Conditioning cows before calving..

Xbrandyx

Member
my cows have been housed since October, due to calve the 1st week of February... i have been feeding them a diet of barley straw to bring their condition down, with mineral licks and salt available. will it be an issue feeding them good clean wheat straw as i have run out of barley straw, i still would like to see them reduce some more condition for calving if possible .

i have plenty of good hay and haylage available if needed.

Xbrandyx....
 

foxbox

Member
Location
West Northants
We feed 1.7kg of rapemeal plus ad-lib straw and minerals to ours, this is about right for a 600kg cow. I appreciate you're looking to feed hay instead.

You need some protein in the ration even if you want to lower the condition of the cows further otherwise you'll impact on rumen function as mentioned and also affect colostrum production too. They cows will start to produce colostrum from around 4 weeks before calving so you soon need to ensure the protein and energy demand of the cows is met.
 

Xbrandyx

Member
the cows are herefords and have spent all year on grass alone, i literally struggle to keep the condition down prior to calving.. how would others try and reduce CS prior to calving other than what i have done? do you guys thinking i should be putting them on hay or haylage + straw from 4 weeks prior to calving?
 

Gulli

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
You can't feed them nothing when they are dry and then expect them to milk once they have calved.
Personally I wouldn't be trying to pull too much condition off them, just keep them ticking over. A big drop in a short period won't do them any good
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
I am struggling to keep my British Whites from getting too fat. It's a worry.
I have looked in the EBLEX ration calculator for a dry suckler cow and read the Teagasc literature. They only get 1 kg of home mix about 12% protein, 4 kg of mixed beet and potatoes and some very poor 2 year old meadow hay but they keep getting fatter. The home mix is mainly to get the minerals into them evenly and to keep them and the bull out the way while I'm bedding up. The old hay is nearly used up now so might switch them to rationed silage and ad lib straw, putting the minerals on the silage and forking a bit into to them each day to ration them.

Got the calving pen set up today and the race and crush for the TB test which is coming up for us just at the most inconvenient time as usual. :(
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
always the way testing for TB!! just out of interest how are you finishing your british whites?

Finished some heifers a couple of years ago on 4 kg of home mix based on rolled barley and oats and urea based protein mineral supplement. Also fed them chopped roots and potatoes and hay or haylage. The chopped roots helped the moisture and intakes. Everybody said go ad lib barley but they tended to get acidosis.

this time, if we get to that stage, we hope to keep the bull calves entire and finish on grain by 16 months. The heifers which would also be shorthorn cross would be kept if they are anything like.
 

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