Let’s say there was a way that you
could make money come out of the ground, would you be interested? Of course you would be interested.
And what if it could reduce or even eliminate your cattle’s down time, would that be something you would be interested in? Well using the right kind of supplement program will do both for you.
Using the right kind of supplement program could do that and so much more. The right kind of supplement program will correctly fill in the nutrition gaps from your forages which will lead to healthier cattle.
But how do you know if the supplement program you are using is the right one for your operation? To determine what program is right for you there are some things to consider.
Mineral supplement
Does your forage provide all of your cattle’s mineral needs year round? I will get ahead of you there and tell you that they will not. Even during a good year your forages will not provide all of the required minerals in the correct amounts to meet your animal’s needs.
Cattle require a proper balance of water, energy, protein, vitamins and minerals in order to perform optimally. The problem that you may face is that the forages on your place can be short of essential minerals.
In many cases all you need to do is provide a mineral supplement formulated correctly for your forage to get your cattle performing at maximum levels. These are relatively inexpensive to implement and depending on how you provide them they can greatly reduce labor.
Understand that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to mineral supplementation, You may have to use different types throughout the year since mineral supply can vary greatly depending on forage growing stage and weather.
To read more about how minerals play a role in your cow’s health check out my previous article “What you don’t know about minerals can hurt”.
Supporting microbes
If you decide to feed a protein supplement choose one with an adequate rumen available crude protein. The microbes in the rumen are what breaks down the feed into energy and protein for the cow to absorb.
In complimenting a forage based diet the key is to support microbial growth with the protein. If that supplement is limiting the microbes it won’t digest the forages as well thus producing a lot of waste.
This also reduces the supply of needed nutrients (I.e., energy and protein) from the forage. You also want to make sure the energy resources in the supplement compliment the forage diet.
The key here is to not upset the balance in the rumen. If the microbes are happy then your cow will maximize the feed that they take in.
Feed Delivery
Select a feed delivery system that best matches your operation and the resources that you have available. The key here is to deliver the amount of supplement that you are needing with the minimum amount of labor cost.
For example using a bulk truck to deliver feed would be overkill for providing supplements for an operation of less than 100 acres. You should pick what will work for you.
How you deliver the feed to your animals will also depend on what type of feed that you are giving them. Using a textured feed will really only work if you are hand feeding. So also take into account what type that you are feeding.
Also at the same time you want to make sure that it is delivering the needed amount of nutrition to every animal. If you are going to be feeding out of a bunk the general rule of thumb is you need about 3 feet of bunk space per head. The supplement does you no good if they are unable to eat it.
New Mexico State has a good paper on different considerations for a feed delivery system called Beef Cattle Supplement Delivery Systems.
Cost of supplement
Finally you should make your final selection on the total cost of the options that meet both your nutritional and practical needs. The things to consider in the cost would be: the feed itself, the equipment needed, transportation, and labor.
One way that you can take into account is not just the initial costs but the increase in income that you will get back for using them. It is best to look at this in a very practical and analytical way and not in an emotional one as much. These are an investment that can increase your return but you don’t need to overextend yourself.
If it is not economically feasible to provide supplementation year round then the best time to do it would be for 180 days from spring on. This is the time when your animal’s nutritional needs go up but what your forage provides is steadily going down.
An important thing to remember when selecting a supplement is to compare on a cost per pound of what you are needing rather than just the cost per ton. Corn may be cheaper than range cubes but it will require feeding more corn to meet the amount range cubes can provide.
An example to do this is to divide the percentage of crude protein by 2000lbs this will give you the amount of protein that is in the ton.
Example of comparing feed costs
Example: 20% CP cubes (DM basis), $340/ton, 90%DM
2,000lb x 0.90= 1,800lb DM in ton; 1,800lb DM x.20 = 360lb CP in ton
($340/ton)/360lb CP in a ton = $ 0.94/lb. of CP
To get your cattle to reach their full genetic potential you need to make sure that all of their base nutritional needs are being met
Review
If you are going to provide supplements to your cows there are some factors that you will need to consider
- Minerals that need to be supplemented
- Supporting the microbes
- How you will deliver the supplement to them
- Costs
- Does this by determining the cost per pound of what you are needing rather than total cost
