Cattle Diets and Nutrition

Ruminate.

He's a sick bull. Get him to a vet immediately, as anything could be wrong with him.

It will feed 20 cows in 80 days.

yes

789

Depending on the breed they cost from $50 to $175. Holsteins, Jersey, and Longhorns are at the lower end and Angus, Brangus, and Charolais are on the higher end. This price range is for newborn calves under two weeks ago.

Texas

The King Ranch in Texas is one of the top cattle producers in the States. Other top producers include Bertin, JBS-Friboi, Marfrig and Minerva.

This depends on the age of the calf. If it is at a young age (~6 months) it shouldn't be too fat, but it shouldn't be too thin either. Most feeder cattle should have a body condition score between 5 and 7 (on an American BCS scale of 1 to 9). This condition is where you should be able to feel fat over the tail head and ribs and not see much of the bone structure. Calves shouldn't be too fat, they should be within a BCS scale of 5.5 to 6.25; finisher cattle are more towards a BCS scale of ~7.

Animals with more than one compartment to their stomach (i.e. Goats and sheep or cattle or llamas) have a compartment called the rumen in which all food enters first. The rumen is full of gases and bacteria that assist the animal with breaking down the grass and other feed. The animal grazes or eats its feed, and it enters the rumen, and later, usually when resting, the animal regurgitates chunks of the food from the rumen (called boluses) and chews on them, breaking then down further. The next time the animal swallows the bolus, it enters a different compartment of the stomach, and continues with regular digestion.

Mouth, teeth and tongue, just like any animal.

In a cattle herd the female yearlings and two year olds are considered heifers. They will usually not have their first calf until they are two years old. 2nd calvers are then considered "cows". So you are looking at 3 year olds being considered cows.

they drink milk

Once every two or three hours, just like any baby mammal.

Since cows are grazers and eat mostly grasses and legumes, they are herbivores. That's as good an inference about what cows eat as anyone would be able to come up with.

They will if they're not fed properly, or given poor quality feed that they will simply starve to death on.

This really isn't a matter of "pros and cons", it's more a matter of personal choice. Most twin heifers are born small to begin with, and you may end up with heifers that are too small to meet requirements as replacement heifers, unless the dam or a serrogate cow can give them lots of milk that equals what a cow can raise one calf with. You may end up choosing just one of the twins to keep back and have that twin on her dam and you raise the other via bottle.

If they want.

Four.

She will not be getting thin nor begging you as much for something to eat. She will be maintaining her weight, or gaining weight, depending on what you are feeding her.

Another good sign is that if the hay feeder is always full, or there's still lots of grass in the pasture that she's able to graze on.

It will take an average of about 24-72 hours for a cow to fully digest their feed from mouth to anus.

There really is no "proper amount" of hay to feed a bull, as the amount of hay a bull needs depends on his condition, the seasons, climate, and his breeding (eg. Charolais vs. Hereford). If you are thinking of feeding a bull by restricting feed intake I wouldn't recommend this method. A bull typically eats between 2 and 5% of his bodyweight per day, depending on the factors mentioned above. Therefore, assuming your bull (Hereford) weighs 2200 lbs at mature weight (not gaining, just maintaining), he will eat around 37.5 lbs of feed per day or more. Therefore, feeding your hay free choice is the better alternative because he can eat as much as he wants (cattle typically don't pig out themselves like other livestock do when fed ad libitum), plus he won't run you over trying to get his next meal of hay before you have time to set it out for him.

Now, back to my statement that there is no "proper amount" of hay to feed a bull; what I was about to say before I rambled off about restricted feeding versus feeding ad lib was that you should be more concerned about the proper QUALITY of hay a bull needs. Again, depending on different factors including climate, his condition, and breeding, a bull typically needs a good source of energy and protein (around 6% CP and 43.6% TDN, both as-fed) as well as phosphorus and calcium.

Most cattle ranching occurs in regions where crops are impossible to be grown. Here in Canada, these places include in the mountains and foothills and dry prairie. Down in the states cattle are raised on big ranches in the desert areas stretching from Texas to California, and in the mountain/foothill ranges covering the Appalachians in the east and the Rocky Mountians in the west. All that land in between is primarily used for cropland, particularly in the flat plains.

It's more of the fact that it is, and remains to be, a way of life. Though there's no money in it nowadays, its the hard work involved and satisfaction one gets from having beef cattle, no matter if they're not getting much out of it income-wise. Raising cattle is, I guess you could say, a bit of a status symbol and it even can be a sign of respect and pride of ownership, especially if you've got great looking cattle to show off in that pasture that runs by the road.

Other things that make raising beef cattle important to farmers and ranchers are the fact that raising beef cattle is less labour intensive than raising and looking after other livestock. The cows are flexible; they can often look after themselves, and only need shelter, feed, and water to keep them happy. This is also the reason why raising cattle can be made into a part-time job or hobby. Select good cattle that don't need much help with calving or breeding or need constant pampering means less work for the cattle raiser. Cattle are great for utilizing land that is not suitable for grain production. This includes mountain valleys, foothills, and prairie land that is filled with hills and valleys that make it impossible for a tractor and plough to make a dent in. This use for land makes them low polluters simply because they are not confined to a drylot for long periods. Cows use low-quality roughages better than other livestock; horses, sheep, goats and chickens are picky about what they eat and often need higher concentrated diets with specific forages to meet their health needs. Cattle make greater use of homegrown feeds than any other livestock, with little to no need of buying supplementations or anything like that. They provide an elastic outlet for grain. When there's lots of grain, the excess can be fed to the cattle. When there's a poor crop, pasture and roughage will still be enough to rpoduce lots of beef. Cattle return up to 80% of the material they took in plant matter back to the soil, maintaining soil fertility, and in doing so help utilize soil-building legumes in those pastures and crop rotations.

There are several other reasons, but I think you get the idea.