- did you know?
- Value-added agriculture is the processing, packaging, and/or marketing of agricultural commodities and farm resources in a way that allows a greater portion of the revenue derived from the product to be earned by the producer. Read more...
Have a question? Try asking one of our Experts
I recently weaned 210 head of late March calves. This year we are trying bale rings to feed all of the hay. How much hay can I expect the calves to consume per day? Their weaning weight is 570 pounds average. I also feed a rolled corn-based grain mix twice a day.
This is not the easiest question to answer. As the quality of the forage increases, intake will increase because of an increase in the digestibility of the forage. Once calves are adapted, they will consume 2.5 to 2.7% of their body weight on a dry matter basis. So if the calves weigh 600 lb and they eat 2.5% of their body weight on a dry matter basis, then they will eat about 15 lb/hd/da of feed on a dry matter basis. If the ration is 90% dry matter, then they will eat about 16 lb/hd/da on an "as is" basis. So if you are feeding 6 lb/hd/da of the grain mixture, then they would eat about 10 lb/hd/da of the hay. Feeding the roughage "free choice" and not as part of a complete ration will pose some challenges to manage performance and maybe acidosis that could occur if you proceed to high-grain diets.
Have a specific question? Try asking one of our Experts
Unlike most other resources on the web, we have experts from Universities around the country ready to answer your questions.
Did you find this page useful?
This resource area was created by the: community
Find an Extension Office
Enter your zipcode to find your local Extension office:
Comments
Subscribe to this page's comments
Post a comment about this topic