Category: nutrition (Page 10 of 11)

Balancing a mineral program

Balancing a mineral programThough just one part, minerals are important to your cattle. The proper balance of protein, energy, and minerals is needed for your livestock to perform at their best. Putting out a lot of mineral will not do you any good if the other areas are lacking. Selecting the right mineral program is essential for the production of your cattle.

Finding the right balance is a combination of art and science. It takes knowing what your pasture is providing as well as what your animals’ needs are. It also requires some trial and error to find out what will work and what will not. Here are 4 things to consider when planning out your mineral program.

Continue reading

4 steps to balance a cattle ration

4 steps to balance a cattle rationIn 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.

Continue reading

Keep an eye out for grass tetany

Keep an eye out for grass tetanyAs with most of the country we had a fairly wet winter here in Texas. The grass has begun to grow better than it has for a few years. It may be tempting to turn the cows out on what looks like a lush green field. Though that may not be the smart thing to do. With a rapidly growing forage the chance of grass tetany is also very high.

There are some things that you will need to take into consideration before you let the cows out to graze to prevent any health problems from occurring:

Continue reading

How much water do I need?

How much water do I need?If you were to ask any producer about which nutrients they are concerned with chances are they would tell you protein, energy, and minerals. Now while these are important there is another that is just as important: water. Ensuring that cattle have an adequate amount of clean water is necessary for them to function.

Water is an essential part of life. A certain amount of water is needed for growth, fetal development, lactation, and overall production.

Continue reading

Designing the “perfect” mineral program

Developing the "perfect" mineral programImagine an ideal scenario: just one type of mineral would solve all of your problems. You could just put it out, forget it and your cows would be at the peak of health.

Despite how good that would make you feel I hate to be the bearer of bad news put that type of scenario just doesn’t exist here in the real world. Here there is no such thing as a “perfect” mineral program.

Continue reading

Developing a nutrition plan

Developing a nutrion planMaking it work in the cattle industry is a delicate balance of increasing performance while keeping costs low. There is of course a trade-off for which ever option that you choose. You can keep costs low but that will affect your herd’s performance. Choosing to increase performance will require some additional costs, such as in feed. Developing a nutrition plan can help with this balance.


Continue reading

Managing Feed Costs

Managing Feed CostsIf you were to look at any operation you will find that feed costs are in the top 5 expenses. Feed costs often occupy the #1 spot in out-of-pocket expenses. With it being such a large initial expense it is usually the first to go when the budget starts to get tight. Here are some things to consider when developing a feeding program for your cow herd:

Continue reading

« Older posts Newer posts »