M-J-G
Member
Most cows I've ever had haven't seen concentrate since they were yearlings.I feel like I'm a bit hard on my cows reading this
What to grow as a complete suckler cow ration?
- Thread starter Midlands Farmer
- Start date
How much does it take to make these fancy rations per day for suckler cows our cows get 3 bales every day and a half for batch of 35 cows so with silage at £18 a bale that’s roughly £1.02 per day over a six month winter that’s over £200 a head witch is a brave cost against a calf
beefandsleep
Member
- Location
- Staffordshire
I’ve always been of the opinion that a cow should come in fat and lose condition leading up to calving. If I thought they were losing it too quickly or too much I suppose I would cut out the straw and just feed silage but it hasn’t yet been necessary. I like to see them BCS 2 - 2.5 by calving, they come in at 3.5-4
From memory that requires an energy deficit of around 10 MJ per day or 3-4kgs of average quality silage, about 1.5 bales less per cow over a 180 day housing period.
From memory that requires an energy deficit of around 10 MJ per day or 3-4kgs of average quality silage, about 1.5 bales less per cow over a 180 day housing period.
I genuinely don’t understand why you’d want to ram a suckler full of grub before she calves, not just because of the associated costs but the calves don’t need the amount of milk that such hard feeding would create, better to put the cost to some creep in the calf trough if that’s what floats your boat!! Over done cows lead to big calves, bad calving, bad bags and big bills, no good saying there’s no money in the job, if that’s the case people need to look at they’re system an how they can improve it, change it, tweak it or whatever the case maybe
Last year I fed mine on straw and mollases. Nothing fancy just straw spread out in the barrier with the mollases tipped onto it out if a 20litre drum as I walked down the barrier with it. One drum per 20 cows so they got a litre each. They ate a lot less straw than they would silage and held condition fine. I assumed it would cost a fortune to feed them that way but it actually worked out cheaper that silage by about 1/3 which really surprised me. The straw price last year was reasonable bit different this year. But there was no more machinery involved that there would be feeding bales of silage so no real added costs either just me faffing with drums of mollases.
This is what we're doing this year with some of them. It's working better than I expected now the keeper isn't scaring them over the electric. Will do more of this or something like it in future. Half their feed is grass that got away from the sheep in late August and was left. Will have enough till late this month then they will probably have to come in.
Sorry op this isn't going to help you much.
harperfarmer
Member
Wholecrop oats analyse about spot on for suckler cows. Add some minerals. Plus as part of mid-tier I'm paid £200/acre to grow a spring sown/wholecropped cereal. Ticks the boxes.
Midlands Farmer
Member
Thank you, you’re one of a few that have actually read my post properly!! Have you got any analysis of wholecrop oats you would be able to share?
harperfarmer
Member
I've got an analysis somewhere from last year I'll dig out for you. We've fed straight wholecrop oats the last 5 years or so and gotten on really well with it. One thing I would say is not to let it get too ripe before you cut it as it can be a struggle to clamp properly when it's too fluffy/dry. We usually ask them to chop it as long as they can without removing knives as it's such a faff for them to do. This is the first year we have used spring sown oats rather than winter (although they were a winter variety just planted in late march) and they yielded around 10t/acre fresh weight whereas autumn sown would be nearer 15t in a good year. They are also slightly wetter which you would expect really but we could have just delayed cutting by another 10 days. The cows love them and always seem very contented when fed them. I haven't had this year's analysed yet, I really ought to but just haven't got round to it. I just sprinkle a dry cow mineral on top daily.
That was it when cut very end of July. It always looks greener in the pit.
Heres a mid winter analysis. I grew some spring oats a few years ago and wholecropped them. I found them very underwhelming compared to my spring barley that I wholecropped but I have a different use for the wholecrop compared to what you want to achieve.
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Wholecrop oats has a very low ME and very poor crude protein.
If it's baled, and assuming 2t straw + 2t grain per acre:
10 bales at 400kg. Each bale contains 200kg straw + 200kg grain.
20 cows will scoff one bale/day easily. So each cow is getting 10kg grain/day.
Which is a ridiculous waste of feed.
If it's baled, and assuming 2t straw + 2t grain per acre:
10 bales at 400kg. Each bale contains 200kg straw + 200kg grain.
20 cows will scoff one bale/day easily. So each cow is getting 10kg grain/day.
Which is a ridiculous waste of feed.
harperfarmer
Member
You say a waste of feed........but then it's being grown to provide a balanced ration for suckler cows which it does, both affordably (arguably cheaper than grass to grow) and without the harvesting weather pressures that grass is subject to. It qualifies for a significant stewardship payment that further enhances its credentials. Not to mention the fact that 45 acres would comfortably feed 100 cows through a 5 month winter. That's 45 acres that's harvested and clamped in less than a day, beats trekking round with a mower, tedder, rake, baler and wrapper for days on end to make the same volume of feed. That's before I spend the next few days on end fetching the resulting bales in to the yard. When clamped it utilises far far less plastic than bales so much better from an environmental point of view. It also brings great benefits to the arable side, easing harvest pressures, increasing the window for stale seed beds/blackgrass control and allowing for muck to be spread in drier months and incorporated with less chance of damage to soil structure. So whilst you say 10kg/day wasted grain, I'd say its a crop that's brought infinitely more financial and holistic benefits than the 10kg grain is worth. But then I'm sure you considered all of that before offering your opinion....
beefandsleep
Member
- Location
- Staffordshire
Way out on your calculation of 2t straw and grain per acre. Dry matter yield will be far higher than taking to combine stage as all the chaff and leaf will be in the clamp too. Very quick and cheap to pit also in comparison to grass.
It’s debatable wether or not it’s cheaper than silage from a long term ley as cultivation, seed and agronomy costs are way higher, though fert cost should be lower. Obviously there are other agronomic benefits to growing a crop, cleaning up an old ley for an early reseed, overwinter stubbles to stack muck. So I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand like that.
It’s debatable wether or not it’s cheaper than silage from a long term ley as cultivation, seed and agronomy costs are way higher, though fert cost should be lower. Obviously there are other agronomic benefits to growing a crop, cleaning up an old ley for an early reseed, overwinter stubbles to stack muck. So I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand like that.
harperfarmer
Member
These are the analyses from a couple of previous years wholecrop oats.
