November 2011 Feedlot Facts

“Creative Feeding Solutions”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

After the summer that was 2011, it’s time to get creative. It’s time to re-think everything we’ve always done and known about winter beef cow nutrition. Feed and forage are scarce, and what is available is costly.

But the beauty of the beef cow is that she can use feeds that non-ruminants and higher-performance ruminants cannot. Pigs, chickens, feedlot steers, and dairy cows can’t make use of much wheat straw, corn stalks, or milo stubble. With proper protein supplementation, the non-lactating brood cow has the capacity—and the time—to consume and digest a sufficient volume to meet her energy needs.

The other factor which makes the use of low quality forages feasible is the abundance of ethanol byproducts. These products—either wet or dry—are an excellent source of protein, energy, and phosphorus for use in brood cow rations. And they oftentimes are priced similar to or at a discount to corn.

If cows are in the middle 1/3 of gestation and not lactating, a blend of distillers grains and wheat straw or corn stover can meet their protein and energy needs. And when the cows move to the last 1/3 of gestation, increasing the amount of distillers grains or blending a moderate quality prairie hay with the wheat straw or corn stover will meet the needs.

Grinding these low-quality forages and feeding in a bunk may slightly improve digestion and intake but will certainly reduce waste. Mixing the forage with the supplemental concentrates will also improve your ability to provide a balanced diet to all cows in the group. If this is feasible, producers should consider separating cows by age and condition score and balancing the ration differently depending on nutrient needs. We do not want to create long-term welfare cows, but if we do not take care of the cow through inter, she will not be ready to optimally care for her calf come the spring. The decision to sell either the pair in the spring or the cow as a bred female the following fall can then be made AFTER she’s done her job in the spring.

Ranchers have traditionally relied on hay and commercial cubes to maintain the cow herd through winter. If ever there was a year to think outside the feed box, this is it.