In order to produce beef efficiently cattle producers know it is important what you feed your cows. A nutritionally balanced diet will allow the cattle to perform at their best. Sometimes forages alone are not gonna meet the demands of your herd, sometimes you will need to feed a supplement.
Cattle feed accounts for 60%- 80% of a producers total production cost. With this high of a percentage it is vital that a rancher should calculate the most cost-effective ration that they can. There are 4 steps that you can follow to ensure that you are getting the best feed for the best price.
Identify nutrient needs of the animal
Before you begin formulating what ration you will need it is important to understand what the cow’s needs are. Trying to skip this step will be like shooting in the dark: you might hit the target but odds are that you will miss. Once you have this information then you will know what nutrients will be needed.
There are some factors that you will need to look at to find this information. You will need to know what age and what stage of production the cattle are in, for obvious reasons. A lactating 8 year old cow will have a different set of nutrient needs than an 800lb steer that is growing.
The table on the left is a good example of what you will need to find the information you are looking for. It will tell you what it’s CP needs are as well as what it’s energy requirements will be. If you are looking for more information the University of Arkansas has a report that goes into more detail with different classes of cattle here. Your local county extension office will also have that information available.
The one thing to remember when looking at a table like this is that they are just average values. It may be necessary to adjust the values based on any conditions, such as weather, you may have.
Identify available feedstuffs
Now that you know what requirements that you are needing to meet it is time to look at what types of feedstuffs that you can use. The decision on what to use should be based on it’s nutrient content as well as it’s availability. You will want to select a crop that is grown in your general area otherwise it may get expensive.
You can find the nutrient content by using a feed composition table such as the one on the left. It will tell you what the amount of protein, TDN, as well as any vitamins or minerals it provides. Select the feedstuffs that provide the nutrients that you need. Beef Magazine puts out a detailed feed composition table every year and you can go to it by clicking here.
Thing to remember: like the nutrient requirement table the values you will find in the feed composition table will be the average. If you want to know the exact amount it will provide you will have to send it off to be tested at a lab.
Calculate how much to use
Once you have selected the commodities that you want to use and you know what the nutrient requirements for the cattle are it is time to do some math. Scary I Know! You will need to formulate how much of each product you will need in order to get the final product that you want.
There are two ways that you can do this. One is to the information to a commercial feed company and let them formulate it for you. This will likely be done on a computer program and can factor in different types of feedstuffs at once. By doing this it could give you the best cost feedstuff for what you need.
Another option that you can go with is to use something like the Pearson square method. This is a simpler way to do it and could be done on just a piece of paper at the ranch. The only drawback to this is that you can only use preselected feedstuffs. So you better hope that you have selected the best priced commodities. Also, since it is a simple formula you can only do a factor of two feedstuffs at once. If you are wanting more information on how to do the Pearson square method Colorado State has a paper giving you detailed instructions here.
Check results to make sure ration is balanced
Now that you have the math part completed you will need to double check the results to make sure that it meets the needs you are looking for. A supplement won’t do you any good if it doesn’t do what you need it to.
If it doesn’t then some adjustments will need to be made so that it will. Or you will have to choose a different feedstuff that will. If it is deficient in any vitamins or minerals then you may have to add a supplement pack.
Once you have the formula that you need all you will have to do is figure out the total amount that you will need. That can be figured out by multiplying the amount to be fed per head by the total head that you have.
Review
To properly design a balanced cattle ration there are 4 steps that you must follow
- Identify the nutritional needs of the animal that you are feeding
- Identify the available feedstuffs
- Calculate how much you will need by either a computer program or the Pearson square method
- Check results to make sure it meets the needs you are feeding for
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