Good Nutrition Crucial For Success

     Nutrition is crucial to a cow or heifer’s production cycle, and can be the difference between  success and failure of you operations if a proper and well-crafted nutritional program is implemented.

     According to recent USDA data, half the cows studied actually weighed less at weaning than they did a week after calving. That indicates that cows are actually losing weight at the height of the grazing season, when their nutritional needs should be highest. To offset this, ranchers need to add more feed to the mix in the fall and winter to help get the calving female to their proper nutritional levels.

        In seasons when forage is available, some have practiced early weaning to reduce nutritional demands and put weight on the cow. In some instances, producers have found that weaning calves into a feedlot, where growth can be accelerated quickly, and allowing the cows to graze without nursing calves can be better for overall production.

     Routine body condition scoring is the easiest way to monitor the nutritional health of your herd. On a scale of 1 -9, with 1 being skinny and 9 being fattest, cows below a body conditioning score of 5 at calving have been found to not breed back as well as properly conditioned cows.

Good Nutrition Costs but It Pays As Well
     Nutrition and good nutritional practices is, by far, the single biggest cost of a calf-cow operation. Studies have shown spending on this accounted for more than 50 percent of annual costs, but producers need to be ready and able to bear the high expenses if they are to return a profit and be successful.

     Several smaller ranchers have benefited from the resources, programs and classes offered by their local extensions or alliances. Getting some outside advice on forage and nutrition can also be as easy as hopping on the internet, where a variety of resources exist that discuss topics from the basics of nutrition to the various supplements and latest advances. Veterinarians are also a great source of knowledge if you’re looking to develop a new nutrition program.

Calculated Rations
     Ration calculation has also proven successful for the majority of ranchers who have implemented a similar regimented system to maintain the nutritional levels of the herd and ensure they remain consistent. Besides balancing the nutritional needs of the cow,  calculating balanced rations also helps the producer keep stock and tab on the amount of feed their herd consumes. This can be a boost to profitability, as the costs of feed, while not necessarily decreasing, can be brought to a consistent level over time. By rationing, you also eliminate wasted feed and overeating, which often accompanies an unrationed system.

     While many operations rely on harvested forage around them and turn to book values when evaluating rationing, this can be somewhat misleading. There are a variety of nutrients in forage, that can easily be missing in one harvest and appear in the next. Rather than assume, many today are submitting their feed to a local agricultural laboratory or other business which conducts feed sampling. This provides a detailed analysis of the exact nutritional makeup of the feed, and ensures the cows are getting the proper nutrition in the proper amounts. This also helps develop a nutritional rationing program that is based on the exact nutrients your cows are receiving.

Pay Attention to Details
     In the end, the devil is in the details. A nutritional management plan that addresses the entire production process is crucial to any operations’ success and profitability. Armed with detailed nutritional information about certain feeds, other, less expensive feed can be purchased to round out the diet. Once you have a detailed understanding of your herd, developing the right nutritional program can ensure the herd remains consistently healthy and productive, which will ultimately reap tremendous economic benefits and stability.

Hay versus Ground Feed