Management of Cows with Limited Forage Availability

By Chris Richards, Dave Lalman, and Glenn Selk - Oklahoma State University Beef Cattle Specialists.
calendar icon 24 October 2006
clock icon 9 minute read

Cull Poorer Producing Cows

Many producers are currently being faced with limited forage availability due to drought and/or fire. One of the first management tools that should be evaluated for cow/calf producers is to cull poorer producing cows and capture their value at a time in the cattle cycle when the prices for cows and culled replacement heifers are fair and allow for some capital investment to be used when cattle prices are considerably lower and forage supplies are more plentiful.

Below is a suggested order of culling in the face of diminishing forage supplies.
Culling order
  1. Open (non-pregnant) old cows
  2. Open replacement heifers
  3. Old cows with unsound mouth, eyes, feet and legs
  4. Open cows of any age
  5. Thin cows over 7 years of age (BCS < 4)
  6. Very late bred 2 year olds
The first two items on the list are automatic culls in any forage year. Old open cows are not worth keeping through a low-forage, expensive feeding period. Replacement heifers that were properly developed and mated to a fertile bull or in a well organized AI program should be pregnant. If they are not bred, there is a likelihood that they are reproductively unsound and should be removed from the herd while still young enough to go to the feedlot and grade choice with an A maturity carcass.

The more difficult decisions come when the producer is short enough in forage and feed supplies that he/she feels the need to cull cows that have been palpated and found pregnant. That order of culling starts with line 5 on our culling order. This is necessary only when grass and feed supplies are very short. The thin older cows are going to require additional feed resources to have a high probability of being productive the following year and the late bred 2 year olds are least likely to have long-term productivity in your herd.

Feeding Options

Once poorer producing cows have been removed, you have several options to meet the nutritional demands of your cows. These include moving them to alternate grazing locations, obtaining hay, feeding a complete diet, or limit feeding an energy supplement to extend hay or pasture resources. Decisions should be based on the additional labor requirement, management skills, feed storage capacity, and the availability of feed bunks, feed delivery equipment and a well drained dry lot or sacrifice pasture. Grazing forages has always been and will continue to be the most economical and practical way to maintain beef cows. However, in unique situations limit feeding may be an economical alternative to purchasing expensive hay. The cost effectiveness of limit feeding will depend on each producer's price of alternative forage, the price of grain or byproduct energy sources and the price of the protein supplement needed for the hay or limit feeding program.

Moving to alternate grazing locations or obtaining hay to feed free choice will require the least daily labor input. Feeding complete diets or limit fed hay and energy concentrate will require more facilities and daily labor. Depending on the price of grain, nutrients to maintain cattle may be cheaper to purchase through concentrate feeds rather than roughage.

Obtain Sufficient Hay

For cows in late gestation or early lactation, 27 lbs per day of hay that is at least 59% TDN and 9% protein is needed to meet the demands of average milk producing 1200 lb cows in mid lactation.

Feeding a Complete Diet

If hay in sufficient quantity or quality is not available, you can consider limit feeding hay that is available with a concentrate diet. If no hay is available or limiting hay consumption is not feasible (see below), Table 1 represents a complete diet that can be limit fed. This diet should be fed with a good quality free choice mineral that contains an ionophore. Table 2 provides calculated feeding rates for late gestation and lactating cows in good body condition. Feeding this diet free choice will result in cows becoming heavy conditioned and result in higher cost than feeding good quality hay.

Table 1. Complete diet for maintaining cows
Ingredients Composition, % As-fed
Cracked corn
10.00
Corn gluten feed
28.75
Cottonseed hulls
20.00
Soybean hulls
20.00
Corn distillers grains
20.00
Limestone, 38%
1.25
Calculated Nutrient Concentration
%, As-fed
NEm, Mcal/cwt
75.0
TDN, %
66.1
Crude protein, %
14.6
Calcium, %
0.74
Phosphorus, %
0.42

Table 2. Guidelines for limit fed complete ration (Table 1) for cows in average body condition
State of Production
Gestation
Lb, As-fed
1100 lb
16.8
1200 lb
17.6
1300 lb
18.4
Lactation (average milk)
Lb, As-fed
1100 lb
20.5
1200 lb
21.5
1300 lb
22.4

Table 3. Guidelines for limit fed corn rations for cows in average body condition
State of Production Whole corn 38 to 44% protein supplement Long stemmed grass hay Limestone
Gestation Lb, As-fed
1100 lb 8.3 2.0 5.5 0.2
1200 lb 9.0 2.0 6.0 0.2
1300 lb 9.8 2.0 6.5 0.2
Lactation (average milk) Lb, As-fed
1100 lb 11.0 3.0 5.5 0.2
1200 lb 12.0 3.0 6.0 0.2
1300 lb 13.0 3.0 6.5 0.2

Limited Forage Available - Limit feed concentrate mix

Table 3 includes guidelines for rations based on corn grain, supplement and minimal amounts of long stemmed hay. Several Oklahoma feed manufactures have supplements formulated for feeding with limit fed corn and hay. Table 4 represents a protein supplement designed for use in limit feeding beef cows. These diets require added limestone if the protein supplement does not contain at least 2.5% calcium. The added calcium is to offset the high phosphorus content of corn. An additional method of supplying the needed calcium would be to use a mineral supplement designed for cattle grazing wheat pasture because they typically have high calcium and low phosphorus content. Salt and vitamin A should also be provided in the supplement or a free choice mineral. The concentrate portion of these diets should not be fed free choice.

