How Much Beef Is Consumed Esach Day
Determining How Much Forage a Beef Cow Consumes Each Day
Apr 2013
It'south April and for cow/calf producers in the Northern Neat Plains the majority of the cows are calving or are about to first calving. Moo-cow/dogie producers during this fourth dimension period are typically feeding harvested forages. A frequent question from producers is "how much will my cows eat on a daily basis"? Producers want to run into the cows' food requirement, but certain don't desire to over-feed expensive forages. With the dry out conditions this past summertime and harvested forages at a premium, closely estimating the amount of feed needed to get through the winter and early jump will be important to contain cost.
The Difference Betwixt Intake on a Dry Affair and As Is Ground
This can be a challenging concept to explain – what the difference between dry matter and every bit-fed – especially when nutriments for beefiness cows are on a dry matter basis. Intake on a dry thing basis means that the fodder doesn't include wet. Even so, nosotros know that the forages contain moisture and non all forages incorporate the same amount of moisture. And then if fodder intake can be adamant on a dry matter ground, it can easily be converted to an "as is" or "as-fed" ground.
Every bit an case, if information technology were determined the daily dry affair intake of a grouping of 1,200 pound cow eating an average quality hay is 24 pounds per head and the hay that they are consuming is 88% dry matter, these cows would swallow about 27 (24 pounds/.88) pounds per caput per day on an as-fed basis.
If the same grouping of one,200 pound cows are fed a ration where part of the ration called for corn silage to be fed at 10 pounds per head per day on a dry matter basis and the corn silage is 35% dry matter and 65% moisture, the pounds of corn silage in the nutrition would exist 28.five (10 pounds/.35) pounds per head per twenty-four hour period on an as-fed basis. Recollect that of the 28.5 pounds of silage, eighteen.5 pounds is h2o and 10 pounds is silage.
What Determines Daily Forage Intake
There are a number of different factors that determine the daily intake of a cow. The primary factors are cow weight, fodder quality, and stage of production (gestating or lactating). When feeding the aforementioned forage, cows that weigh 1,300 pounds will consume more than on a daily ground compared to lighter weight cows that counterbalance 1,100 pounds. In addition, cows that are lactating will swallow more feed than cows that are non lactating.
Fodder quality impacts dry matter intake of cows. As the forage quality increases, indicated every bit an increase in TDN content of the forage, the amount of the forage that the moo-cow can consume besides increases. As provender quality increases, there is more leaf as compared to stalk. When quality is low, there is more stem, therefore more prison cell wall contents that are non as easily digested - the forage does not laissez passer through the rumen very fast.
In addition, as forages increase in maturity, there is an increment in lignin content. Lignin is not digested by the rumen microbes.
A good example of how provender quality impacts the amount a cow tin can eat daily is wheat straw. Wheat straw is low in poly peptide and energy, iv.0% crude protein and 40% TDN. When cows have total access to wheat straw, they don't quit eating wheat straw because they don't like information technology, they quit eating it because they tin can't stuff anymore into their rumen. Straw has such a low digestibility that information technology takes extra time in the rumen for it to be digested and passed through the rumen before more than can exist consumed. Daily intake on a dry matter basis may be 1.vi% to ane.8% of her torso weight. In comparison, corn silage will typically be most 70% TDN and lactating beefiness cows tin can easily consume two.five% to 2.7% of their torso weight on a dry matter footing of this feed.
There are some "thumb rules" to assistance estimate daily feed intake of cows on a dry matter basis consuming forages of differing quality when they are either gestating or lactating.
- When forage quality is low (52% TDN or less) and cows are not lactating, they will consume 1.viii% and lactating cows about two.0% of their weight on a dry matter footing.
- If the forage quality is boilerplate (TDN content between 52% and 59%), non-lactating cows will consume nearly two.0% to 2.1.% and lactating cows nigh 2.three% of their body weight daily on a dry out matter ground of this forage.
As an instance, if the forage were 55% TDN and lactating cows on the average weigh i,200 pounds, then it could be estimated that they would consume 28 (1200 pounds x 0.023) pounds of hay daily on a dry out matter basis. If the hay were 88% dry matter, on an "as-fed" basis, cows would swallow about 32 (28 pounds/.88) pounds daily. If in that location were 200 head of cows in the herd, information technology would take about three.ii ton of this hay per day [(200 head x 32 lb/hd/da)/2000lb] not bookkeeping for whatever waste matter.
Estimating daily feed intake of your cow herd is the first step in determining the amount of fodder that is needed to be on-paw for a harvested forage feeding program. When forage availability is tight like it is during drought, being able to determine how much inventory needed volition help raise the profit potential of the cow/dogie enterprise.
Rick Rasby
Beef Specialist
University of Nebraska
Source: https://beef.unl.edu/cattleproduction/forageconsumed-day
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