Feeding potatoes.

A while back some people suggested feeding two pounds of potatoes to help calves finish.  I did a search, but could not find if it meant 2 pounds per day or per feeding.  Does anyone here use potatoes?  Is there drawbacks?  How much do you feed?

Potatoes are full of carbohydrates and really help an animal finish but you will have to feed much more than 2 lbs. They are about 80% water so feeding 20-30 lbs/day would be more like it. There are two main drawbacks imo, Make sure sure you chop them up so they do not choke on them. The cattle absolutely love them and will really go at them hard and gorge themselves. Because of all the water, the manure will become quite loose. This is not really a problem in the feedlot but if these are show calves, more cleaning and bedding will be needed. Another way to feed them is to ensile them in a silage pit. There are usually some seed potatoes left over after the crop is planted and we put them in the pile as we are making it. The potatoes "cook" and basically come out as mashed potatoes with the skin on.

The suggested 2# of potatoes would be along with the mixed grain ration the calf is already on.  Not sure if feeding nothing but potatoes could work, never heard of it before.  It's been awhile since we've done it, but used to just shred one large potato into each feeding (which'd be closer to 1# per feeding) - we always felt like it helped.

I did not mean to just feed potatoes as that would put him off feed pretty quick. 25 lbs/day of raw potatoes would only equal about 5 lbs dry matter. You should consult a nutritionist. I see the original poster is from Idaho so many nutritionists  in your area should have some experience feeding potatoes.

Consult a cattle nutrition expert (feed company rep)!

Call your Vet!

Potatoes? ???