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Columbia City, Indiana | Reading all this talk from my earlier post, and the article somebody posted, makes me wonder about feeding these brood cows in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. I'm wondering if adding a little shelled corn, like 5# per head per day, would be beneficial. Right now, my cows get grass hay, cornstalk bales, and 12% Kent lick tubs, and also have a TM salt block. I've never fed corn to pregnant cows before because I was afraid of getting the calves too big and having calving problems. Would 5# of corn be beneficial or even have much effect? It's been a really hard winter here, especially the last few weeks before this week, and my cows don't have much excess fat. They're not thin by any means, but they're not tubs either. Does anyone else feed corn to pregnant cows with good results? Distillers are not an option for me because of my small (20 cows) herd size, but I've got plenty of shelled corn on hand. And no one around here feeds "cake" I don't even know what it is. Also probably would have to special order range cubes that some guys out west use and shipping would probably eliminate that option for a small herd. My calves all go for freezer beef at between 1000-1100 pounds, so when that article said the cow's nutrition and quality of colostrum set up the calf's ability to marble, it makes me think maybe I should try it. But spring is a VERY busy time for me, and I REALLY don't want calving problems. But 5# of corn to a 1200-1400 pound cow wouldn't be very much, would it? Would it be enough to even help. Corn is pretty valuable right now, as we all know. Just wanting some opinions from some of you knowledgeable veterans of cow/calf. This spring will only be my 6th calving season. | |
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Brood cow nutrition
