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winter is closing in whats your plan for wintering cows

I have a question, sorta kinda, statement, scratchin my head, we dont usually put calves on feed, but last year feeding my daughters pen of three commercial heifers for her 4H project, we fed a combination of rice bran, cotton seed meal, and corn, real dry mixture, I'd hafta get the record book out to see the %'s but her heifers started at 525 november 29th and ended up averaging 1100 lbs June 10th. that's 95 days on feed. What we fed cost us 167.00 a ton, and fed 7lb a day along with hay free choice, and coastal pasture with some rye mixed in. I'm just wondering how feasible that'd be to feed to the pasture cows instead of cubes?? or if it would even compare. I know I know ya'll are gonna make me get out the record book to get the bag tag so I can type up the list of ingredients and %'s aint ya lol

dont know how I came up with 95 days on feed...more like 130 hmmm now I"m questionin myself.......been a long day hope I dont start arguin with myself lol
 
Denny said:
HAY MAKER said:
Oldtimer said:
Haymaker- Lots of good fall and winter pasture if the snow doesn't get too deep- then if that happens there is a lot of cheap hay in the area...With last years easy winter, also a lot of year old hay.......
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I will give my cows last years hay,free choice and supplement them with these cubes ,some give about one pound per head a day ,I have always give mine a couple pounds per head per day especially if the weather is extremely cold,price is fair and they do pretty good,I really like to put them out on winter pasture mainly winter oats but no moistiure this year,Im sure you give your cattle more than just hay thru the winter?unless it is good quality and tested?...............good luck,OT
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So what do you folks in the south consider cold?

-40 below now that's cold brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....
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It wont get -40 around here,but those fast moving fronts can cover a lot of real estate in a short time,plenty of times thru the winter it will be colder here than it is up north.......................good luck
 
Haymaker: As a northener I'm mildly amused by you southern folks getting ready for winter...... you have relatively mild temperatures and I'm sure snow is an uncommon event. Do you need to supplement because of insufficient feed values in your forages or is it that feeding is cheaper or a better value than owning extra grazing acreage!
 
You can get 30 percent protein cake delivered around here for around 200/ton most years. If you fed 2 lbs a day, which is more than a lot of ranchers feed, then you have 6 dollars a month in your cow. If the weather holds off, we feed cake from mid January or later, to mid May. Two pounds of cake in May would be too much for a cow with a small calf most years with good grass conditions. So around 25 dollars to winter a cow isn't too shabby. That is purchased feeds.

Compare to 500 dollars a ton for the tubs and there is quite a difference. Not gathering the cows is worth something too, but that is a lot of difference in feed inputs.
 
PPRM said:
Wow Haymaker, those cubes sound good. Some dairies bring in Cottenseed meal to mix in a ration, but the whole cube deal is foriegn to us. So a guy either figures others have tried to pencil or it isn't local so nobody has tried it.

It sounds like a much better solution than tubs. In our area, stubble and other cheap winter feeds do lack protien and energy. So, even 3 pounds per head per day = 90 pounds per month, about $10.00 per head per month. That is interesting,

PPRM
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That's common practice around here,and that is plan "B" plan "A" is winter oats/rye/wheat,cheaper yet if it rains!!!,I will post a tag off one of the sacks when they deliver the cubes..............good luck
 
Even though our temperatures dont get down to what ya'lls do up north, our grass still goes dormant in the winter, the leaves fall off the trees after the first freeze, if not before. Cows will eat the grass after first frost, but nutritional value is not much.
 
cowsense said:
Haymaker: As a northener I'm mildly amused by you southern folks getting ready for winter...... you have relatively mild temperatures and I'm sure snow is an uncommon event. Do you need to supplement because of insufficient feed values in your forages or is it that feeding is cheaper or a better value than owning extra grazing acreage!
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It's a combination of the two,not much lease land here in the TX hill country,and our Hays will not compare to that alfalfa that is so common up north,add the fact that we are probably feeding year old hay,and you can see why supplementing is necessary...............good luck
 
ok Jake, now my interest is really picqued.

Are these cows on stubble when feeding the cake or are you feeding cheaper hay???????

If they are grazing, how do you put this out to keep them utilizing the whole field? Do you put this out daily?

2 pounds per day to make some winter stubble grass viable, now that works in my book. Probably our biggest expense is winter feeding, it is also our biggest opportunity to to cut cost.

