Feeding barley straw to calves...racks?

[TelesnaAg]

I will be raising a buch of fresian bull calves next year and am starting to build equipment now...i have got hold of alot of plastic drums to cut in half for pellets ..grain etc..

Whats best for and cheap and quick to make for straw? Is putting up on a rack the way to go or do they waste? Just wondering if anyone has pics or ideas etc...i can weld very well so making frames etc from rhs is easy for me...

Also homemade calf starter ration...any secret recipes!!

Cheers, Ant...

 

[Beef farmer]

Use the barrels you have left over, cut some big holes in them 6inches up from the bottom. Turn them upside down and fill with straw, then turn them back up and they can feed out the hole, and it's water proof.





Apart from your in oz, so I doubt water will be an issue

 

[endeavour]

Depending on availability and cost have found a fresh wad in front of individual pens when bedding up to suffice for calves to weaning 6to 12 weeks , after in round feeders, steer clear of racks cattle look up to for fear of eye infections from barley awn causing irritwtion.

 

[TelesnaAg]

Use the barrels you have left over, cut some big holes in them 6inches up from the bottom. Turn them upside down and fill with straw, then turn them back up and they can feed out the hole, and it's water proof.





Apart from your in oz, so I doubt water will be an issue

I like it...ohh and i only get 1000mm a year...

Ant...

 

[Dairyfarmerswife]

Not a great pic, (if I've even managed to upload it) but an ibc cut diagonally, then a slot made so it slots onto the hurdle and triangles cut each side for calves to eat from. One ibc feeds two pens.

 

[Clay52]

My tip is don't feed calves straw if you want them to grow. It's just a gut filler for animals that are at their premium growth stage but have limited gut space. Get some good Lucerne hay.

I feed my weaned calves the highest ME baled silage I have on hand at the time. You just need enough calves to eat a bale in time. The growth rates of my calves shot up when I started feeding them baled silage.

Calf starter. Dont by a the grain mills "special" calf starter blend. They tend to charge way extra for no reason. My mill charged $200 ton more for their "award winning" calf starter than my custom blend and my custom blend had more canola meal in it.

 

[TelesnaAg]

My tip is don't feed calves straw if you want them to grow. It's just a gut filler for animals that are at their premium growth stage but have limited gut space. Get some good Lucerne hay.

I feed my weaned calves the highest ME baled silage I have on hand at the time. You just need enough calves to eat a bale in time. The growth rates of my calves shot up when I started feeding them baled silage.

Calf starter. Dont by a the grain mills "special" calf starter blend. They tend to charge way extra for no reason. My mill charged $200 ton more for their "award winning" calf starter than my custom blend and my custom blend had more canola meal in it.

Straw is not for growth it is for rumen development - fibre...0-6 weeks..all the protein they need should be in the milk powder and calf start raiton..upon which i will make my own...hence the request for recipies...never indicated i would use a grain mills ration etc...

once weaned they will go onto grass, grain and HP hay...i wouldnt feed silage going into winter - enough water in grass without making worse...summer is different...OZ is different!!!

Ant...

 

[Clay52]

Straw is not for growth it is for rumen development - fibre...0-6 weeks..all the protein they need should be in the milk powder and calf start raiton..upon which i will make my own...hence the request for recipies...never indicated i would use a grain mills ration etc...

once weaned they will go onto grass, grain and HP hay...i wouldnt feed silage going into winter - enough water in grass without making worse...summer is different...OZ is different!!!

Ant...

Straw for rumen development is old information. They have done research and looked at rumens and straw does basically nothing for rumen devoopment in calves. It's startch from grain that causes rumen development. In any case plenty of fibre for calves in high quality hay and it will increase growth over straw.

Silage is fine for weaned calves, winter or not. OZ or not.

 

[TelesnaAg]

Straw for rumen development is old information. They have done research and looked at rumens and straw does basically nothing for rumen devoopment in calves. It's startch from grain that causes rumen development. In any case plenty of fibre for calves in high quality hay and it will increase growth over straw.

Silage is fine for weaned calves, winter or not. OZ or not.

Can you post me this research?

Ant...

 

[Clay52]

Can you post me this research?

Ant...

I will post it later, I might also have some notes from university of Illinois if I still have them. In the mean time you'll probably find it on google if you have a look.

 

[Clay52]

Not the piece of information I had in mind but it's a start.

http://www.progressivedairy.com/top...n-development-to-help-improve-lifetime-profit

 

[TelesnaAg]

This is all focused on post weaning i am talking day 1 through to 42..on milk inside with some outside time after week 3 or 4...

Ant...

 

[Clay52]

This is all focused on post weaning i am talking day 1 through to 42..on milk inside with some outside time after week 3 or 4...

