Corn protein %

[Blondefan]

What % protein meal is recommended for feeding to suckler calves at weaning?

Calves currently get 18% course mixture creep fed from 6wks old and are currently (at 7-8m old) on about 3.5kg/day per head of 50:50 mix between the course meal and 17% mixt of rolled barley, sugar beet and rape.
Is there a blueprint to what % corn they need at what age - ie is that the right approach or could i get the same growth rates by adding more barley/sugar beet to the mix.

 

[ilovemilk90]

a lot depends on the breed and what your end market is. If you are going to take them all the way through to finish or if you want to sell them as big stores.
Persoanlly aim at15-16%CP for a grower ration. To me that looks like a very expensive way of feeding. You could easily mix rolled barley and maize distillers to make a mix and buy minerals separately. Would save you a hell of a lot of £££

 

[Hummin-Cummins]

AHDB do some useful booklets available online with breakdowns of suggested feeding ratios etc which are well worth a read. I’ll see if i can find a link for anyone who’s interested

 

[Hummin-Cummins]

https://beefandlamb.ahdbdigital.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FeedingSucklerCowsAndCalves2533_190311_WEB.pdf

 

[Hummin-Cummins]

https://beefandlamb.ahdbdigital.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/BRP-Feeding-growing-and-finishing-manual-7-040417.pdf

 

[Whitepeak]

Guessing by your username you keep Blondes??
We have pedigree Blondes and get on well feeding an 18% rearer nut alongside haylage. It is a good quality 18% with a high energy and starch level, barley is usually the top ingredient. We feed the same through the creep feeders. Most feed reps want to sell us a 16% for suckled calves for some reason, but we find that the heifers get a bit dumpy. Whereas on an 18% they grow more frame. When we come to finish any, or prepare any for shows/sales, we either drop to a 14/16% finisher or mix rolled barley with the rearer nut.
We don't have any storage for straights, we buy barley in dumpy bags and have one bulk bin.