Livestock Management RANCHING
important. If it’s inadequate, “you just have to feed them more energy. Feed them more supplement. Just increase the supplement by half a pound to 1 pound per cow per day on average.” The rancher’s time is sometimes limited, so feeding supplements every other day will work if the average meets the cows’ needs. On the other hand, Hutcheson says, “When it’s really cold and the chill factor is 10 or below, you will prob- ably need to feed every day during that period of time.” Frostbite is a rarity in this region. Hutcheson says
you usually don’t see the tissue-damaging condition unless snow or ice is present. When it does occur, it can affect the tips of the tail and ears, and sometimes the teats. He says lack of a good hair coat may be a factor. Hutcheson notes, “When it’s uncomfortable for you, it’s uncomfortable for them. If you’re putting up feed and they’re not coming to eat, that would be a sign that they’re really cold.”
Test stored forage Chart 2 shows the availability of forages in different
types of pasture systems throughout the year relative to the needs of an 1,100-pound cow. Hutcheson rec- ommends testing stored forage for protein and energy content. He notes, “Most likely from December through January and into February there’s just no grass, even if they’re using a cropping system that has summer and winter forage. So depending on the weather, we’re probably going to be using hay from the middle of No- vember and I want to know what [the protein content of] that is. For instance, if it’s 4 percent protein, that’s not enough. We need to have higher protein than that.” If cold stress is present, the protein needs are boosted by 10 to 15 percent. Hutcheson gives an example of a
Chart 1: Feed Needs at Different Temperatures Chart 2: Forage Availability in Pasture Systems Lower
Cold Stress Critical Temperature
Upper Critical
Temperature
Dry Matter Intake NEM
Cold Stress Thermal Cool Cattle 320F Low
Warm 74.30F High
EFFECTIVE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
Between 320 F and 74.30 F is the TNZ Thermal Neutral Zone NEM is Net Energy of Maintenance
58 The Cattleman January 2015
thecattlemanmagazine.com Heat Stress The chart below shows different pasture systems East of I-‐35
cow consuming 20 pounds of 4-percent protein hay per day. The 0.8 pounds of protein from that hay is insuffi - cient, and has to be boosted by another 1 pound, which can be accomplished by feeding the cow 5 pounds of a 20 percent protein supplement. Distillers grain works for some operations as a
supplement. It is 20 percent or higher protein, 10 per- cent fat (although some ethanol processors have been removing the corn oil, reducing fat by 6 to 8 percent) and high in digestible energy. A lot of operations can’t handle it, however, because
they don’t have the necessary feed troughs. “If you feed a loose feed you’re really going to have to have a trough. You can feed it on the grass, but you’re going to lose quite a bit of it,” Hutcheson says. For those producers, range cake or cubes can be a
good alternative; the cubes are 3/4-inch and can be spread on the ground like pellets for the cows to pick up. Cottonseed meal is another favorite supplement at
41 percent protein in a pellet or in a limit-fed block. He says, “If you can increase the protein, you’ll increase hay consumption if it is available, and that will in- crease the energy” on top of the energy that is already in the supplement. The nutritional value of forage crops can be en-
hanced with annuals and legumes. Hutcheson says that across East Texas and into Missouri most ranchers have either ryegrass or fescue. Some will have clovers and some of those he’s worked with this year in East Texas interseeded wheat and rye over bermudagrass. “Ordinarily we use rye, but seeds have not been
readily available,” he says. “That gives us more grass, and the only time you have to feed hay is in the winter. We normally start calving in January and February,
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108