you can REDUCE BEEF COW
WINTERING COSTS
A study of Ixef cow owners’ records in this part
of the country shows returns may vary as much
as $100 |>er cow. There are many reasons for this
but one of them is costs in wintering the herd.
Farmer records show this cost can vary from as
low as $25 a cow to as much as $75, depending on
the type of wintering rations used.
Many Midwest far piers feed more and better
feeds to their beef cow herds during winter than
is really necessary. You must meet the minimum
nutritional requirements in order to produce a
profitable calf crop and maintain good cow po
tential for future calf crops. However, this can
often be done by using more low quality forage
crops and crop residues.
Grain is not required in the wintering ration of
lieef cows that produce feeder calves. A study of
over 5,000 calves from commercial cow herds in
Missouri indicates no significant increase in daily
gains, weaning weights or percentage of calf crop
by feeding grain in the beef cow wintering ration.
In fact, breeders have found that if cows are too
fat they have more calving trouble than thinner
cows. When grain is fed it will only mean an in
crease in wintering costs.
Just what are the minimum nutritional require
ments of a brood cow? The following table will
give you an idea of the requirements and how these
can be supplied.
Meeting A Beef Cow’s Daily Food Requirements
(.ontrnli of Various Hutton*. Dully
lii Mff d.
ffej 'If fe?
l>r> matter, lbs 18.0 13.5 190 126
TDN. lbs. 90 7.6 9.0 8.3
Dig Protein, lbs 0 8 1.5 0.3 0 8
Carotene, mg.55 123 57.2 215
A full maintenance ration requires 0.8 pound
of digestible protein and nine pounds of total di
gestible nutrients for an 1.100-pound cow. If these
requirements are met, you'll not have to worry
much about dry matter requirements. Cows will
browse on dry grass, if weather is open, and fill
requirements.
These cows are being fed hay in a sheltered area. Hills,
thickets and other natural protection help you cut winter
ing costs. While still subject to some of the elements, pro
tection from the wind helps these cattle retain body heat
which would otherwise be lost by radiation. As a result,
cattle maintain body weight on less feed.
Self-feeding is a tremendous labor saver in livestock chor
ing. However, it is not the best way to save or stretch feed
supplies. You'll most likely have less waste with hand
feeding. If you must self-feed, however, there are several
ways you can keep waste to a minimum. Here an electric
wire is being used in the bunker silo to keep cattle from
trampling too much silage underfoot. In this particular
case waste might be reduced a little more by lowering the
wire about four inches.
All rations in the table are adequate to intvt
the requirements of the beef cow and keep her
in fairly good shape. In extremely open weather
you may want to cut liaek a little on the daily sup
filemental feed as cattle will lx* picking up some
ixxl from pastures and stalk Reids
One problem you may run into when trying to
stretch winter fet'd supplies is vitamin A deficiency.
It can cause cows to uliort. Vitamin A is supplied
through carotene contained in grain and rough
age. If you’re fixxling a roughage extremely low
in carotene content, such as straw, deficiencies can
occur unite easily. Best safeguard is to feed some
alfalfa nay or allalfu cubes. It can make quite a
difference in your calf crop percentage next spring.
Crop residues offer a good opportunity to
stretch stored feed supplies. But if you’re grazing
cattle on com stalk Reals or even wheat stubble
you’ll want to provide some extra protein. Tests
in South Dakota indicate that fixxling one |xnmd
of 40f protein cubes to cuttle on winter ranges
will carry them through winter in reasonably gixxl
shape. In these tests no supplemental fix'd, other
than protein, was fix! except when snow cover
prevented grazing. Bastxl on this you should lx*
able to carry a cow four months at a exist of about
$5 a head for supplemental feed.
If there's a full cover on the ground and you
have to use stored feed, ground txim col is can lx*
used to help cut costs. In Iowa experiments an all
silage ration was compared xvitli one in which
ground corn cobs made up 80* of the dry matter.
Cows were fix! about 11 pounds of cobs and 22
pounds of silage, plus 1.8 pounds of soylx*an meal,
salt and mineral. With this rution there was u suv
ing of about 30 pounds of silage daily and winter
ing costs were reduced about $5 per head. ]
I
i
Dave Livingston savs:
_
Get Your
Balling Gun If
NOW! Ill