TIA

Haymaker,

Dang, if I was in your area, I'd be doing the same thing, a little supplement to make use of that grass, just good business sense,

PPRM
 
the_jersey_lilly_2000 said:
I have a question, sorta kinda, statement, scratchin my head, we dont usually put calves on feed, but last year feeding my daughters pen of three commercial heifers for her 4H project, we fed a combination of rice bran, cotton seed meal, and corn, real dry mixture, I'd hafta get the record book out to see the %'s but her heifers started at 525 november 29th and ended up averaging 1100 lbs June 10th. that's 95 days on feed. What we fed cost us 167.00 a ton, and fed 7lb a day along with hay free choice, and coastal pasture with some rye mixed in. I'm just wondering how feasible that'd be to feed to the pasture cows instead of cubes?? or if it would even compare. I know I know ya'll are gonna make me get out the record book to get the bag tag so I can type up the list of ingredients and %'s aint ya lol

dont know how I came up with 95 days on feed...more like 130 hmmm now I"m questionin myself.......been a long day hope I dont start arguin with myself lol
Click to expand...

Lilly,there are no telling how many mixtures these ole coots around here have come up with,mill will grind what you want, I stick with the commercial run,tho it would be interesting to see what yours was on those heifer's ,sounds like you done good.............good luck
 
Lilly, Think your calves were fed for 193 days. If you fed them 7# of feed that cost $163 per ton you spent about 58.5 cents per day for feed plus hay and pasture. If your hay cost $50 per ton and they ate 25# per day (I have no idea on either the hay price or how much they actually ate) you would have spent another 62.5 cents a day or about $1.21 per head per day or $233 per head total. With a gain of 575# your cost of gain would have been 41 cents per pound and you had about a 3# per day gain.

We are told around here that if you are feeding mama cows hay and cubes in sufficient amounts it really does not benefit the cow to feed additional grain for a couple of reasons...one is that you really aren't trying to put weight on the cow (she will normally lose some weight during the winter). The other reason is that the "bugs" in the rumen are different for digesting hay than for digesting corn or other grain and the additional feed can actually do more harm than good. This comes from my mineral salesman and I would be real interested in hearing what others have to say about this supplemental feeding especially in really cold weather.
 
Ok PPRM, just for you I will put this up tonite. I should be sawing logs by now.

After weaning, our cows will go back on native range. We have no stubble except what tame hay might regrow. That is when we have hay to cut at all. We have them on pasture, salt, fresh water, and maybe mineral, depending on age of cow. (I know, I really don't want to get into that conversation right now).

They will eventually go to fresh native range around Thanksgiving, and stay on that unless we get too much snow to graze, or the snow gets a crust on it. Last winter we had 6 inches of snow total until our May storm.
Most years we get more, but I have heard average is about 30 inches. It usually is lighter snows that go off, but not always.

We have a hopper feeder that we put maybe 3 lbs/ cow in, and gather the whole bunch, or who ever you might find at a stop. That depends on the terrain. It works better not to gather them every day so they scatter better. If you feed hay every day, then it really doesn't matter, but most still cake on a rotation anyway.

We will do this all the way thru calving if they stay in a larger pasture. We do go to fresh pastures for calving too. We feed our young cows some hay normally during calving, but they always have grass to graze too, if we have enough rain to grow grass. :mad:

This is a brief overview and I probably left lots of unanswered questions.
 
Red Barn,
I dug out the record book, your real close on the amount $ wise, averaged 1.25 per day per head.

Bag Tag Info.............oh boy lots of typin

Protein Supplement
Feedlot Beef Cattle for Improved Feed Efficiency

Analysis

Crude Protein, min...........................70.00% (that's notta typo)
NPN, max........................................64.00%
Crude Fat, min.................................0.25 %
Crude Fiber, max.............................7.00 %
Calcium (CA),min.............................13.50%
Calcium (CA)max.............................14.50%
Salt(NaCl) min.................................6.00%
Salt(NaCl)max.................................6.50 %
Vitamin A, IU/lb, min........................60,000

Ingredients:
Processed Grain, By-products, roughage products, ground limestone, cane/steep, Urea, Salt, Zinc Sulfate, Sinc Amino Acid Complex, Ferrous Sulfate, manganous Oxide, Mineral Oil, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Choline Chloride, Copper Sulfate, Copper Amino Acid, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Brewer's Dried Yeast, Lecithin, Niacin, D-Activated Animal Sterol (source of Vitamin D3), Vitamin A Acetate (stability improved), Vitamin E supplement, BHA (a preservative), Thiamine Mononitrate, Cobalt Carbonate, Potassium Iodide, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Cobalt Glucoheptanate, Sodium Selenite Monensin Sodium.

