I might finally be getting a milk cow!!!!

[WildRoseBeef]

This is the 16% with ionophore, right? Just be careful how much you're feeding her. A pound to 1.5 lb per day is the most you want to go because of the rumensin (rule of thumb I've known is to not get above 30 to 35 mg/kg of the ration), but I'm afraid that's not going to be enough for either her protein or energy requirements. So I do think it will be cheaper to mix your own, because you know how much she's getting unlike with just straight-up feeding her a premix.

It really depends on the quality of the hay, too. If the hay isn't too stemmy, still has plenty of leaf in it, then it's pretty good quality, with good protein and a decent amount of energy, but still not enough for a growing heifer.

No worries on the questions, this is definitely a lot to process. Most people don't realize just how much stuff is actually involved with raising cattle!!​

 

[WindyIndy]

Thank you for not minding the questions. This is what I'm looking at https://www.farmandfleet.com/produc...sweet-16-all-purpose-horse-and-calf-feed.html

What do you think? If I did get costume made, do I need to worry about wasting money since I need to buy 500#? Also, our hay is still somewhat leafy.

 

[Bossroo]

I woulds look into "Calf Manna " as a supplement. I have used it for years for all classes of livestock and found that it works very well.

 

[Baymule]

I remember when I was a kid, my grandfather had cows and raised his own corn. He'd let it dry, pick it, shuck it and take it to a mill to be ground, cob and kernels together. His cows licked it up. As far as what % protein or anything else, but his cows were always fat and had healthy calves.

 

[farmerjan]

This is the 16% with ionophore, right? Just be careful how much you're feeding her. A pound to 1.5 lb per day is the most you want to go because of the rumensin (rule of thumb I've known is to not get above 30 to 35 mg/kg of the ration), but I'm afraid that's not going to be enough for either her protein or energy requirements. So I do think it will be cheaper to mix your own, because you know how much she's getting unlike with just straight-up feeding her a premix.

It really depends on the quality of the hay, too. If the hay isn't too stemmy, still has plenty of leaf in it, then it's pretty good quality, with good protein and a decent amount of energy, but still not enough for a growing heifer.

No worries on the questions, this is definitely a lot to process. Most people don't realize just how much stuff is actually involved with raising cattle!!​

The reference to the rumensin was basically directed towards latestarter when we were discussing the antibiotics to fall under the VFD here in the US. As far as I know windy isn't using any rumensin or bovatec in any of her feed, I did not suggest it or encourage it. It was in reference to my cattle situation, in the mineral on advise of 2 different vets.
For only one calf I feel that she would be much better off and safer with a premix feed or a custom mix from the mill. And I agree with @Bossroo about adding a little calf manna to the feed. We added it to our feed for some of the smaller calves and use a little for the sheep when they are getting ready to lamb and again just before the rams go in. To try to assemble all the needed ingredients for one small Dexter calf in the proper ratio is more trouble than it is worth; when there is feed available that would be adequate for the calf.

 

[WindyIndy]

I would love to grow my own someday. I'm slowly adding to my little farm.

A friend told me about another feed mill to try. They could do as little as 200# batches! I'm ordering some non-medicated 15-16% from them. We'll see how that goes.

 

[WindyIndy]

I agree with farmerjan, as much as it would be nice to mix my own, right now with only one heifer and me still learning about the different feeds I think it would be too much right now.
I'll try and find that calf manna, I completely forgot to look at farm and fleet!
I did buy some plain salt blocks too. The lady I was talking to at the other feed mill said it's nice to offer that in addition to free choice loose mineral

 

[farmerjan]

I remember when I was a kid, my grandfather had cows and raised his own corn. He'd let it dry, pick it, shuck it and take it to a mill to be ground, cob and kernels together. His cows licked it up. As far as what % protein or anything else, but his cows were always fat and had healthy calves.

We also use ear corn that is still on the cob and grind it when we are doing batches for feeder calves in the barn. Add some protein and a vit/min premix to balance it a bit. It's just to give them a couple pounds a day to come in to the barn and to keep them growing. The calves do like it. I'm sure that your grandfather did it to give them a little extra and to keep their energy up in the winter which is when we feed it. Not very high priced when you can grow it yourself, as all the older farmers I know used to do. We have a source of corn, both on cob and shelled that is cheaper than we can grow it, local, and since we are not in the grain business, it is a better deal for us to just get it that way when we are not getting the 17% from the feed mill. In fact we often mix the two together. Have fed ground corn many times through the winter to the cows just to give them a little extra than just hay.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

The reference to the rumensin was basically directed towards latestarter when we were discussing the antibiotics to fall under the VFD here in the US. As far as I know windy isn't using any rumensin or bovatec in any of her feed, I did not suggest it or encourage it. It was in reference to my cattle situation, in the mineral on advise of 2 different vets.
For only one calf I feel that she would be much better off and safer with a premix feed or a custom mix from the mill. And I agree with @Bossroo about adding a little calf manna to the feed. We added it to our feed for some of the smaller calves and use a little for the sheep when they are getting ready to lamb and again just before the rams go in. To try to assemble all the needed ingredients for one small Dexter calf in the proper ratio is more trouble than it is worth; when there is feed available that would be adequate for the calf.

Well, there's nothing wrong with offering alternate suggestions, especially with future reference.

 

[WindyIndy]

Hey everyone! I sure have missed posting, but I just haven't had the time with everything going on.

I do have more Luna pictures for you all, I hope that makes up for the silence This was my second time walking her though my horse pasture trying to get my horses used to her and vis versa. My mini likes to chase anything in her pasture that's new, but since I walked Luna around for a couple days that seemed to really help and there wasn't much chasing! Annie was even trying to groom Luna for a minute

I hope you all don't mind, but I'm also going to post a pic of her stool, it's like soup again. Could she be having too much grain? Protein? Something else? It was normal at one point.

PS: I also noticed after I got her home that she has a white stripe under her belly! And today I noticed that she may have a slight hernia. Her belly bottom seems "poofed out' and 'squishy'. Anything to be concerned with?