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weighed our bull calves - question for you all

B

BRG

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North Western SD
We weighed our bull calves this week. I am not sure what the deal is, but our calves are way heavier this year than years past. They came off the cow heavier and are doing better in the lot as well. I would say the average birthdate on these guys would be between March 1 and March 10 and they weighed 837 lbs empty. We do have a few new herd sires we are using, which could be some of it, I think they are about a week older on average as well, but my guess is this, we hired a nutritionist this summer and he tested our grass and water in the pasture and made a mineral that fit what we needed. He also tested all of our feed stuffs and well water for the winter and he is making our rations for us instead of us trying to make them ourselves. I think with his help, our cattle are showing what they really are. They aren't getting fed real hard either, as they are at a .42 Mcal ration for energy, so I know it isn't to much energy. We are not feeding any grains to them either. Our ration consists of straw hay and cornstalks ground together for the hay, then they are getting corn silage, (which only has around 10 to 15 bushels corn in it) for energy they are getting modified distillers and beet pulp. Plus they are getting a pound of liquid feed that has a little added fat and all the minerals/vitamins/ and rumenson that is needed. It is all put in the mixer wagon and fed every morning in a fence line feed bunk.

What are your thoughts on why they are a bigger, stouter set this year?
 
To my knowledge, Rumensin is not cleared to add to liquid feed. At least, it cannot be added by a liquid feed company.....a dealer CAN, if directed by the customer, do so, but it's kinda a gray area. I have added Bovatec in the past at a customer's direction, but I'm not real comfortable doing so. Liquid magnesium, EDDI, or detergent if on wheat pasture is no problem to add.

Of course, my scenario is being fed in an open top trough, not out of a feed wagon where one has pretty much total control.

Sounds like you have a good guy helping you. I'm glad to see he tested the water as well. Occasionally, water causes the biggest roadblock to success when feeding cattle.
 
they are getting bigger because you're doing such a good job of paying attention to details. small thing's can pay big dividend's. good job although i wouldn't want your diesel bill :wink:
 
I've always heard that drier grass has more nutrients and less moisture per bite than in a wet lush growing year, as long as there is plenty of it to eat. You don't creep feed do you?
 
loomixguy said:
To my knowledge, Rumensin is not cleared to add to liquid feed. At least, it cannot be added by a liquid feed company.....a dealer CAN, if directed by the customer, do so, but it's kinda a gray area. I have added Bovatec in the past at a customer's direction, but I'm not real comfortable doing so. Liquid magnesium, EDDI, or detergent if on wheat pasture is no problem to add.

Of course, my scenario is being fed in an open top trough, not out of a feed wagon where one has pretty much total control.

Sounds like you have a good guy helping you. I'm glad to see he tested the water as well. Occasionally, water causes the biggest roadblock to success when feeding cattle.
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I might be mistaken on the rumenson, it could be bovatec or something else real similar. But he is for better digestibility, and whatever else they do.
 
Big Swede said:
I've always heard that drier grass has more nutrients and less moisture per bite than in a wet lush growing year, as long as there is plenty of it to eat. You don't creep feed do you?
Click to expand...

No we did not creep feed, but what we have always done in the past is the last month before weaning is put some creep out so they know what feed is at weaning time. This year we did the same, except instead of a creep feed, we used Anipro liquid feed and only let the calves have access. It seems to teach them how to look for food without momas help. They seemed to eat just under a pound of it a day during that time period.
 
Testing your grass and water ,did you find any real surprises ??? Not a smart ash question. I have checked feed every year and been real surprised some times but I have never checked my grass or water.
 
GM88 said:
Testing your grass and water ,did you find any real surprises ??? Not a smart ash question. I have checked feed every year and been real surprised some times but I have never checked my grass or water.
Click to expand...

Not really, but we then custom made the mineral to fit what the grass/water had and didn't have. Instead of taking a mineral that was on the shelf.
 
lazy ace said:
quit standing on the scale when you weight them. :wink:( Dad said it was a nice set of bulls.)

have a cold one
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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I'd say it is because of two things:
Genetics and nutrition :shock:

Those bulls must have a great appetitie. Cattle that have a good appetite
tend to grow more. Now is that news, or what??? :P :wink:
 
Rumension can be added to liqiud feed, nearly everyone around here does it. You have to have a circulation system and a mixer wagon to make it work though.

As fot the calves,


they must just be getting better 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
 
I think heavier weaning weights in drier years is an accepted concept. Balancing the mineral package sure didn't hurt, either. Since weaning time I would say your nutrition is balanced, both for developing good genetics, and not killing the budget.
 
Our weights were down, and we might have had the wettest year in a long time. I would agree that the drier the grass, the bigger the weights, and that also translates into the feed pile. Silages (even though yours might have been lower yield) typically test hotter in drier years. The equation to calculate the energy content of your silage is simply the ratio of grain:straw. We have had drought years where the barley silage tested like high moisture grain. I would say all this, in combination with a nutritionist, is helping
 
Just Ranchin said:
Our weights were down, and we might have had the wettest year in a long time. I would agree that the drier the grass, the bigger the weights, and that also translates into the feed pile. Silages (even though yours might have been lower yield) typically test hotter in drier years. The equation to calculate the energy content of your silage is simply the ratio of grain:straw. We have had drought years where the barley silage tested like high moisture grain. I would say all this, in combination with a nutritionist, is helping
Click to expand...

our corn test came back really low on energy.
 
It was a dry year here and eveyone's calves were lighter. There were two
exceptions that I know of. The rest were anywhere from 10-50 lbs. lighter,
depending on water conditions. Those cows have to milk for the calves to
be heavier. Some dry years they seem to be able to, this year, not so much.
 
Calves out here were about 100 lbs lighter. Dried grass is one thing and we have the calves to show it in years past. This year we simply had little to no feed after june.
 
Big Swede said:
I've always heard that drier grass has more nutrients and less moisture per bite than in a wet lush growing year, as long as there is plenty of it to eat. You don't creep feed do you?
Click to expand...

Driest here in N MO in my 61 yrs this summer, but if cattle had good quantity of grass, even if it was very dry, cattle did very well.

Dry grass seems to have more 'power'. Much silage put up this yr and tests show it has excellent protein also.
 

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