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Best Healthy Feed for Beef Cattle 1) Grain Supplement. Grain can get cattle growing quickly and can help cattle get fat. 2) Hay. Hay can provide every important nutrient for cattle, but it has to be picked at the height of its nutrient richness À” that is, before it becomes too dry. 3) Pasture and Forage. 4) Concentrates.
What do you feed a beef cow?
Nutrition. Cattle weighing 700 pounds or more should be fed a ration containing 11 percent crude protein in a ration composed of grain (usually corn, but barley and wheat are often also used), protein sources, and roughage.
What is the most common feed for cattle?
Soybeans are the most common protein source, followed by cottonseed meal and linseed. Some farmers feed their beef cattle mineral blocks that also include extra protein. This is especially helpful for young, growing calves.
What do most beef cattle eat?
For the majority of their lives, beef cattle eat a diet comprised of pasture grasses and other plants in the summer, and hay (dried grasses and plants) in the winter months. These grasses and plants are referred to as forages. Beef production begins with cow-calf operations that raise calves for the industry.
What is the best grain for beef cattle?
Corn and milo are the principal grains fed to beef cattle. Limiting wheat to 50 percent and oats to 30 percent of the grain in finishing rations of beef cattle is recommended. Some experienced feeders use larger amounts of wheat successfully.
What is the cheapest way to feed cattle?
“Corn residue is one of the lowest cost forages on a cost per pound of energy. That’s why mixing a high energy and protein feed like distillers’ grains with a low quality forage like corn stalks is so cost effective. Distillers’ is often a low-cost source of both energy and protein.
What feed makes the best tasting beef?
In terms of flavor profiles, corn is the most popular grain used by beef farmers. Grain fed cattle tends to be more fatty and this is what produces marbling and that beefy flavor.
How much grain should I feed my beef cow per day?
Cows will voluntarily consume about 2 percent of their body weight or 24 pounds per day. The 24 pounds is based on 100 percent dry matter. Grass hays often will be 7 percent to 10 percent moisture.
What do you feed a calf for slaughter?
Feed a free choice mixture of 80 percent ground sorghum grain, 10 per- cent protein supplement and 10 percent salt as cattle are placed on pasture and continue until slaughter weight is reached. Cattle will consume this mixture at approximately 1 percent of their body weight daily.
Do cows Need grain?
The grain finished cattle need to be checked regularly and fed daily. They live in the pasture their entire lives and also receive natural grain during the last 6 months of their life. It’s up to them on if they eat the grass or grain.
Do cows prefer hay or grass?
Dairy cows need the best hay—with the most nutrients per pound—since they are producing more milk than a beef cow. Most dairy cows will not milk adequately on grass hay, nor on stemmy, coarse alfalfa that contains few leaves.
What is the best feed to put weight on a cow?
There’s a reason beef cattle are most commonly finished in feedlots. It’s because most grains have higher protein content than most grasses. It’s easier to pack on the pounds and faster to bring cattle up to market weight (1,200 to 1,500 pounds) when feeding them corn than it is to finish them on forage alone.
Are oats good for beef cattle?
Oats is an ideal grain for starting cattle on feed because of its high hull and fiber content. Oats may constitute 50-70 percent of the grain mix while cattle are becoming accustomed to a full feed. The level of oats should be reduced over time to 20-30 percent of the diet.
How much grain does a 300 lb calf need?
It will take about 0.5 pounds of grain per 100 pounds of body weight per head daily in the ration for grass-legume silage or haylage to give similar rates of gain to a full feed of corn silage. Protein will be adequate if the legume silage furnishes 40 percent of the ration dry matter.
How do you fatten up a beef cow quickly?
Fattening cattle should be fed a mineral supplement. If a high concentrate (grain) ration is fed, a mineral supplement consisting of two parts dicalcium phosphate, two parts limestone, and six parts trace mineralized salt should be fed free choice.
What is the largest expense in cattle feeding?
Year after year, feed costs remain the single largest expense in the cow-calf sector. In a typical year, feed equates to approximately half of total enterprise costs. However, feed may represent as much as 70 percent of all cow-calf costs when extremes such as drought occur.
How much does it cost to feed a beef cow per day?
The estimated cost per head per day was $1.83 per beef cow, or $183 to feed 100 beef cows each day. Over the 120-day winter feeding period, feed costs totaled $220 per beef cow and $21,972 for the entire 100-head cowherd.
What is the best grain to finish a steer?
per day of corn, oats or barley fed to grazing cattle is a good finishing ration. This fed to a 900-1000 pound steer for 3-4 months should will you a nicely finished animal. If you do not have access to pasture or if you are finishing during the winter, you might increase the amount of grain to 15-18 lbs. per day.
