|
Little River, TX | There is no one correct answer.
Being a hay farmer I do pay attention to what different people feed.
I appreciate Jim's idea of alfalfa, but in truth a little does go a long way for the cow calf man.
In CenTex we have a foe who feed stock piled forages. Those are the ones who are not over stocked, and who grow forages that do not deteriate all that much inour weather. Some native range forages will still have good protein and reasonable energy through February. Tifton 85 does well as a stockpiled forage.
Some with less quality forages use a liquid feed with urea. The cow can do ok with up to 12% CP from urea. Tubs or liquid liquid wheel also sould work for grazing out corn stover.
The problem I see is livestock owners are cattlemen first and forage producers second, and that is just backwards. In CenTex the cattlemen who appear to be doing well are the ones who do not NEED hay, but do harvest hay in a good year to sell when grass is short to the ones who like a higher stocking rate.
One fellow I met in a cow calf operation reduced his stocking rate from one animal unit for 10 acres to one animal unit for 18 acres. Needed fewer bulls, calves were all 5 lbs heavier at birth and considerably heavier at sale time. In fact he was selling more pounds of calf meat with the 18 acre stocking rate than he had been at the 10 acre stocking rate.
Ignore any spelling or grammer errors as I am using the computer in the Lobby of the Super 8 Motel in Visalia CA. Here for the California Alfalfa Seminar, with the bonus of visiting my youngest First Cousin & Family. | |
|
protien source for cattle
