Q&A for How to Feed Cattle

Anywhere from 4.5 to 12 percent of her body weight per day. The higher the moisture content of the feed, the more she'll eat. Cows that produce a lot of milk (e.g., Holstein and Simmental) will consume more feed and need more nutrients than breeds that tend to be lower producers (e.g., Hereford and Charolais).

It all depends on what kind/type/breed/age/weight cattle you have and what you're feeding them, where you live, what your soils are like, etc. You may need to get a nutritionist or beef specialist to help you find a suitable supplement. Depending where you live some local feed stores should be able to help you to assess whether you need a protein supplement, or a mineral supplement with a decent calcium-to-phosphorus ratio.

Learn about management-intensive grazing. Read books like Salad Bar Beef by Joel Salatin, Kick the Hay Habit by Jim Gerrish, and Grass-Fed Beef by Julius Ruechel. Set up proper watering facilities (they don't need to be expensive) and temporary electric fencing to move your livestock daily to new pieces of fresh grass. Learn how to calculate stocking rates, how to calculate how much daily acreage is needed for your herd, and how much your cows actually need. Learn to judge how much grass you actually have to do those calculations. Learn about the grass growth S curve and fencing using keylines in your topography and other things important with managing grazing cattle.

Self-watering bowls, a TMR mixer, schedule to feed on a regular basis and the labor to do so. Troughs may be all right, but if you want to individually feed cattle, or allow animals to get their own feed without competing with others trying to reach over and steal some of theirs, then individual self-feeders may be needed instead.

It depends on the quality of the hay, and what kind of dry feed you're giving him. It also depends on the bovine's age, weight, and breed. If you have a dairy breed, they generally require more energy and protein than a beef breed. You must also give him salt and minerals, no matter what kind of feed you're giving him. But more information is needed in order to help you further, so you should consult a bovine nutritionist to help you further.

Are these barley plants (or grain) that have been swathed and gathered in a bale? If so, yes, as long as it's been tested for nitrates and mycotoxic molds.The protein content won't be there for barley, even if it's sprouted, so you will need to supplement with a protein supplement like peas, canola meal, DDGS, soybean meal, cottonseed meal, or whatever is available and relatively cheap to purchase in your area. When supplying salt-mineral, also remember to supplement some extra calcium and magnesium into the mineral mix as limestone and MagOx, because barley-straw feed will be deficient in these minerals,

No. Do not cut feed back towards the end of pregnancy. A cow's nutrient requirements start to increase a towards calving, so you should be feeding according to that. If you cut feed back towards the end of pregnancy, you risk the cow losing weight and having complications with calving. If you are worried about the size of the calf, consider the size of the bull prior to breeding.

Aim for 150 days to get a 600-lb steer up to 1200 lb. Aim for over 2.5 lb/day ADG, then 3.5 lb/d ADG at finishing stage. You'll need to start the steer on the grain slow; Hay (good quality) free-choice, start grain 5 lb/d, slowly work up 1 lb/d every second day until by day 7 you're at 12 lb/day; and by day 14 you're feeding ~17-18 lb/d. That's starter period. Grower period will take ~35 days; finishing ~100 days. Add a 32% protein supplement at 1 lb/d. Maintain 32% protein amount, and aim for 18 lb/day of grain by the time he's at the finishing phase. Contact a local beef nutrition specialist for more info if you have any further questions!

They can eat them as-is, no soaking is needed. The soaking is needed mainly as pig feed.

Holsteins give the most milk of any dairy breed. And, of course, all cows need to be fed regardless of whether they're producing milk (or beef) or not.

Not really. It could upset his digestive system with a little bit of a shock of such a high-energy food. Jersey bulls, like all cattle, are sensitive to changes in their diet, and can get a stomach ache, a bit of a case of bloating, or even acidosis. Ideally, it would be best to not feed him anything other than what he likes to eat regularly.

No, it's not the best idea for cows to be eating peanuts. It takes a long time for them to digest peanuts and will add excess fats/oils into their diet. Peanuts are also not a natural diet for cows in general and wouldn't really do anything to improve their production of milk.

It doesn't add much value for cattle other than as a little boost of energy, and as an additive to increase palatability. It's good, but not that good for cattle.

Grass-fed means that the cattle were fed--or grazed, more preferably--grass. This also includes other forages (mostly legumes like alfalfa, clover, milkvetch, and sainfoin). Grasses are primarily perennial forage grasses like brome, timothy, fescue, and others, however, forage grasses also include annual grasses like oats, barley, corn, wheat, triticale, sorghum, millet, and other species; the defining difference is that they're eaten as vegetation, not the harvested seed (grain). Cattle may be grazing, however they can also be fed in a dry-lot. Cattle cannot be fed grain if they are to be sold as "grass-fed beef."

That all depends on the quality of the grass (as determined by how you're managing them), because that will be the determining factor in whether the grain is actually needed or not. If you're grazing so that the heifers are grazing grass before it heads out, grain isn't needed because the grass is high quality. If you're not managing like this, and grasses' stage is all over the place, then some grain is needed; a shot-in-the-dark estimate is around 2 to 3 pounds per head per day, plus or minus a pound or two! Depends on the grain fed. Also, remember to focus on growing these heifers, not to fatten them. The more forage they can get, the better.