Oats for cows

pmct

Hi all I was thinking of feeding oats to cows that are near calving does anybody know where I can get big bags of oats and how much they are also what do ye think of it does it make the calfes strong

RobinBanks

pmct wrote: »

what do ye think of it does it make the calfes strong

I fed oat last year. I dont think I will feed it again. I dont know if I can say anything posistive about it to be honest. I had a few big pulls and I didnt notice the calves been any stronger. I didnt feed the rest of the cows and they calfed easier!!

KatyMac

Does it not make the calves too big as they put on most of their weight in the last cupla weeks before birth. A neighbour of mine fed his cows up to their calving and he had some awful hard calvings (vet and helpers needed). I would never feed oats within the last two months at least. There are too many disadvantages.

theMountain

I feed rolled oats to all my cows prior to calving and hopefully will again next year !

deerejohn

whenever we have embyro calves due(always holsteins) from 1st calvers we feed a restricted forage diet and maybe 1.5 kg oats. We find it a superjob, calves not overfleshed(i know they are holsteins!) but more importantly the fluids are of a much better quality, more slippery and really yellow in colour resulting in a really vibrant calf. In the past have also used it where a diff calving bull was used on the wrong cow with good results also.

Tora Bora

I also feed rolled oats to first calvers in particular, before calving. With restricted silage, you get handy lively calf, with little or no cover of flesh. Great job.

Juniorhurler

We feed them to heifers we are trying to get into calf at about 3 kilos per day. Don't put on huge condition but they are the picture of health on it and seems to work well for fertility.