Uhggggg forgive any typos....
Cane Molasses 5%
Corn 60%
Corn gluten pellets 7%
Rice Bran (mill) 15%
Cottonseed meal 10%
*Protein Supplement 3% which I assume is the list above???
 
Jake,

Thanks and double thanks.


I would think a Tub grinder/mixer for hay might be the ticket on this.

Very interesting, I will check with some Dairies in Idaho and moses lake to see where they source. As with anything, you get enough guys on board, costs go down.

As far as feeding more, in a cold snap we jump the Fiber up. Digesting this generates heat. It is a trick we use on horses to. one mornin last winter, it dropped a lot overnight. I went out and my neices mare was shivering. Thru a half a bale to her of Grass hay. Went to town to get a blanket for her. It didn't warm up at all that day. When we got home with the blanket, she was standing there ontent and not acting cold at all,

The other trick in real cold snaps is to fill the water troughs with Hot water. no sense using the Cows BTU's to warm the water up,

PPRM
 
Well winter here is our best time we get a little rain and have more feed than we can use. The winter is the one time when I don't worry about supplement or water. Having lived in those -40 places and fed cattle I am not sure wich is better feeding for 4-6 months or worrying about water for 4-6 months. :D
 
We feed ors grass in the winter but before anybody jumps me our fescue stockpiled is way better than hay if stockpiled right. When it gets real cold i will slip them a crystal lyx bgf 30. If we get some ice or more than 5 inches of snow than i will put hay out. My cows were fatter this spring than when i weaned the calves in the fall so i cant answer protien levels of grass versus hay just know what the cows look like and they look better on grass than hay. I am sippin that kentucky whiskey in front of the fire while they are getting fat and ready for the next calf. But that works here dont know about elsewhere?
 
We turn out on corn stalks as soon as the corn is harvested. They will be fed about 8-10 pounds of a wet distillers grain, corn and alfalfa mix every other day. They will stay on stalks untill about a month before calving or later if the weather holds.

The fall calvers will go to alfalfa after the first frost and then to some stockpiled sudangrass. They will be feed about 10-15 pounds of wet distillers grain, corn and straw mix every day. After weaning (around christmas) they will go to corn stalks until it spring.

We try to have some rye and turnips to winter on but this year it was to dry to get the turnips in the ground and the rye I will save for next spring.
 
PPRM trust me cows can winter just fine without warm water in the trough-it's pretty obvious that nobody here has ever wintered in COLD weather-our cows and brood mares lick snow all winter-they have for 20 years or so(the cows anyway the horses have forever). If you watch cows licking snow they take a lick every few steps as they graze. They never shiver from this-cows drinking from a heated wateringbowl-only the first couple get warm water the rest get a cold drink and then shiver and shake.You'd need a nucleur powered heating system up here to keep water warm for a large group of cows in a cold snap. It can get brutally cold up here for a long stretch but our 4 or 5 days of summer more than make up for it. I'll never forget the first year we started to switch from Feb. to summer calving. The coldest Feb, day we had a calf was -53 F the hottest summer day was 101F.
 
NR,

Where i grew up, there was a few guys that when it would suddenly drop to 20 below, they would open up a barn and every morning fill the tank with heated water. Worked well for them, it was usually done for just a week on the worst days of the year. We're only talking a week of 20 below.

Could they have lived without?? Heck yes, but they were given just a bit of comfort and got along pretty well.

BTW, if you have a tank heater, you are basically heating water in this kind of cold.

PPRM
 
Don't know if you read my whole post there is a big difference between -20 and -40. -20 in our country is shortsleeve weather almost-pretty hard to heat up a trough in the barm for a few hundred head. Most guys chop waterholes in their dugouts in winter but if it's cold and windy lots of cows won't come to drink anyway. It takes a few days for cows to swtch over to licking snow but once they do they are fine. Licking snow allows us to spread our cattle out in the winter-feeding on our summer pastures so we get them fertilized.
 
Ours will be turned out into 75 acres of corn to graze. It's divided into paddocks with movable electric fence. Hopefully it'll keep them happy until sometime in January when they come to the yard to start calving around the 25th. If there's any leftover corn they will have another go at it in the spring. We figure why pay someone to chop and haul silage when the cows can go out and get their own? 8)

We've found cows wean pretty fast when given the choice of standing by the calf pen, or partying in the corn. :D

Once they are in the yard to calf they get brome/alfalfa hay. Lots of mineral. They only will get grain if their body condition warrants it. Usually they don't, except perhaps some of the old girls, and first calf heifers.
 

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