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WCWI | How many lbs per head should my beef cattle be getting? 70 percent are spring calvers the rest have fall calves by their side. Free choice hay is out there alfalfa/grass mix higher in the grass. |
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Illinois | Be careful with cows in the third trimester on heavy corn silage. 10-15 pounds might be to much assuming your hay is decent.
Our silage here is 240- 260 bushel corn and our calves get big on the March Calvers. |
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western iowa,by Denison | dry matter figure-if silage is 30% dry matter that means 10# has 3# of dry matter- I always figure corn silage has a little more bang feeding cows so I always figure 4# of dry matter per 10# instead of 3#-then try to have around 1# of dry matter per cow 100wt or on a 1200cow around 30# 0f silage. Here we have feed 30# 0f silage and never had many problems |
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NC Indiana | We feed 25-30#/hd per day with grass hay to bred cows depending on how far along they are.
Edit - have friends who've fed 1 loader bucket per 10 head every other day for several years now +/- 550# loads
Edited by NoTill1825 1/18/2018 18:22
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west central ohio | Been feeding 30#/HD (175 bu corn) to Angus/Simmi cross cows for several years now. I feed silage oct-may and some calve Jan and balance in May. Free choice grass hay available. Haven't pulled a calf in years but choose bulls on calving ease. |
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ND | I think the low protein in silage keep birth weight down. I feel protein gives high birth weights . JMO |
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west central indiana | careful until they calve . my problem was big bags and mastitis even in heifers. |
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Illinois | I am currently feeding about 20 pounds per head and hay is available during the day, or during the night. The closest Calvers are shut in all night and out during the day. The rest of the group is on 20 pounds of silage and have access to hay all night. The cows are in very good condition and the first 7 calves haven't been big. In the past we have fed mostly really good hay because that's what we have had. This year I am alternating between bales of grass and wrapped alfalfa. I will find out by spring if calves get heavier as we feed more silage. They were in good shape coming off stalks when I started to feed silage.
Different strokes for different folks but with our silage if I were on 100% free choice good hay I would be feeding less than I am now. |
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Eastern Ontario | Feed 35lb corn silage every second day. Cows are fed hay in a different location so they have to walk to get their silage. Walking keeps the cows fit. Stop feeding corn silage when Calving starts. |
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WCWI | Leedsfarmer - 1/18/2018 20:40
Feed 35lb corn silage every second day. Cows are fed hay in a different location so they have to walk to get their silage. Walking keeps the cows fit. Stop feeding corn silage when Calving starts.
If your feeding every other day how do you keep ahead of the mold or are you only feeding in the winter time? Also wouldn't you want to keep feeding silage after calving to help with milk production as long as your not over doing it and getting mastitis as stated above? |
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WCWI | Lot of good answers I've talked to a couple different nutritionists the past few days and gotten answers from 15lb to 30lb and curious to see the real farmers answers. The hay I'm feeding is stored outside it's not sh** hay but not the best either. Silage was chopped to dry because of the weather and was pretty short also weather related.
I want to keep the bag moving to stay ahead of the mold but I don't want to over feed my cattle and have issues with calving either.
I appreciate all the answers allot of wisdom on this site. |
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central pa | If the silage was short due to drought. I'd want to have it tested die nitrates. Especially if it rained just prior to chopping. Could give you a whole other set of problems! |
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WCWI | Silage was short due to excess moisture thought about testing it but it put ears on so I figured I would be ok. I did decide that I'm going to test it because I am curious on feed value. |
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Eastern Ontario | I am feeding silage everyday to feeder cattle. Also different groups of bred cows, so the face of the pile is always fresh. Spoilage isn't an issue here in the winter months. I will just say that have had some spoilage issues in the past when feeding out of a bag in warmer months.
I like to feed good hay at calving time and would probably have some issues with too much milk if fed silage at same time.
The main cow herd gets fed silage on frozen ground and I'm not able to do that in April when the cows are calving. |
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Traverse City MI | Pretty close to what we do. 1 bucket per 10 head with a 72" skid steer bucket. This is our third year doing it. Opened the bag last Saturday and calves are due to start dropping around April 1. They are on free choice hay all the time too. We have had no calving issues yet but have bulls that throw smaller calves. |
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WCWI | How many of you are running bags? What size? And how many cattle are you figuring you need to feed to keep ahead of the mold in the warmer months? Or how many inches/feet per day do you like to see? |
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Traverse City MI | We made 2 8x100’s last year. We fed 25-26 cows and that many feeders. This year I made a 9x150 but we’re feeding more cows and calves this year. |
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N. E. Indiana | That's what we feed also. Free choice hay also. Every once in awhile I throw a bale of wet wrapped oats in too. |
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WCWI | Thanks for the replies everyone |
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How much corn silage to feed beef cattle?
