I know what you guys are probably thinking "ugh, another newbie" :
. Yep, that's me and trust me, I'm not one to join a forum if I can just quietly lurk in the background. ;D
Quick background -
So seriously, we have a small herd that consist of 1 cow/calf pair and 3 heifers. We've somehow managed to get lucky with the cow. We purchased her as a bottle calf from my husband's uncle to show at county fair. She won as a bottle calf her first year, won grand champion commercial breeding heifer her second year and then won grand champion cow/calf this year (yes I know, small potatoes).
My youngest has decided to get the bug so I'm not getting out of this cattle thing anytime soon (he's 12). I'm not one to do things poorly so I'm in search of as much information as I can. We've tried to talk to locals but we are not "in" yet so we aren't getting a ton of help and the internet has an abundance of information. I've been reading as much as I can on here but decided to join to see if maybe I could get some more specific questions answered.
We have State Fair in August but then we are pretty much done for the year as we haven't gotten into the open shows yet.
Right now I'm trying to get the whole nutrition thing down. How much should we be feeding to the heifers vs the cow/calf and can we feed them all together (I'm guessing no) and should they be getting different mixes (guessing yes).
Cow is 1420 lbs/calf is 5/8 born and 285 lbs., the three heifers are weighing in from 900 lbs. - 950 lbs. (March, April and May 2018 born).
We are currently buying a mill mix (not sure where the recipe came from), but I don't feel like we are seeing the results we should be.
Anyone willing to help me out?
. Yep, that's me and trust me, I'm not one to join a forum if I can just quietly lurk in the background. ;DQuick background -
- From Iowa
- I know nothing about cattle, I grew up riding/showing horses.
- Husband grew up "around" cattle (although I'm questioning how much he actually paid attention to what his grandfather tried to teach him.
- Sons decided they wanted to show cattle
- We now have cattle (5 to be exact)
So seriously, we have a small herd that consist of 1 cow/calf pair and 3 heifers. We've somehow managed to get lucky with the cow. We purchased her as a bottle calf from my husband's uncle to show at county fair. She won as a bottle calf her first year, won grand champion commercial breeding heifer her second year and then won grand champion cow/calf this year (yes I know, small potatoes).
My youngest has decided to get the bug so I'm not getting out of this cattle thing anytime soon (he's 12). I'm not one to do things poorly so I'm in search of as much information as I can. We've tried to talk to locals but we are not "in" yet so we aren't getting a ton of help and the internet has an abundance of information. I've been reading as much as I can on here but decided to join to see if maybe I could get some more specific questions answered.
We have State Fair in August but then we are pretty much done for the year as we haven't gotten into the open shows yet.
Right now I'm trying to get the whole nutrition thing down. How much should we be feeding to the heifers vs the cow/calf and can we feed them all together (I'm guessing no) and should they be getting different mixes (guessing yes).
Cow is 1420 lbs/calf is 5/8 born and 285 lbs., the three heifers are weighing in from 900 lbs. - 950 lbs. (March, April and May 2018 born).
We are currently buying a mill mix (not sure where the recipe came from), but I don't feel like we are seeing the results we should be.
Anyone willing to help me out?
