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lick tubs ?

M

miocene

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 13, 2008
Messages
321
Location
150 mile house b.c
I am looking for info on the lick tubs.I went into buy the 40% protein (20% natural protein/20%from urea}at$ 145the local guy did not have anyin stock,but had some 30%(18 natural/12%from urea}at $130 which i took to try out.my gut feeling is that the 40's would be the better buy.if they can utilize the protein from the urea.i know there is differing opinions on this,i am looking advice on this.I am giving this to rustling dry cows,heifers &bulls to extend my fall grazing.if the snow doesn't get to deep i have grass to last into december.since sunday we have had 8in.of snow and a inch of rain.right now it is plus 5 with a wind coming from gcreek's direction :lol:
 
Even with the currency exchange, a 200 lb 18% all natural tub is under $80. Those sound awfully expensive. For that matter, the urea tubes are cost less than the all natural. Perplexing to me but I'm a long ways away.
 
Urea can't be utilized in cold climates. It takes too much energy to
break it down, and in the north, what we are short of is...energy.
I've had ranchers tell me they fed it when it was cold and the cows
stood and shivvered. I wouldn't buy any with urea, period.
It can work well and was designed orginally for feedlots and warm climates, if I'm not mistaken.

Nutritionists would not figure the urea in on the protein content. They would throw it out and figure the protein at 20% in the first tub and 18% in the second.
What you need to realize, is that if they are to eat a pound per head per day, they are only getting .20 or .18 pound of crude protein per head per day.
Is that enough to do you any good? And it seems like a very expensive way to get a small amount of protein in your cows.

FWIW
 
gcreek, you are dead on ,with your comment about freight costs in this country and making money. faster horses thanks for your info.it backed up what i have been hearing elsewhere.just crunching a few numbers these tubs price out similar to range pellets at $230/mt. [22oo# ].but are more conveinant to rough terrain as pellets need trough s which i do have closer in
 
Yes, BUT...

the molasses tubs are just that, molasses (with some fiber thrown in)...and molasses is cheap...
I'd go for the pellets and buy some troughs. You'll have them for
a long time. And the pellets have some nutrition in them...

I doubt if they'd eat too much of the tubs, but if they did,
molasses can upset the PH of the rumen. We must remember we
are feeding rumen, not cattle.

Good luck!
 
Miocene - I wonder what the protein levels of your grass will be? what are the main species? I've been amazed at how high the protein levels are on fall/winter grass here. What does the cow turd test tell you?
 
glad I don't live in the great white north. I bought some 30% all natural for $70 sat. I will put them out when I start haying.
 
Our challenge is energy in our stockpiled forage, not protein. We figured out tubs are pretty expensive around here but have looked at them as a way to stimulate intake of lower quality grass. In the end it works out cheaper for us to feed DDGs and a mineral or just good old Alfalfa hay. Are there any alternates in the middle of BC?
 
RobinFarmandRanch said:
35% 200 lb tub for 45 bucks down here.
Click to expand...

That's about right especially if it has urea in it. And I disagree about feeding urea in cold. It takes almost no energy to convert urea to nitrogen especially if mixed with molasses it works even better especially if you're not feeding the highest quality roughage. Note also that your tub probably says "18% Equivalent" protein. That doesn't mean 18% of the totaly protein comes from Urea. Urea is from 280 to 287% equivalent protein so really a must lower amount of the 40$ comes from urea. I dont' care for molasses tubs because they are probably the most expensive way to feed protein to cattle but they have their place and their advantages and urea is often one of the advantages.
 
miocene said:
I am looking for info on the lick tubs.I went into buy the 40% protein (20% natural protein/20%from urea}at$ 145the local guy did not have anyin stock,but had some 30%(18 natural/12%from urea}at $130 which i took to try out.my gut feeling is that the 40's would be the better buy.if they can utilize the protein from the urea.i know there is differing opinions on this,i am looking advice on this.I am giving this to rustling dry cows,heifers &bulls to extend my fall grazing.if the snow doesn't get to deep i have grass to last into december.since sunday we have had 8in.of snow and a inch of rain.right now it is plus 5 with a wind coming from gcreek's direction :lol:
Click to expand...

