How Much Do Beef Cattle Eat a Day
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How Much Provender Does a Beef Moo-cow Consume Each Mean solar day?
22 April 2012
It'southward March, and for cow-dogie producers in the Northern Not bad Plains, the bulk of the cows are calving or are about to start calving. Spring grass isn't that far away, but it seems like it really is a long time earlier spring turnout. Cow-calf producers during this time menses are typically feeding harvested forages. A frequent question from producers is "How much will my cows eat on a daily basis?" asks Rick Rasby, Academy of Nebraska.
Producers want to see the cow's nutrient requirement, just they sure don't want to overfeed expensive forages. With the dry out conditions this summer and harvested forages at a premium, closely estimating the amount of feed needed to get through this part of the winter will be of import to contain toll. In addition, cattle accept a certain requirement for specific nutrients such every bit poly peptide, free energy, and minerals and vitamins.
Dry matter vs. as is
The difference betwixt intake on a dry-matter (DM) basis and an equally-is ground can be a challenging concept to explain to my undergraduate students, especially when nutrients for beef cows are on a DM basis. Intake on a DM basis ways that the forage doesn't include moisture. However, we know that the forages do contain moisture, and not all forages contain the same amount of moisture. So, if forage intake can be determined on a DM basis, it tin can hands be converted to an "as-is," or "equally-fed," basis.
As an example, if it were determined the daily DM intake of a grouping of 1,200-pound (lb.) cows eating an boilerplate-quality hay was 24 lb., and that the hay consumed was 88% dry out matter, we could calculate that these cows would consume nigh 27 lb. (24 lb. ÷ 0.88) per head per day on an as-fed basis.
If the same grouping of i,200-lb. cows were fed a ration where part of the ration called for corn silage to be fed at 10 lb. per caput per day on a DM basis and the corn silage is 35% dry matter and 65% moisture, the pounds of corn silage in the diet would be 28.five lb. (10 ÷ 0.35) per caput per 24-hour interval on an as-fed basis. Remember that of the 28.5 lb. of silage, 18.5 lb. is h2o and 10 lb. is silage.
Daily Feed/Forage Capacity Guidelines for Beefiness Cows
| Forage type | Form of cattlei | DM capacity2, % | DM capacityiii, lb./hard disk drive./day |
| Depression-quality forages (52% TDN; dry native range, harbinger, stalks) | Dry moo-cow Lactating cow | 1.8% 2.0% | xx-22 lb. 22-24 lb. |
| Avg.-quality forages (53%-59% TDN; native hay, bromegrass hay, alfalfa) | Dry moo-cow Lactating cow | 2.0% 2.three% | 22-24 lb. 25-28 lb. |
| High-quality forages (>59% TDN; alfalfa, boot-stage hay) | Dry cow Lactating cow | 2.5% ii.7% | 28-30 lb. xxx-33 lb. |
| Greenish pasture | Dry out cow Lactating cow | two.5% 2.7% | 28-30 lb. xxx-33 lb. |
| Silage | Dry cow Lactating moo-cow | 2.v% ii.7% | 28-thirty lb. 30-33 lb. |
| 11,100- to 1,200-lb. moo-cow. | |||
| 2Capacity as a % of body weight. | |||
| 3Total daily intake, dry-matter footing. | |||
What determines daily provender intake?
In that location are a number of unlike factors that determine the daily intake of a cow. The primary factors are cow weight, forage quality and phase of production (gestating or lactating). When feeding the aforementioned fodder, cows that weigh 1,300 lb. volition consume more on a daily basis compared to lighter-weight cows that counterbalance one,100 lb. In improver, cows that are lactating will consume more feed than cows that are non lactating.
Fodder quality affects DM intake of cows. Equally provender quality increases, indicated as an increase in total digestible nutrients (TDN), content of the forage, the amount of the provender that the moo-cow can consume, also increases.
As provender quality increases, in that location is more than leaf compared to stem. When quality is low, there is more stalk and, therefore, more cell wall contents that are non as easily digested. The forage does not pass through the rumen very fast.
In improver, every bit forages increase in maturity, there is an increase in lignin content. Lignin is not digested by the rumen microbes.
A good example of how provender quality affects the amount a cow can consume daily is wheat straw. Wheat straw is low in protein and energy, 4.0% crude protein and 40% TDN. When cows have full access to wheat straw, they don't quit eating wheat harbinger because they don't like it, they quit eating it because they can't stuff whatever more into their rumen.
Straw has such a low digestibility that it takes actress fourth dimension in the rumen for it to exist digested and passed through the rumen before more than tin can be consumed. Daily intake on a DM ground may be 1.6%-1.8% of a moo-cow'due south torso weight.
When straw is ammoniated, the ammoniation process begins to interruption down the cell wall contents and, when fed to cows, intake will increase sixteen%-19% compared to nonammoniated wheat straw. So, in this case, a moo-cow tin can eat more of the ammoniated feed to get toward coming together her nutrient needs. In comparison, corn silage will typically be most 70% TDN, and lactating beef cows tin can easily consume 2.v%-2.vii% of their torso weight on a DM basis of this feed.
In that location are other factors that affect provender or feed intake of cattle. There are data that would suggest that fleshy cows consume 3%-10% less feed or forage compared to moderate to thin cows. Besides, cold stress increases DM intake of cows, and rut stress reduces DM intake. For planning purposes, these factors are more hard to factor in.
Table 1 contains some "thumb rules" to aid estimate daily feed intake of cows on a DM basis consuming forages of differing quality when they are either gestating or lactating.
When forage quality is depression (52% TDN or less) and cows are not lactating, they will consume ane.eight% of their weight on a DM basis. If the forage quality is average (TDN content between 52% and 59%), non-lactating cows will consume about 2.0% of their body weight daily on a DM basis of this forage.
As an instance, if the forage were 55% TDN and lactating cows on the average weigh 1,200 lb., and so information technology could be estimated that they would eat 28 lb. (1,200 × 0.023) of hay daily on a DM footing. If the hay were 88% dry affair, on an "as-fed" basis, cows would eat about 32 lb. (28 ÷ 0.88) daily. If there were 200 head of cows in the herd, it would take about 3.2 tons of this hay per twenty-four hours [(200 head × 32 lb. per caput per day) ÷ 2,000 lb.] not accounting for whatever waste material.
To have this idea process one more footstep, the one,200-lb. cow in the kickoff 90 days post-calving, producing 20 lb. of milk at peak milk production needs to consume ii.seven lb. of poly peptide daily on a DM ground (food requirements are on a DM basis). If the hay is 8.0% crude protein and the cow consumes 28 lb. of hay dry out thing, she will eat two.24 lb. of protein (28 × 0.08). This hay will need to be supplemented with some protein after calving to run across the protein requirement.
As well, she needs 16.0 lb. of TDN daily. Consider 28 lb. of forage that is 55% TDN yields 15.4 lb. of TDN consumed. This fodder will demand to be spiked with some additional energy. A small amount of a good-quality alfalfa could fit the need.
Final thoughts
Estimating daily feed intake of your cow herd is the starting time step in determining the amount of forage that needs to be on manus for the winter feeding program. When forage availability is tight, like it is during drought, being able to determine how much inventory is needed will help heighten the turn a profit potential of the cow-calf enterprise.
April 2012
Reproduced courtesy
Source: https://www.thebeefsite.com/articles/3154/how-much-forage-does-a-beef-cow-consume-each-day/
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