What do you think of this ration???

[SlickTxMaine]

Wanted to try our own ration this year instead of buying a complete bag feed.  After some research this is what I have come up with.  Comments and suggestions appreciated.
per ton:
   
      900 # cracked corn
      400 # beet pulp (can't get cotton seed hull)
      300 # rolled barley
      200 # rolled oats
      100 # soybean meal
      100 # molasses

I will also be adding a mineral, vitamins A,D,E, and salt.  We would use this ration straight thru, and add more barley towards the end for finish.

 

[trademark]

I think you are  a little light on corn.  Some cattle don't like to eat barley and especially beet pulp.  You are light on protein.  I would use an all natural protein supplement that contains bovatec.  Probably about 200 or 250 pounds per ton.  It is hard to tell you how much corn to be feeding without seeing your cattle.

 

[justintime]

I imagine you have sourced these ingredients and have calculated this ration using the prices for each ingredient. For my area, the amount of corn used in your ration would be high, but I suspect that it would not be for your area. I am thinking that this appears to be a pretty decent ration, however, I would use some caution when starting animals on it. It may be too high in energy and you will have to carefully bring animals on it to prevent digestive upsets. I would suggest you take this ration to a nutritionist in your area and have him/ her see if it is balanced.

If I were to change this ration, I would probably lean towards substituting more oats for part of the corn or barley for a few weeks until the cattle are eating good, and then slowing increase the corn and/or barley up to the levels you have suggested here. Until you get your ingredients tested and the ration balanced, it is  very hard for anyone on SP to even give accurate advice.

 

[trademark]

my creep feed starts with 900 pounds of corn per ton. 

 

[BIGTEX]

Looks Greek to me!

 

[newcomer]

beet pulp is just a filler

 

[SlickTxMaine]

I looked at AAOK's ration, and substituted beet pulp for his cotton seed hulls and then decreased his corn and made up the difference with Barley.  I will definitely let our co-op guy look at this before starting it, just wanted to see what others on the board might think.  Thanks.

 

[justintime]

I think you are on the right track. Just have a feed nutritionist double check it to make sure it is balanced.

 

[newcomer]

slicktxmaine are you from canada

 

[SlickTxMaine]

Not even close newcomer.....I'm in Texas!  Why do you ask?

 

[newcomer]

cause you said co op thats where i get my feed from and is good for fatening cattle

 

[SlickTxMaine]

cause you said co op thats where i get my feed from and is good for fatening cattle

In rural Texas there are Farmers' Co-ops and Growers' Co-ops that mix and sell feed. 

Any one else have any thoughts regdarding the ration?  We are new to mixing feed and want to try something different this year and also try to save a little money. 

 

[chambero]

You absolutely need to get your Coop to hire a nutritionist to work with you both to develop your ration based on the ingredients your Coops can carry.  The final mixture picked needs to factor in price and the "average" quality of the specific components your mill gets. 

We had our own ration made up this way and it saves us a whole lot of money. As far as I can tell, we aren't missing anything quality wise. 

Our ration is shown below just for reference.  I basically wanted something between a true grower/developer and a finisher.  Half of the equation is knowing how to feed and adjust your ration.  It took us a couple of years to figure it out.  Our ration supposedly comes out to about a 12% protein, 3.5% fat, 16% fiber ration.  On my steers, I just start adding extra corn around Sep 1.

Cottonseed Hulls 560
Milo, steam-rolled 360
Corn Grain, cracked 312.4
Oats, steam-rolled 300
Cotttonseed Meal 260
Molasses Blend 5-58 150
Calcium Carbonate (Bulk) 28.4
Fat Pack 99 20
Magnaferm Yeast Culture 15
Salt Premix 6
Ruminant Science PX 5
Ammonium Chloride 55# 3
Magnesium Oxie 54% 2000 1
Zinpro Available 4 0.59
Bovatec 68 0.322
Dyna K 0

 

[JWW]

depending on the age of the calves i would use a coccidostat too, like rumensin or bovatec



JWW

 

[Chap]

Why use oats?  in my neck of the woods, they are expensive and relatively low feed value in comparison to other grains.  If a finishing type ration, i would stay with corn and steam rolled barley, add molasses or liquid fat for additional energy and dust control.  stay high side for digestable protein and think about added yeast for rumen health. 

 

[Jill]

You need to talk to a feed specialist and have them run the numbers for what you are trying to do.  I do know that Cottonseed Hulls and Beet Pulp are not the same product, they do different thing so when you replace one with the other it changed the balance of your ration.  Also agree on the oats, they are a filler product we use when are trying to hold one, what are you feeding this feed to?

 

[PLKR]

I love rolled barley, but the only way we can get it ( in our area ) is in 50 pound bags--which makes it a bit pricey. If I could find a bulk source I would feed more of it. As for oats--if good quality--they are palateable, can prevent some digestive problems, and are relatively high in protein and fat. As far as feed value goes, they are higher priced than corn--but so is just about everything at this point in time. I think they make a nice addition to most rations to diversify the grain content. As for beet pulp vs. cs hulls, I agree they are not "pound for pound" interchangeable. Beet pulp with molasses in it--which is what is commonly available in our area--actually has a decent energy content. Just my thoughts--they are worth exactly what you paid for them= $ 0.00 !!    ;D

 

[SlickTxMaine]

We are wanting something to start our steer on.  We usually go straight to a bagged complete finisher.  He has been on feed already with similar ingredients.  After speaking at length to the "feed man", I was told they do have cotton seed hulls, so we will be using that instead of beet pulp.  He is tweaking the "recipe" now to get to a 13% ration.  

 

[SlickTxMaine]

We have been paying $22. per hundred for a bagged feed, plus $34.00 for 80# of beet pulp as we do feed BP with our feed.  So far our ration with BP would run $23. per hundred.  We are running the numbers again with the CS hulls.  That should bring the price down. 

 

[chambero]

You need to talk to a feed specialist and have them run the numbers for what you are trying to do.  I do know that Cottonseed Hulls and Beet Pulp are not the same product, they do different thing so when you replace one with the other it changed the balance of your ration.  Also agree on the oats, they are a filler product we use when are trying to hold one, what are you feeding this feed to?

I'm not 100% certain and haven't looked at tags lately, but its my understandng oats are higher in protein and fat than corn - hence the expensive price.  I'm almost certain that is correct.

SlickTxMaine - your Coop is sticking it to you on price.  Our mixed feed from our local mill is only slightly more than half the price of brand name feed, and that includes the more expensive Zinpro minerals and other additives.