Show Heifer Ration

[mccannfarms]

I was wondering if anyone had a good relatively cost effective ration to use on show heifers?

 

[blackdiamond]

I was wondering if anyone had a good relatively cost effective ration to use on show heifers?

AAOK's ration, link on homepage of SP. 

By far the cheapest, and best cattle feed option out there.

 

[AAOK]

Wow!  Do I need to start charging a commission?

 

[CAB]

I have a cousin that brought in all of the ingredients & a cement mixer and mixes the ration daily. I wish more PPL would do this B/C he is saving over $200/ton verses the store using the same mix just by doing it himself. I think kids would learn so much more by doing it this way. They actually get to see what the ingredients look like instead of some sales team tagging a fancy catch word to make better sales. They can adjust rations easily for individual calves if they want to. Love your ration Dan. Thanks for sharing it with the planet. Merry Christmas to all.

 

[blackdiamond]

Wow!  Do I need to start charging a commission?

just a cover charge

 

[pds]

Just keep your base ration simple and use topdresses to do your fine tuning  We mix all of our feed for the show calves in a cement mixer also. This does give you the chance to make small changes as needed instead of having to do it in batches of 1000 or 500lbs at a time. The only thing I can tell you is watch your mix we have a problem with cotton seed hulls  being light and settling away from the heavy ingredients but using a roughage like winning fill or liquid mollassas helps.   

 

[BlkAngus]

AAOK~ Can I use cotton seed hull pellets?

 

[CAB]

Just keep your base ration simple and use topdresses to do your fine tuning   We mix all of our feed for the show calves in a cement mixer also. This does give you the chance to make small changes as needed instead of having to do it in batches of 1000 or 500lbs at a time. The only thing I can tell you is watch your mix we have a problem with cotton seed hulls  being light and settling away from the heavy ingredients but using a roughage like winning fill or liquid mollassas helps.   

This question is not directed at you pds directly, but in general to all of you that feel it necessary to use various topdresses, why do you feel that need? My feeling is that as soon as you start to add these products you are changing the diet therefore affecting the integrity of the diet or balance. I feel that you are sucked in by crafty salesmen promising great results with snake oil type products most of the time promoted with "catchy" names tagged to them to help them sell. Reminds me of the traveling medicine man selling the cure all. Maybe it's just human nature to want to buy these wonder products. Just wondering, why???

 

[AAOK]

Just keep your base ration simple and use topdresses to do your fine tuning   We mix all of our feed for the show calves in a cement mixer also. This does give you the chance to make small changes as needed instead of having to do it in batches of 1000 or 500lbs at a time. The only thing I can tell you is watch your mix we have a problem with cotton seed hulls  being light and settling away from the heavy ingredients but using a roughage like winning fill or liquid mollassas helps.   

This question is not directed at you pds directly, but in general to all of you that feel it necessary to use various topdresses, why do you feel that need? My feeling is that as soon as you start to add these products you are changing the diet therefore affecting the integrity of the diet or balance. I feel that you are sucked in by crafty salesmen promising great results with snake oil type products most of the time promoted with "catchy" names tagged to them to help them sell. Reminds me of the traveling medicine man selling the cure all. Maybe it's just human nature to want to buy these wonder products. Just wondering, why???

Right On, CAB!!

 

[pds]

Just keep your base ration simple and use topdresses to do your fine tuning   We mix all of our feed for the show calves in a cement mixer also. This does give you the chance to make small changes as needed instead of having to do it in batches of 1000 or 500lbs at a time. The only thing I can tell you is watch your mix we have a problem with cotton seed hulls  being light and settling away from the heavy ingredients but using a roughage like winning fill or liquid mollassas helps.   

This question is not directed at you pds directly, but in general to all of you that feel it necessary to use various topdresses, why do you feel that need? My feeling is that as soon as you start to add these products you are changing the diet therefore affecting the integrity of the diet or balance. I feel that you are sucked in by crafty salesmen promising great results with snake oil type products most of the time promoted with "catchy" names tagged to them to help them sell. Reminds me of the traveling medicine man selling the cure all. Maybe it's just human nature to want to buy these wonder products. Just wondering, why???

I agree to many people get sucked in on the hype If you have to feed something to get them to walk better then you should have made a better selection, If you want more hair get a brush. When I say topdresses all we will add is a little more fat for the steers or a little less for the heifers depending on what they need at the stage they are in growing.

Right On, CAB!!

 

[firesweepranch]

AAOK~ Can I use cotton seed hull pellets?

We have been using AAOK's recipe for two years now, and use the cotton seed hill pellets. Our mill refuses to mix with lose, since it gets hung up in the mixing process and clogs things up. We have had lots of wins over the last two years using this, and top dress with Vita Ferm Sure Champ and Rumafill as needed. That is it.

 

[GONEWEST]

AAOK~ Can I use cotton seed hull pellets?

