What type of feed do you use for cattle?

Answer 1

This depends on what stage of pregnancy they are in and whether they are still suckling a calf or not.

Cows in their first trimester are often still nursing, and still need plenty of good quality feed to keep the milk flowing. However, during this last three months that the calf is on his dam, feed quality of the cow can be progressively decreased because the calf is relying less and less on his dam's milk than he is on other feed sources like the creep feed he's getting prior to being weaned, grass, and hay. When the calves and cows are weaned, the cows should be put on low-quality feed or pasture to help speed the drying up process.

Cows in their 2nd trimester (after weaning) can be put on lower quality feed or pasture during these next three months. During the winter, this is a good time to get them grazing stockpiled grass or swath graze, since the feed at this time is lower quality than what is needed for nursing a calf.

When cows start into their third trimester leading up to calving, feed quality should be gradually increased during these 3 months. If you are still feeding cows on swath grazed fields or stockpiled pastures, you may want to supplement them with better quality hay to help with their increasing nutritional demands during this time. This nutritional incline will continue to climb up until the new calf is around 2 to 3 months of age.

After the calf is born, and the cows are lactating, you will need to feed your cows 50% more than what they eat when not lactating.

Answer 2

This is a terribly broad, generic question that, quite honestly, has no definite answer. The best thing I can do is give you the most generic answer and allow you to go from there.

Cattle can be fed any variety and types of forages and types of grains, as long as you never go 50:50 in terms of the forage:grain ratio (always either 60:40 or 40:60 to keep things balanced and never throw the microbes into a negative imbalance and especially when you are wanting to switch your animals from a high-forage/roughage diet to a high-concentrate/grain one), comply with your local provincial/state or federal government's standards on the kind of by-products to feed your cattle (for example, it is illegal in Canada to feed any type of animal by-product to cattle, whether it's chicken litter or blood meal), always remember to feed according to what your animals need (in terms of nutrition and nutritive value of the feed) and not what they want, utilize the feedstuffs and forages that are available and local to you, and remember to use your common sense when it comes to costs and deciding what feed and minerals to purchase and use for your cattle.

There are literally countless numbers of feedstuffs you can feed your cattle with, and not every feedstuff has to be corn (another important point to remember!). By-products can and should be fed only if you need then and if you have local access to them. The same goes with grain. Speaking of which--grain isn't just corn. There's barley, wheat, rye, triticale, sorghum, soybeans, millet, lentils, peas, beans, etc. that you can use to feed your animals with. Utilize pasture as much as possible (it's the cheapest feed out there, you know!! Not to mention the best feedstuff available when managed properly for long-term use and benefit) and hay when it's needed.

Other than that, the stars are open for you to explore. Visit your local feedstore[s] for feed options for your cattle, and come prepared for questions about your herd in order to find the best feed available for you to use.