Table 4. Protein supplement for use in limit fed corn diets
Ingredient %, As-fed
Soybean meal, 47%
59.00 29.50 ---
Cottonseed meal
--- 29.50 ---
Linseed meal
--- --- 81.06
Wheat middlings
22.96 22.96 0.9
Limestone, 38%
5.0 5.0 5.0
Cane molasses
3.8 3.8 3.8
Salt
2.5 2.5 2.5
Urea
2.3 2.3 2.3
Dicalcium phosphate
3.0 3.0 3.0
Potassium chloride
1.0 1.0 1.0
Copper sulfate
0.04 0.04 0.04
Selenium 600
0.15 0.15 0.15
Zinc oxide
0.02 0.02 0.02
Vitamin A, 30,000 units per gram
0.15 0.15 0.15
Rumensin 80®a
0.08 0.08 0.08
aTo provide 60 mg Rumensin per pound of supplement.


Table 5 represents a complete supplement mixture that is designed for use in limiting feeding situations. It is similar to several 14% crude protein mixes that are available through local feed manufactures. On an as-fed basis, it is calculated to contain 13% protein, 70% TDN, 0.60% Ca and 0.55% P. Table 6 provides suggested feeding rates for these types of supplements along with 0.5% body weight of hay.

If producers are not set up to handle bulk grain or other commodities or do not have the equipment and/or feed bunks necessary to feed grain, this mix can be made into 3/8 or 3/4 inch cubes for feeding on the ground. Because of the high level of corn and soybean hulls, the pellets or cubes will be somewhat soft. Consequently, handling, auguring etc. should be minimized to reduce the amount of fines. As an alternative, many feed manufacturers already have available 20% cubes that will work well for this purpose.

Table 5. Complete supplement composition, % As-fed
Ingredient Wheat middlings/soybean hulls
Cottonseed meal
2.86
Wheat middlings
38.1
Soybean hulls
28.6
Cracked corn
24.2
Cane molasses
4.73
Limestone, 38%
0.952
Salt
0.476
Rumensin 80
0.024
Vitamin A, 30,000 units per gram
0.029
Copper sulfate
0.005
Selenium 600
0.029
Zinc oxide
0.0001

Table 6. Guidelines for limit fed a complete supplement for cows in average body condition
State of Production
Wheat middlings/soybean hull supplement Long stemmed grass hay
Gestation Lb, As-fed
1100 lb 14.5 5.5
1200 lb 15.0 6.5
1300 lb 15.5 6.5
Lactation (average milk) Lb, As-fed
1100 lb 18.0 5.5
1200 lb 18.7 6.0
1300 lb 19.5 6.5

Limit Feeding Hay

The most certain way to make sure that your cows are receiving adequate hay in limit feeing situations is to limit feed the hay daily along with the concentrate. This could be practical if you have square bales, a hay grinder, or are able to unroll bales for your cows. If that is not possible, you may be able to limit feed hay by controlling access to round bales. For this method you will need facilities in which you maintain the cows and hay separately and have sufficient bales available for all cows to eat at one time.

It may be difficult to get cows away from the bales, so it is recommended that you place the bales in one pen and then feed concentrate in bunks in additional pens or pasture. If cubes are being fed on pasture, bunks would not be required. There are two strategies for time limit feeding hay with concentrate diets, daily or every other day. Daily, cows should be allowed access to they hay for approximately 45 minutes.

If allowing access to hay every other day while limit feeding concentrates, cows should be allowed approximately 4 hours of access to the hay. It is NOT recommended that you feed hay less frequently than every other day. Hay should always be fed before the concentrate to ensure adequate hay intake. Feeding the concentrate after the hay may also be helpful in getting the cows to leave the hay. Limit feeding hay may result in cows acting hungry for the first couple of weeks.

Limit Energy Concentrate Feeding Management Tips

Limit feeding energy concentrate diets to breeding females will require greater skill and discipline on the part of the herd manager. Acidosis, bloat, founder, etc. are always a risk when energy concentrate diets are fed to ruminants. These risks can be minimized by the following management practices:
  1. When starting the concentrate feeding program gradually increase the amount of grain fed and reduce the amount of hay fed over a 2-week period.
  2. Provide plenty of feeding space to accommodate uniform consumption. A minimum of 30 inches of linear bunk space per cow should be used, more for horned cows.
  3. Whole shelled corn is safer to feed compared to finely processed grain. If the grain must be processed, it should be coarsely rolled or cracked.
  4. Long stemmed hay should be fed at a minimum DM level of 0.25% and up to 0.5% of body weight for cows receiving whole shelled corn. If cracked or rolled corn is used, provide a minimum of 0.5% body weight hay DM, but do not exceed 0.75%. Feeding less hay reduces the cost, but increases the need for greater management intensity. As the cows and the manager adjust to the program, the amount of hay fed can be gradually reduced to the minimum value suggested above.
  5. Feeding an ionophore will help prevent acidosis and bloat as well as reduce the amount of feed needed by 7 to 10 percent.
  6. Feed cattle at the same time every day. Altering the time of feeding, especially in limit feeding programs, greatly increases the risk of digestive upset. An ideal feeding situation would be one where corn, hay and supplement could be placed in the bunk ahead of time. At the appropriate time of day, the cattle would be given access to the feed by simply opening the lot gate. An alternative would be to feed the hay before the grain and supplement.
  7. Remember that the idea is to supply a ration in a very small package that is highly concentrated in energy. Consequently, the total pounds consumed per day will be less than the cattle are accustomed to. The cattle will likely act hungry for the first few days. They will also have a gaunt appearance, compared to cattle receiving free choice hay or pasture. Resist the temptation to feed more because they act or look hungry. Otherwise the advantages of decreased cost and/or decreased hay utilization will be negated.

February 2006
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