Feeding your Cows

[bruce9001]

Just wondering what everyone feeds there in-calf cows during the winter and before calving???

We feed a TMR ration of 9kg wholecrop and 9kg grass silage mixed with about 5kg Barley Straw with cheap dry cow minerals and 2kg of Pot-Ale /head each day!

Now we are calving silage has been cut back for about 3 weeks and straw is up to 6.5kg per day with the Pot-Ale going up to 3.5kg per day! Megastart pre-calving minerals used now.

Picture of the heavy straw ration [emoji16][emoji3]

 

[milkloss]

We treat ours pretty hard. Running with calves they get ad lib grass silage and minerals. Calves get whole oat creep.

Building up to calving I always feel they could do with more condition but we seem to manage ok, we calve mid April as we don't have the yard space. Cows will get a crystalyx dry cow tub with a high iodine rocky dropped on the top; quite amusing to watch the block slowly sink into the tub over a week or two.

 

[bruce9001]

Never thought of people keeping the calves on them, we wean ours off about 1st November or if cows out later about 2 weeks after coming inside!

 

[Henarar]

Silage and hay

 

[Stewartry hill]

Mature silage anything else has to be bought hi mag blocks when they go to grass to calve

 

[milkloss]

Never thought of people keeping the calves on them, we wean ours off about 1st November or if cows out later about 2 weeks after coming inside!

When do you calve?

 

[Samcowman]

Just wondering what everyone feeds there in-calf cows during the winter and before calving???

We feed a TMR ration of 9kg wholecrop and 9kg grass silage mixed with about 5kg Barley Straw with cheap dry cow minerals and 2kg of Pot-Ale /head each day!

Now we are calving silage has been cut back for about 3 weeks and straw is up to 6.5kg per day with the Pot-Ale going up to 3.5kg per day! Megastart pre-calving minerals used now.

Picture of the heavy straw ration [emoji16][emoji3]
View attachment 490448

Ours are on restricted average quality silage about 25-30 kg and ad lib barley straw.
Do you get many calving problems feeding whole crop to in calf cows? Maybe cheaper to just feed more silage.

 

[bruce9001]

Been feeding wholecrop now for 3 years and not had any problems from it!

Reason use wholecrop instead of extra grass silage is it is in the arable rotation and having beans etc through it is good at leaving extra nitrogen in the ground for the next year's crop!


@milkloss we calve 30 heifers from 10th March and cows start on the 1st April
Plenty of sheltered Glen's to put them in to start with ...

 

[P.O.T]

Just wondering what everyone feeds there in-calf cows during the winter and before calving???

We feed a TMR ration of 9kg wholecrop and 9kg grass silage mixed with about 5kg Barley Straw with cheap dry cow minerals and 2kg of Pot-Ale /head each day!

Now we are calving silage has been cut back for about 3 weeks and straw is up to 6.5kg per day with the Pot-Ale going up to 3.5kg per day! Megastart pre-calving minerals used now.

Picture of the heavy straw ration [emoji16][emoji3]
View attachment 490448

I assume this is for dairy cows? seems very fancy for an incalf suckler?

 

[bruce9001]

I assume this is for dairy cows? seems very fancy for an incalf suckler?

No its for sucklers!

Run around 250 to calve!
Most are LimX, SIMX and AAX

 

[onthehoof]

Hay

 

[aled1590]

Dry silage/straw/clamp silage/hay....whatever we have available. Every year varies due to weather

 

[Granite Farmer]

Aberdeen Angus X. Rough hay or silage and a mineral like. All out wintered.