When you balance a ration you are supplying the proper amount as well as proportions of nutrients that the animal will need. The thing to remember is that we are not just providing “feed”. We are supplying what is needed for growth, reproduction and body maintenance.
What is balancing a ration?
What is known as a ration is what an animal will eat in a 24 hour period. This includes things like forages (ex: bermudagrass or whatever forage you have in the pasture) and grains (ex: corn or wheat).
To qualify as a balanced ration it will provide all the necessary nutrients that the animal will need in the correct amount that it needs.
By properly balancing a ration you are providing the animal with all of the protein, energy, and minerals that it will need to grow and produce. Being short on any of these three things could affect the cow’s ability to produce at their optimum level.
Why should I balance a ration?
As mentioned above properly balancing a ration will provide all the necessary nutrients that cow will need in the most efficient way possible.
If the ration is improperly balanced much of the feed will be wasted. The cow will not be absorbing all that they are needing. The excess will just pass through the back end and not be of any use.
In short you will be spending money on what is not important. I don’t know about you but I do not have extra money to waste.
When the animal is short on any of the needed nutrients then you can have production problems. Like for example the cow will bot be putting on weight, or they can begin to have health problems.
Steps to balancing a ration
Now that we have covered the what and the why we can move on to the how portion. In order to correctly balance a ration you will need to know 3 things: the nutrient requirements of the animal, the nutrient content of the feedstuff, and the calculations to determine right amount to use.
Nutrient requirements
This can change depending on what stage of production that the cattle are on. For example a steer will have different requirements compared to a heifer. A yearling bull will be different from a pregnant cow. You get the idea.
There are many resources out there that you can use to find out what it is that your animal needs. Your local county extension office is one such place that you can go visit to get this information.
Now that you know what it is that your particular animal needs then we can move on to the next stage.
Nutrient content of feedstuff
Much like finding out the requirements there are many resources out there that you can find out what the particular commodity that you want to use will provide. The resources that you find will be good for giving you a “ballpark” figure to work with but if you want to know the exact amount then you will have to get it tested.
The price of doing this test can depend on what it is that you are testing and what information you are wanting to know about. Typically it can cost you between $10 and $35 to have this done.
The things that you are wanting to look for are energy, fiber, protein, and minerals
The energy that the feed provides is a pretty overall thing to look for. If the animal is growing (whether itself or a new calf) then the amount of energy is very important.
The fiber content of the commodity is very useful for the animal’s rumen. I talk about the importance of roughages in a cattle’s diet here.
Calculating your ration
Now that you know what your animal needs are and what feedstuffs you are wanting to use we can “put pen to paper” so to speak.
There are a few ways that you can go about doing this and I will mention a couple.
If you are wanting to use just 2 feedstuffs then you can use the Pearson square method to combine them. This is a simple method to use if you are only wanting to target 1 specific thing like Crude Protein. Below is an example of what it would look like.
Courtesy of Colorado State University
If you are looking for a more in depth calculation then all hope is not lost. The CowCulator from Oklahoma State University is an online tool that is available for you.