straw and ? for youngstock

[HarryB97]

Normally we feed weaned dairy x calves adlib silage, 2kg per head per day of a 16% blend and 2kg of whole oats but are very short of silage. We feed this ration till about 6 months old then change to 2kg of rolled barley or a 14% blend price depending. We have plenty of spring barley straw available as well as oats, part from molasses what straights would people recommend? We have an auger bucket and a straw blower available for feeding. I'm looking for a ration fom 6 months of age till about 10 months old as we will have more silage by next june.

 

[Angus]

Hello HarryB97, what did you end up feeding your stock? We will be feeding a straw based diet soon, so looking for some ideas, Angus.

 

[HarryB97]

Hello HarryB97, what did you end up feeding your stock? We will be feeding a straw based diet soon, so looking for some ideas, Angus.

The Weaned calves from 3 months -7/8 months are currently on adlib straw with 2kg of oats per day and 2-3kg of a 16% blend split between two feeds. This is wokring well and for this age of stock I will be continue this in the future. Older stock weight depending are on 5-7 kg of a 16% blend split between two feeds with adlib straw. This seams to be working okay but once I have silage they'll be going straight back on it as the straw based ration has near enough doubled the feed cost per day for the heavier cattle!

 

[Angus]

Thank you for the reply, it seems to work out better for the younger stock. Do you use molasses, is there any urea in it?

 

[Headless chicken]

Were on the second year of straw and cake for heifers. Prefer hay if possible but crazy money currently. 3-3.5kg 21% protein cake is what we feed and I’m pleased with how they’re growing. For us it works very well as we just feed them once a day as they’re on another unit.

 

[Angus]

That sounds good Headless chicken,do you use any molasses? Barley wheat or oat and do they eat most of it?

 

[som farmer]

dairy hfrs autumn born on straw and up to 4kg cake, no trouble calving them at 2yrs, been doing it for years.
had some coarse hay one year, tried it, back on straw and cake

 

[Headless chicken]

That sounds good Headless chicken,do you use any molasses? Barley wheat or oat and do they eat most of it?

No molasses
R1’s on wheat
R2’s are on barley

 

[super4]

When we had the sucklers they had ad lib wheat straw and 4 kg 16% blend as cheaper than cake. They always calved easy. They didnt use a lot of bedding either as their dung is so much drier.

 

[HarryB97]

Thank you for the reply, it seems to work out better for the younger stock. Do you use molasses, is there any urea in it?

Luckily no molasses but we did consider it. Got put off by the mess involved!

 

[womble8350]

When we had the sucklers they had ad lib wheat straw and 4 kg 16% blend as cheaper than cake. They always calved easy. They didnt use a lot of bedding either as their dung is so much drier.

Hi did you put them on silage once they calved?