Monitoring winter cattle diets

Published Aug 5, 2011

Abstract

Three winter feeding strategies for growing calves—low-input, medium-input, and high-input—were tested by weighing the animals periodically to determine rates of weight gain for each strategy. Calves fed distiller’s syrup on stockpiled pasture and then as a supplement to hay (high-input) performed better than calves not supplemented on stockpile and then supplemented with soybean hulls during the hay feeding period (medium-input). The low-input group of calves nursed until late January and grazed on stockpiled pasture the entire time. This group’s performance was on average the same as the other two groups (combined) that had been weaned in the fall.