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Central Texas | The distillers byproducts could be a good source of economical nutrition. Would suggest working with a nutritionist to find the most economical ration. If you can keep your daily feed cost to less than $2.00 while putting weight on a dry cow, that should be profitable. Obviously less would be even more profitable. In my area, calves less than 350# should increase $3.00/day in value, larger than 350# the daily increase in value can be less so there is a breaking point where it is time to sell. Depending on my feed supply/cost, I sell calves anywhere from 2 weeks to 5 months old, with 3-4 months being most common. It just depends on feed availability/ daily cost vs daily income. Also being able to maintain the cows weight while nursing the calf is important. If the cow is loosing weight it may be offsetting the value increase from the calf and you are selling your feed at a loss. Anytime I have a cow that is loosing weight while nursing her calf, I sell them at that time, regardless of their age/size. To keep them longer would be throwing good money after bad.
In my area, older 7-8 mo bred cows can usually be bought for the same price per pound as the shorter breds and they save me a few months feed to get the calf to selling size.
You mentioned using and injectable wormer along with pen and la 200. Would never give pen and la 200 together as there is some kind of reaction where one cancels the other. Would only give 1 or the other. For the old cows I buy, they only get cydectin pouron wormer, because it has no slaughter withdrawal time whereas all the injectibles and most other pourons have a slaughter withdrawal time. Rarely, have bought an old cow only to discover she is too old/weak/crippled/etc and needs to go to slaughter right away. If she has had antibiotics or most wormers there is the withdrawal period to contend with. Have not found that they routinely need any antibiotics.
Hope this is helpful.
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feeding broken mouth cows