Ant...

Its not. It's referring to rumen devolpment full stop.

Another
http://www.wcds.ca/proc/2005/Manuscripts/Heinrichs.pdf

Take note of pics of 6 week old rumen comparisons.

In any case. I'm just sharing some of my tips, you have no requiment to listen to me and I would suggest do your own research anyway.

If it matters to you I'll share the results I have got. Growth goals for dairy heifers are around 0.7kg a day, I have been able to average over 1kg (both pre and post weaning) and breed groups of heifers at 10 months old rather than 15. I dont keep many bulls but growth rates of Holstein bulls would have been closer to 2kg a day.

 

[TelesnaAg]

Its not. It's referring to rumen devolpment full stop.

Another
http://www.wcds.ca/proc/2005/Manuscripts/Heinrichs.pdf

Take note of pics of 6 week old rumen comparisons.

In any case. I'm just sharing some of my tips, you have no requiment to listen to me and I would suggest do your own research anyway.

If it matters to you I'll share the results I have got. Growth goals for dairy heifers are around 0.7kg a day, I have been able to average over 1kg (both pre and post weaning) and breed groups of heifers at 10 months old rather than 15. I dont keep many bulls but growth rates of Holstein bulls would have been closer to 2kg a day.

Cheers ive read that before...so do you feed ad lib silage from first week onwards? obviously with grain starter mix...if they favour the silage should that be cut back as to force the grain intake?

Ant...

 

[Clay52]

Cheers ive read that before...so do you feed ad lib silage from first week onwards? obviously with grain starter mix...if they favour the silage should that be cut back as to force the grain intake?

Ant...

There were some reccomendations to whithold forage until after weaning to encourage grain intake and rumen development. I tried it and didn't like it. Calves didn't look as good and didn't grow as well so I intoduced forage back in. I have now seen recently research showing that high quality forage as well as grain is beneficial to pre and post weaned calves as long as the calves are eating the grain.

Currently my pre weaned calves are on ad lib lucerne hay, ad lib high protein grain mix and ad lib milk until I cut their milk down. I don't have enough pre weaned calves to feed baled silage at the moment but I have done it. With big healthy calves I don't find I need to force the grain by restricting forage, they eat heaps of grain as it is. I know some people do have the issue of calves avoiding grain and eating forage instead but hasn't been a problem for me.

When calves get weaned they go onto ad lib silage(whatever high ME silage I have) and ad lib high protein grain mix to 6 months. I don't bother with grass for small calves, they don't eat enough grass to rotate the paddocks properly and it just ends up wrecking the grass.

 

[TelesnaAg]

I have to watch costs, there not replacement heifers, there burger meat bound for USA or trade market...cost of making silage here not overly cheap so once after 12 weeks it will be pasture...cheapest food i can grow...i don't have UK style barns for stock as we don't winter cattle here...

Just got quote on 1300kg of molasses - $340 AUD...cheaper than water...this will help make life easy...

Cheers for the info...

Ant....

 

[Dman2]

Can you post me this research?

Ant...

Disagree with this
Think you will find that feeding chopped straw is the best thing for rumen development

 

[milkloss]

There were some reccomendations to whithold forage until after weaning to encourage grain intake and rumen development. I tried it and didn't like it. Calves didn't look as good and didn't grow as well so I intoduced forage back in. I have now seen recently research showing that high quality forage as well as grain is beneficial to pre and post weaned calves as long as the calves are eating the grain.

Currently my pre weaned calves are on ad lib lucerne hay, ad lib high protein grain mix and ad lib milk until I cut their milk down. I don't have enough pre weaned calves to feed baled silage at the moment but I have done it. With big healthy calves I don't find I need to force the grain by restricting forage, they eat heaps of grain as it is. I know some people do have the issue of calves avoiding grain and eating forage instead but hasn't been a problem for me.

When calves get weaned they go onto ad lib silage(whatever high ME silage I have) and ad lib high protein grain mix to 6 months. I don't bother with grass for small calves, they don't eat enough grass to rotate the paddocks properly and it just ends up wrecking the grass.

Interesting. Seeing as you have done a fair bit of reading on rumen development I wonder if you would mind giving your opinion about how 'gutty' looking calves come about?

 

[Beef farmer]

Interesting. Seeing as you have done a fair bit of reading on rumen development I wonder if you would mind giving your opinion about how 'gutty' looking calves come about?

Poor quality silage

 

[Clay52]

Interesting. Seeing as you have done a fair bit of reading on rumen development I wonder if you would mind giving your opinion about how 'gutty' looking calves come about?

Low energy and likely low protein diet.

Basically you end up with the gut and the head looking big and out of proportion to the rest of the body due to the low growth rates.