the quality better than letting them eat the bottom part of it. You can do that in a continuous grazing or in a rotational grazing situation. If somebody is rotation- ally grazing, they need to remember not to allow the cattle to remove all of the forage because when they start eating the lower quality, bottom half of that plant it is not as valuable to them.”
Supplementation begins with protein As a rule, supplementation begins with a protein
supplement. That can take the form of a cube that is typically from 38 to 42 percent crude protein, from such sources as cottonseed meal, soybean meal or canola meal. If energy supplementation is needed as well, the pro-
ducer could use a 20 percent cube along with an energy source such as corn gluten feed or distillers grains. There are a number of ways to deliver supplementa-
tion. The most common is the cube, or hand feeding method. “If we have to use an energy supplement in the equation, we are going to want to feed that prod- uct every day,” says Banta. “We want to start with a small amount. For mature cows, the rule of thumb is 2 pounds per day.” If necessary, gradually raise it to 4 to 5 pounds of the 20 percent cubes per day, which Banta
When protein in forage starts dropping, fecal patties start stacking up.
says should be more than suffi cient in most situations. On native range, the need is more typically going to
be for protein, and the higher-protein, 38-to-40 percent supplements can be fed every other day, or sometimes twice a week. Banta says, “Start with maybe a pound per day, or 7 per week, of those 40 percent cubes. If I break that into 2 feedings that would be 3.5 pounds each per feeding.” From there, watch the manure patties. They should
106 The Cattleman September 2015
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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