Choosing the right kind of cattle feed may not be rocket science, but it is an art that must be mastered through experiences. You can argue that as the animal, the cattle will not be that picky in what they are fed with. Just throw some leaves here and add some grass there, and they should be okay. If that’s how you think, you need to realize how dangerous that mindset will be.
Cattle are like us humans; they need nutrients, and we, the humans rearing those animals, won’t be able to sustain just about anything we eat, will we? It’s not all different for the cattle. Proper selection and preparation are required to make sure they meet their nutritional requirements to be able to produce anything of significance for you and the business you run.
What’s more, farmers tend to believe in what they have on their minds when it comes to what constitutes healthy cattle feed. While, of course, years of tending to the animals will have given you all the necessary information to learn about keeping your cattle healthy, you need to realize that new research is being carried out every few years into finding the best way to feed cattle. A feeding system might be highly advocated today, and you will believe in it, but that system might be revised in a couple of years to come.
So, yes, feeding cattle might not be rocket science, but it is a form of art that needs to be mastered by being fluid and open-minded.
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The Healthy Cattle Feed Options
To help you determine the healthiest options of cattle feed, below are the most common ones these days:
Grain Supplement
Grain gains popularity thanks to its ability to help cattle get fat quickly and grow rapidly. Growing cattle are often being fed grains to expedite prepping the animals sooner and reduce maintenance costs. Supplements of grain also make for a great alternative when wintertime hits or for the animals that don’t have easy access to hay and grazing pastures of high quality.
Keep in mind that it’s easy to make the animals overly reliant on these, though. Feeding them with solely supplements will discourage them from foraging and grazing the pastures, which are more nutritionally diverse.
Hay
The one major drawback of selecting hay as cattle feed would be that the hay must be harvested right at the time when it has the richest nutritional contents. Simply put, you must harvest the hay before it dries too much. Proper curing and storing also become important to pay attention to so as not to leave them spoiled and damaged.
Hay is available in a variety of nutritional ranges. Alfalfa hay has high calcium and phosphorus contents. Grass hay is rich in proteins, as is legume hay. To get the best of the many worlds, try mixing different varieties of hay. Dairy cows can feed on alfalfa hay but don’t give it to beef cattle as it may cause them to bloat instead.
Pasture and Forage
It can’t be any more nutritional than this. Both forage and pasture contain all the nutritional components that cattle require on a daily basis. This, however, depends on whether or not the soil is depleted or if the season is still not quite perfect for the rapid growth of grass.
At the same time, pasture could be a more cost-effective alternative to cattle feed. Two important things to keep in mind if you plan on feeding forage and pasture to the cattle are fertility tests for the soil and good maintenance of watering, so the plants have the best nutritional density. Keep an eye on the available plant types and their maturity.
Concentrates
Grain sorghum, wheat, corn, oats, wheat bran, and liquid variety are highly nutritional and possess low fiber content. They have a substantial amount of carbohydrates. Their high nutritional values come with a high price tag as well, though.
Concentrates are good supplemental cattle feed but take into account the matter of animals’ needs and weights to keep digestion issues at bay.
What You Need to Produce Cattle Feed
If you’re planning on making your cattle feed, the most important thing you need to have nearby is the right implement, such as a wrapping product. Discuss your specific needs with us at Silopak so you can optimize productivity accordingly.