Beef Cow Feeding

It is obvious that we are low on forages this year.  The lack of rain in the critical growing portion of the year has put every beef producer in a bind.  In good rainfall years we can see our native pastures supplying 3,000 lbs per acre, improved natives around 4,500 lbs per year and Tifton 85 bermudagrass around 8,000 lbs per acre.  Figure on grazing 250 days a year and we generally need 25 acres of native or 10 acres of bermudagrass per cow for grazing.  This leaves about 115 days for feeding hay which is about  right!  115 days times 30lbs per day is 3,450 lbs of hay you need but a lot is wasted so you need about 4 bales per cow.  Now how much they eat depends on how good your hay is, less if it is poor quality!!

Years like this has pushed hay prices to $80 per roll or higher and so total for 4 rolls is $320.  The hope is that your hay quality is high enough to meet cow needs and you don’t have to add to the $320 with lots of supplements.

So what does a dry cow need everyday to meet her needs and not be hurt?  If your hay is 9% crude protein and 50% TDN (energy) then feeding 30 lbs a day meets her needs.  If on the other hand you have typical local hay at 7% crude protein and 45% TDN then you need to supplement some protein and energy source.

But the real question is what if I don’t have the hay or the hay is limited?  Then you need a supplement that provides enough protein and energy to maintain her condition and cheaper than buying quality hay.  Just keep in mind that at $80 per roll that is about $2.80 per day in hay cost.  If you only have enough hay to feed 75% of normal then 75% of $2.80 is $2.10 in hay costs leaving you 70 cents to buy a supplement.  Can you do that?

Maybe you can with a good small grain pasture.  Small grains are high in protein and energy, highly digestible and filling.  They can be a great supplement if limit grazed.  They can easily produce 4,000 lbs of dry matter per acre so that as a supplement means it doesn’t take many acres to limit graze with hay.  

Lastly, it is important to add that if you supplement a protein only, then you can skip days even up to a week with no digestive upset in your cows.  If you feed a protein-energy supplement then they must be fed daily or your cattle can go off feed and take days to adjust.  Any diet changes should be done slowly and regularly!