Liquid molasses/protein supplements can add protein to the diet. They are made of all-natural protein or a combination of natural protein and non-protein nitrogen (NPN). The NPN is usually urea. Urea can be converted by the cow's rumen to protein under some, but not all, feed conditions. Urea is only potential protein. An important rule of thumb is that no urea is converted to protein if the protein concentration of hay is greater than 14 percent of the TDN. For example, if the hay is 7 percent protein and 50 percent TDN, no urea will be converted to protein because the protein concentration is 14 percent of the TDN. It's easy to realize that urea should never be fed to beef cattle unless the protein and TDN concentration of the hay is known.

good luck
 
miocene said:
I am looking for info on the lick tubs.I went into buy the 40% protein (20% natural protein/20%from urea}at$ 145the local guy did not have anyin stock,but had some 30%(18 natural/12%from urea}at $130 which i took to try out.my gut feeling is that the 40's would be the better buy.if they can utilize the protein from the urea.i know there is differing opinions on this,i am looking advice on this.I am giving this to rustling dry cows,heifers &bulls to extend my fall grazing.if the snow doesn't get to deep i have grass to last into december.since sunday we have had 8in.of snow and a inch of rain.right now it is plus 5 with a wind coming from gcreek's direction :lol:
Click to expand...

Is liquid feed an option? If so, how much?
 
Liquid molasses is more expensive than the tubs when you factor the water content in. Tubs are expensive here but do work well to keep cows out rustling. If you try feeding pellets or high quality hay to bump up the protien level the cows will start following the feed wagon home and stand on the gate and bawl for more handouts. Going out once a week with tubs doesn't seem to cause this problem.
In 2002, we had an open winter and the cows lived on old grass and tubs til Feb 1st. Would be nice if that was the norm here but accumulated snowfall and cold temps usually have us feeding sometime in December.
 
Our vet sells Orwig tubs from North Dakota I think-we feed them out on stock[piled grass to prevent the welfare line that Gcreech talks about-what I like is that they seem to eat about what they're supposed to and will quit them as the grass gets better in the spring.
 
thanks for the comments everybody!i have found the tubs work better than the old style block which were no better than feeding grain.in the past i have used crystalyix40's or agri blend 40's this is the first time using saltec 30's .the snow has melted, cows are back on the hayland stubble.on wednesday after pregtesting i plan on taking the cows back to a cutblockwhich needs to have a lot of young aspen trees trampled [in case there are any forestry types on here this is deeded land )to control the under brush there is quite a bit of grass left that my yearling heifers and purebred cows would not touch earlier because they did not have to.we have used tubs to supplement a pile of 2&3 year old swamp grass with little food value.and had good results.liquid feed is expensive and not as versatile or conveinant to locate where they will be used.a bunch of us ranchers in this area are pooling our order to get these tubs at $127 for 250# @30% if we take 48 or more .the feed store will deliver.which saves me the time of hauling.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Our vet sells Orwig tubs from North Dakota I think-we feed them out on stock[piled grass to prevent the welfare line that Gcreech talks about-what I like is that they seem to eat about what they're supposed to and will quit them as the grass gets better in the spring.
Click to expand...

The Orwig family has been cooking tubs for a long time and make excellent products.
 
FH, you know I'm no nutritionist :wink: :wink: :lol: , but if I remember my organic chemistry right, molasses is a carbohydrate/sugar which is energy. If the tube is made with the correct balance of protein and energy, there shouldn't be a problem utilizing the urea. I'm sure I'm wrong, but my cattle did quite well on crystalyx and very poor quality hay...and they liked the crystalyx better than other tubs.
 

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