Feed the right ration, the right way Dr. Andy Acton | Back to Vet Advice
Ensuring proper cow nutrition at calving time is easily one of the "make or break" management decisions that can be made in a cow-calf operation. Calf survival and vigor, early return to cycling, milk production of the cow over her entire lactation and high conception rate can all hinge on the nutrition program in place at calving time.
The biggest factors to consider in regards to winter feeding are: 1) what shape the cows are currently in and 2) what is the primary forage source that is available. The rest of the program needs to complement the forage source, in order to get to or maintain the proper cow body condition.
The reason to view your program in those terms is the basic reason to have those cows -- to use your available, low-cost forage. If your winter feeding weighs heavily on purchased sources of concentrate or expensive supplement, your chance of profitability is greatly reduced. A common problem during winter feeding, especially in a drought year, is having to use low quality hay or straw for the primary forage source.
This can work just fine, if the forage is properly supplemented. Adding a small amount of a protein pellet to the ration actually increases the amount of energy that the animal can pull out of a low quality forage -- sort of a "2+2=5" principle. Extra grain or screening pellet can fill out the cow's energy requirement. Free-choice liquid licks can be a viable protein supplement and are not too expensive as long as the cattle consume the proper amount of product.
Work out the price per pound of protein of these supplements and compare it to a high protein pellet, then decide if the expense is worth it for the convenience that it may give you in terms of labor at feeding time. Some other supplements are at a much higher price per ton.
Keep in mind that as far as anyone knows, the cow does not have any nutritional wisdom, other than for salt, energy and to fill her belly. Be cautious in buying an expensive feed product or supplement where the sales pitch is "They'll only eat as much as they need." Cows eat for taste, sort of like little kids. Your job is to provide the ration they need, in a form they'll eat, at a cost that allows you to make some money.
As nice as it sounds to have cows free-choice a protein supplement, be sure of what you are getting and what you pay for it. The cost of some of the solid block protein/mineral/vitamin supplements is $800 to $1,000 per ton. These usually contain 16 to 20 per cent protein, and are 2-1/2 to three times the cost of a good 32 per cent fortified beef supplement pellet. Protein supplements can be fed daily, or as infrequently as every third day if cows are on winter grazing. The supplement does not necessarily need to be fed daily to provide benefit. Even good alfalfa bales added to a greenfeed, slough hay or straw-based diet can act as the protein supplement to be fed on an every other day basis.
Get the main forage sources analyzed for energy, protein and the basic mineral package. This can then be balanced with any number of software programs, taking into account the body type, milking ability and weight of the cows. This is only the starting point, however, and is the downfall of any nutrition advice that is arrived at from behind a desk. The body condition of the cows, the quality of the water source and the weather conditions will all play a factor in tailoring a feeding program to your operation.
Being able to perform added processing such as tub grinding/bale processing can improve the intake and digestibility of your primary forage. When balancing a ration, use grain or pellets to supplement the primary forage -- if you are using a low-protein hay or straw, for example, this will probably require some grain or concentrate pellet, plus a small amount of protein concentrate. Major minerals (such as Ca or P) should be added to the concentrate according to the result of the feed analysis.
Trace minerals should be provided in a trace mineral salt as well as what is provided for in the regular mineral. The exact levels of these nutrients to be provided will vary depending on where you are located. In most areas, animals benefit from supplemental vitamin E and selenium, and indeed it is an essential ingredient over large areas of the prairies. All cows require supplemental vitamin A and D in the winter -- this is best provided for in the feed, but if the feeding regimen doesn't allow for it, the AD injections are an acceptable alternative.
The protein and energy requirements of your cows increase by 20% in late gestation. These changing needs are best met by providing your better quality hay then, perhaps along with an increase in concentrate. Allowing the cows to lose body condition at this time will decrease the success of your breeding program later. Time until first heat post-calving, percentage of cows cycling by 40 to 50 days and percentage of cows which settle on first service will all be significantly reduced if the cows are losing significant condition just prior to and after calving. Lactation further increases energy and protein demands, depending on the milking ability of your cows. Some producers with heavy milking cows find they actually have to adjust the amount of concentrate provided to allow the cows to milk well wihout giving the calves a "nutritional" scour, from milking too heavily. Even so, nutrient requirements will be 20% to 25% above late gestation levels.
Feeding the cow herd in separate age groups can improve total herd condition while saving overall feed expense. Bred heifers, coming 3-year-olds and any thin cows should be fed separately from the main herd. This is a well-known management technique, and I am often surprised at how often it isn't done. There is just no way those young animals can winter in good condition, calve, milk well and rebreed early when they are competing with older cows, unless you are grossly overfeeding the entire cow herd. Portable panels or round bales can allow you to make do if you are short of corral space (which is an excuse I'm often given). Splitting those groups is important to your bottom line, and will allow for closer observation of the young cows at calving time.
As we discussed, a significant factor when considering your ration program at calving is the body condition of your cows. It is good to have an impartial person score at least some if not all the cows once or twice a year, which will help educate you on the use of the BCS system. We use one to 9 with one being almost too thin to stand and 9 being the cow that hasn't nursed a calf for 2 years and was grazing on lush alfalfa pasture.
Why not just say skinny or fat? Assigning a number to each animal and marking it down makes evaluating the cow herd much easier, and allows some relevant comparison between groups and different herds. It can help us realize both what we are doing wrong, and doing right in our feeding programs.
For instance, we realized at one farm while doing pregnancy exams that the entire herd was in good body condition (5 to 7), with the exception of the first calf heifers. No surprise, right? Often in a case like this, we see poor conception or late conception in those heifers. This group, however, was almost all bred in the first cycle, indicating that their nutrition through calving and breeding was good (they had been kept separate from the main herd). The real problem only came when the heifers nursed their calves a long time, and was going to show up if these heifers didn't get separated to be fed to improve their condition this winter. If they stayed thin, their conception next spring would suffer. The open animals we did find in that herd occurred primarily in the three coming four-year-olds, indicating that the same scenario had happened last year. By deciding to separate the second calvers along with the bred heifers, future calving and breeding success should improve.
When feeding to increase cow condition, add 15 to 25 per cent TDN to the cow's basic requirements. Do not change any ingredient in a ration by more than 20 per cent every other day. Get the animals adjusted to the new ration, and maintain it until a sample group (10 to 20) of cows you look at meet your goal for cow condition. Having to increase cow condition in the winter is an expensive process, but it beats having weak calves in spring and open cows next fall.
The overall success of a winter feeding program doesn't become apparent until several months later. Use the cow's condition as a starting point. Fully assess what your forage supply gives you, and supplement what it does not provide. Beware of "quick nutritional fixes" -- they are hard on the pocketbook. Consider extra forage processing, if it can economically improve intake and digestion. Winter the cows in the appropriate groups, and make ration adjustments which fit the stage of gestation/lactation of the cows.
When all is said and done, feeding the right ration in the right way holds the greatest potential for increasing the profitability of your cow-calf operation.
