Creep feeding calves

I was just wanting every ones oppinion about creep feeding calves? Does it help? is it worth the money? ???

On a year like this I don't see how it couldn't pay. Pasture burnt up here in NE Iowa so we put feeders out earlier than I wanted too. But most years I do anyway. Calves born March to end April and need to be weaned mid September for our sale first Saturday in November so it helps getting them started on feed before we have all that weaning stress. I feed a roughage pelleted type of feed. Gets their intakes up and once weaned we can get that bloom on them to hopefully sell good!

We calve fall (Sept-Oct) and spring (January) and creep feeding makes a HUGE difference in our fall calves. We breed for performance, but even cattle that have the genetics to grow also have to have the chance, and a little feed makes a big difference in getting them started & adding pounds at weaning. It also helps us see which calves really perform given the opportunity. That said, we don't always push our calves as hard as we can. We usually bucket feed them in a creep feeder. That just helps manage the cost and sometimes keeps some of the calves from just getting too fat. Our spring calves are sometimes harder to get started if we have plenty of pasture, but again you can definitely see a difference between calves that go in there and any that might not. Yes, feed isn't cheap, but neither are pounds of calf at weaning! If you have cattle that are genetically capable of converting feed to frame, muscle and bone, I think it pays. It may be a different scenario for smaller framed cattle with less performance.

We fed this year also, it does make a difference and you will usually be able to recoup it in the sale of the calves. 

Yes , creep feeding is worth the money .

We do and I think it pays for itself.

we've done it from the beginning and every year we see even more progress. it's worth it.