Feeding Bred cows?

[Part Timer]

What does everybody do?  I was told not to feed grain to bred cows.  I only feed about one pound total per head a day. Any advised would be great.

 

[CPL]

Turn them out on pasture and hay in the winter.

I don't see how I'd make any money if I had to supplement mature cows with grain throughout the year.

 

[Part Timer]

I have very limited pasture and only a few head so the price of feed doesn't add up to much. I was just wondering if a pound of feed aday would cause any calving problems.

 

[showsteerdlux]

A pound/head/day is not going to affect anything. What most are talking about is heavy feeding during the last 60 days of pregnancy as this is where the most growth of the fetus is naturally occurring and if heavy fed, the calves can get big. Personally we have fall calving cows, and during the winter we feed about 5#s/head per day until April, and we have found it slows down hay consumption, and is not that much more than hay, in fact probably saves us money in the long run.

 

[OH Breeder]

We feed hay free choice and supplement with protein tub. Use to grain cows not real heavy. We are only feeding 15-20 head though. Good mineral free choice as well. I don't think that your lb of grain is going to hurt anything. We have fed the same for years. It seems to me if we have a harder winter we have heavier calves.

 

[CMB]

We feed a ration of 4#'s corn gluten 1.5#'s rolled corn per head per day when it starts gettine real cold. Costs about $0.32 per day per head with $3.50 corn for that ration. We feed that along with grass hay and free choice mineral. Not that much more to keep the cows in good body condition and I'm sure it also benefits milk which should benefit the calf. It adds about $50 per head a year to total cow cost.

 

[Jill]

That isn't going to hurt at all, we feed ours to keep them coming up when we call them, makes it a whole lot easier to pen them when we need to.