We have been using AAOK's recipe for two years now, and use the cotton seed hill pellets. Our mill refuses to mix with lose, since it gets hung up in the mixing process and clogs things up. We have had lots of wins over the last two years using this, and top dress with Vita Ferm Sure Champ and Rumafill as needed. That is it.

Many of the new commercial show feeds don't have hulls in them at all. They tout being able to get more gain out of less feed and therefor justify their high price. However, when feeding a heifer I am not after gain as my main goal. I am after a "look. If you use cotton seed hull pellets you loose the main purpose of the hulls in the ration. Might as well not have them in there at all as you can find cheaper sources of fiber if that is the only purpose they serve.

 

[Woodland Farms Show Cattl]

Rowe nutrition has some of the best feeds out there. Their jackpot.43 is formulated for heifers. Works great. Several breeders all over recommend it to lots of different people. Very affordable too.

 

[Glorifying Pastures]

Just keep your base ration simple and use topdresses to do your fine tuning  We mix all of our feed for the show calves in a cement mixer also. This does give you the chance to make small changes as needed instead of having to do it in batches of 1000 or 500lbs at a time. The only thing I can tell you is watch your mix we have a problem with cotton seed hulls  being light and settling away from the heavy ingredients but using a roughage like winning fill or liquid mollassas helps.   

This question is not directed at you pds directly, but in general to all of you that feel it necessary to use various topdresses, why do you feel that need? My feeling is that as soon as you start to add these products you are changing the diet therefore affecting the integrity of the diet or balance. I feel that you are sucked in by crafty salesmen promising great results with snake oil type products most of the time promoted with "catchy" names tagged to them to help them sell. Reminds me of the traveling medicine man selling the cure all. Maybe it's just human nature to want to buy these wonder products. Just wondering, why???

I agree to many people get sucked in on the hype If you have to feed something to get them to walk better then you should have made a better selection, If you want more hair get a brush. When I say topdresses all we will add is a little more fat for the steers or a little less for the heifers depending on what they need at the stage they are in growing.

Right On, CAB!!

We tried some of the topdresses last year and did not see anything like the salesman said we would. Keep it basic we like AAOK's ration, works well. Thanks AAOK for having it posted on SP

 

[BlkAngus]

AAOK~ Can I use cotton seed hull pellets?

We have been using AAOK's recipe for two years now, and use the cotton seed hill pellets. Our mill refuses to mix with lose, since it gets hung up in the mixing process and clogs things up. We have had lots of wins over the last two years using this, and top dress with Vita Ferm Sure Champ and Rumafill as needed. That is it.

Many of the new commercial show feeds don't have hulls in them at all. They tout being able to get more gain out of less feed and therefor justify their high price. However, when feeding a heifer I am not after gain as my main goal. I am after a "look. If you use cotton seed hull pellets you loose the main purpose of the hulls in the ration. Might as well not have them in there at all as you can find cheaper sources of fiber if that is the only purpose they serve.

Can you explain to me why you say if you use the hull pellets vs the hulls it defeats the purpose?  I thought the pellets were just the hulls compressed into a pellet.  I did a little looking online and it seems there really isn't a difference between the two.  I admit when I first asked the question I wasn't sure if there was a difference.

 

[CAB]

Rowe nutrition has some of the best feeds out there. Their jackpot.43 is formulated for heifers. Works great. Several breeders all over recommend it to lots of different people. Very affordable too.

What does very affordable actually mean? Cost of AAOK's ration when buying all ingredients and mixing yourself comes to just under $300.00/ton mixed fresh daily. Buying complete feed @ $15/50lbs comes up to $600.00/ton.

 

[redwingfarm]

Something everyone might want to think about with the cotton seed hulls, there is a concern about cotton seed hulls being a method in which to spread Palmer Amaranth weed seeds from the south to the north, and based on the stories I have heard about Palmer that is definitely a weed that we don't want in any way shape or form up here.  Also I ran AAOK's ration through my spreadsheet matrix and was surprized to find that it came back at 9.4% protein, 14.1% fiber and 2.7% fat, a nice mix for heifers especially with the 14% fiber to expand the gut  but a little low on protein and fat for my tastes, and I am also concerned that it may be too hot (high corn-oats%) of a mix for "HAIR" states once the weather starts to warm up, probably great for slick shear shows, but you may have to switch alot of the corn to a cooler barley mix if you want to keep the hair.

 

[CAB]

I would like to hear Dan's take on this, but I would think that a person could use cottonseed hull pellets in place of the hulls or possibly even SB hull pellets. For fun take a handful of the pellets and pour a cup of water over them in a jar. See what happens. A person may have to tweak the ration to fit the availability of ingredients in your area, but I still like the idea of being in total control of what is in the feed that "I" want to feed, not what the feed store wants to sell me.

 

[bricebaylee]

will this work on a shorthorn bull needing alot of weight?

 

[CAB]

will this work on a shorthorn bull needing alot of weight?

Why wouldn't it work? Person may want to adjust protien level up some by adding more SBM. Remember to account for protien supplied by hay sources.