wagon load last week. Now I need to decide what to start them on next.

I can get seed oat "screenings" for about 60 -70% of feed oat price making them about $140 -$150/ MT (2204lbs). They are clean oats but just smaller seed that gets cleaned out of the sample.

Could these oats still be fed whole and free choice as I have up until now? I have never tried this before, always opting for the Rough'n'Ready ration before. But it's too expensive for the way things are.

The calves are getting up toward that 6-7cwt mark. Our new barn is still not quite set up and I have only limited feeding space for grain so a free choice hopper is the best option I have at this point. They have all the excellent quality 2nd cut hay they want, too.

 

[HAY MAKER]

I had a bunch of oats that I fed whole and free choice to the calves for the past couple of months but just emptied the last wagon load last week. Now I need to decide what to start them on next.

I can get seed oat "screenings" for about 60 -70% of feed oat price making them about $140 -$150/ MT (2204lbs). They are clean oats but just smaller seed that gets cleaned out of the sample.

Could these oats still be fed whole and free choice as I have up until now? I have never tried this before, always opting for the Rough'n'Ready ration before. But it's too expensive for the way things are.

The calves are getting up toward that 6-7cwt mark. Our new barn is still not quite set up and I have only limited feeding space for grain so a free choice hopper is the best option I have at this point. They have all the excellent quality 2nd cut hay they want, too.

I have never heard of feeding oats "free choice" to feeder cattle,unless they were planted in a field,run feeder cattle on wheat or oat fields regularly,even then they are watched closely for bloat.
I feed good quality hay "free choice" and cotton seed,market at 8 weight.
good luck

 

[TexasBred]

I had a bunch of oats that I fed whole and free choice to the calves for the past couple of months but just emptied the last wagon load last week. Now I need to decide what to start them on next.

I can get seed oat "screenings" for about 60 -70% of feed oat price making them about $140 -$150/ MT (2204lbs). They are clean oats but just smaller seed that gets cleaned out of the sample.

Could these oats still be fed whole and free choice as I have up until now? I have never tried this before, always opting for the Rough'n'Ready ration before. But it's too expensive for the way things are.

The calves are getting up toward that 6-7cwt mark. Our new barn is still not quite set up and I have only limited feeding space for grain so a free choice hopper is the best option I have at this point. They have all the excellent quality 2nd cut hay they want, too.

I've never heard of feeding oats free choice either but apparently it works for you. Have you looked into soyhull pellets or even loose soyhulls?? May be a better buy, would be more digestible, higher in energy, have more fiber and have almost as much protein and ordinarily very cost effective.

 

[PureCountry]

I'm pretty sure burnt is from Canada, so soy or cotton seed is probably not an option. I'd avoid soy like the plague anyway, just to avoid the chance of having anything to do with Monsanto. JMO

We've fed whole oats in the past with good results. The screened oats you could have tested and go from there, otherwise you're just guessing. We have oats in a bin right now, and when we want to coax the cows anywhere, that's what we use. We may be strictly grass-finished, but a few oats rattling in a pail makes moving cows pretty easy. :wink:

 

[burnt]

Yup, PC, I'm in western Ontario. So I could access lots of soy hulls or by-product but don't want to for the very reason you stated!!! The oats would be a rather limited supply from a small seed cleaning operation, but would be quite enough to fill my needs.

I really like how my calves look after being on them most of this fall. Big and framey with just a nice bit of flesh. I have shelled corn, but don't want to put too much energy into them until they are closer to 900/1000 lbs.

My intention is to grow them out big and not too fast so they hit the market later next year. So, I'm not in a hurry to finish them.

 

[hillsdown]

Burnt if they are used to free choice and do not pig out and don't get acidosis, I would think the smaller seeds would be the same for them.

I have heard of alot of ranchers feeding oats or barley free choice to their calves this year, with the drought and lack of hay. They just fill their creep feeders up and the calves have access to it whenever they want. Usually if you start them when they are young on grain there is not a problem with them being pigs and gorging themselves so they become ill.

 

[TexasBred]

Yup, PC, I'm in western Ontario. So I could access lots of soy hulls or by-product but don't want to for the very reason you stated!!! The oats would be a rather limited supply from a small seed cleaning operation, but would be quite enough to fill my needs.

I really like how my calves look after being on them most of this fall. Big and framey with just a nice bit of flesh. I have shelled corn, but don't want to put too much energy into them until they are closer to 900/1000 lbs.

My intention is to grow them out big and not too fast so they hit the market later next year. So, I'm not in a hurry to finish them.

What's the bad taste everyone has in their mouth with Monsanto??? The oats should be fine. Probably better even than the larger oats as they're small for a reason....they're not fully developed so you'll be feeding more oat hulls and less of the actual meat. Protein will be a bit lower but fiber will still be good.