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Feeding cull cows

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  • #52
    Gudstock
    Registered Users Posts: 182 ✭✭Gudstock


    Neo Sanders wrote: »
    Hi All,

    I have a question so just posting it here rather than starting a new thread.

    I'm wondering what daily LW gain would you expect to get on feeding continental cows?

    I put in 5 continental cows, good R grade LMX and SIX cows. The plan was to finish or sell live in Jan/Feb 2021. They were on about 2.5 KG of meal (16% Protein nut) for around 6 weeks. With the recent rise in cull cow prices I decided to push them a bit so they were upped to 7 Kg. (split in two feeds). They were on this level of feed for 16 days before I sold them live, last week.

    These cows were a few autumn calvers that lost their calves and a couple of spring calvers that weren't in calf. So overall they didn't get that much feeding.

    The were on 76DMD first cut silage and access to straw. When selling I would say 3 cows were fit to kill and the other 2 were close to it.

    I weighed the cows the day they were upped to the 7KG and I weighed them again at home the night before they were sold. For the final 16 days 3 cows gained 20Kg, one gained 10kg and the other one gained 5Kg.

    The ones that gained the least were the younger shapier cows. It seems they had reached their peak as I mentioned it to my haulier and he said they were well fit to kill and this is what he thought. So upping the feed was wasted on those two and barely worth it for the other 3.

    The meal is costing €270/tonne and the cows sale price averaged 1.75€/kg live and they averaged 750Kg.

    For the 3 cows that gained 20Kg this is 1.25Kg/day . Whats your thoughts on this level of performance? Is it good or poor given the circumstances?


    It a pity I didn't weigh them at housing as I be able to compare the performance on the lower level of feeding. I'm thinking I substituted good silage with expensive meal for little gain. I realise the nut wasn't ideal for fattening cows, something lower in protein and higher in energy would be more suitable. But that's what I had and feed to store cattle etc. I found in the past that cattle aren't that keen on maize meal .

    Would they have performed better on a higher energy nut/meal mix? Or what level of gain would people normally expect? Or is it the case that cows level of gain is not as high as younger cattle, so high feeding levels is not worth it?

    Thanks in advance


    Just on your maize meal point, i find that they will eat it if you stick with it. Usually get the hang of it when the fines from the end of a nuts bag are mixed with it. And there is usually always one in the group that will polish the trough.
    Always been told to feed maize meal to cull cows and to continental stock bulls for fattening.


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