Supplementing barley

restive

I have five cattle which i am attempting to fatten up. They are currently on grass and i am giving them about 4kg of rolled barley n the evening. In the last week the seem to have lost their appetite for grass.

Should i cut back on the barley?

bbam

restive wrote: »

I have five cattle which i am attempting to fatten up. They are currently on grass and i am giving them about 4kg of rolled barley n the evening. In the last week the seem to have lost their appetite for grass.

Should i cut back on the barley?

Could they have Acidosis ?
I've only really managed to fatten myself :rolleyes:

restive

bbam wrote: »

restive wrote: »

I have five cattle which i am attempting to fatten up. They are currently on grass and i am giving them about 4kg of rolled barley n the evening. In the last week the seem to have lost their appetite for grass.

Should i cut back on the barley?

Could they have Acidosis ?
I've only really managed to fatten myself :rolleyes:

Possibly, is reducing the barley the only way to deal with it?

bbam

restive wrote: »

Possibly, is reducing the barley the only way to deal with it?

My limited understanding is that if you increase their fibre/roughage intake it will also help..

There are many others here much more experienced who could advice better on this..

blue5000

Maybe try splitting the barley into 2 feeds, morning and evening.

cowman2

restive wrote: »

I have five cattle which i am attempting to fatten up. They are currently on grass and i am giving them about 4kg of rolled barley n the evening. In the last week the seem to have lost their appetite for grass.

Should i cut back on the barley?

well 4kgs of barley wud nearly half d grass they wud take in anyway

restive

cowman2 wrote: »

restive wrote: »

I have five cattle which i am attempting to fatten up. They are currently on grass and i am giving them about 4kg of rolled barley n the evening. In the last week the seem to have lost their appetite for grass.

Should i cut back on the barley?

well 4kgs of barley wud nearly half d grass they wud take in anyway

I give it to them n the eveving because i thought the might spend all day grazing and then get xtra calories n the evening.

ootbitb

did you build up to 4kg daily and what weight and age are your animals, have they plenty of water?

restive

ootbitb wrote: »

did you build up to 4kg daily and what weight and age are your animals, have they plenty of water?

They are about 550- 600kg. They are around two years. I started with meal an gradually substituted xtra barley. Then all barley.

They have plenty of water.

Farmer Pudsey

restive wrote: »

They are about 550- 600kg. They are around two years. I started with meal an gradually substituted xtra barley. Then all barley.

They have plenty of water.

There intake should be 12 kg's dry matter a day so the barley is giving them 1/3 of there intake. Also the barley is probally a lot better than the ration you were getting. try cutting back to 3kgs/day especially if grass very good . If you have access to beet pulp or idealy soya hulls I give them a bit of that you could also give them 50-60 grams of limestone flour ( cubicle lime) this will prevent acidoisis however if you are feeding them for longer than 4-5 weeks and giving limestone flour yoy will need to feed minerals as well

restive

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

There intake should be 12 kg's dry matter a day so the barley is giving them 1/3 of there intake. Also the barley is probally a lot better than the ration you were getting. try cutting back to 3kgs/day especially if grass very good . If you have access to beet pulp or idealy soya hulls I give them a bit of that you could also give them 50-60 grams of limestone flour ( cubicle lime) this will prevent acidoisis however if you are feeding them for longer than 4-5 weeks and giving limestone flour yoy will need to feed minerals as well

They have access to a mineral bucket. The grass quality is good.

Where would i get limestone flour? What is the going rate for soya hulls?

When you say they should be getting 12 kg of dry matter a day is that considered a fattening diet? Is my aim in supplementing barley to make them go above what the would normally consume so that they would finish quicker?

Sorry for the amateurish questions. Thanks for the assistance.

hunter15

how well were they thriving?

restive

They were doing quite well up to this.

I will amend the feeding regime. Cut back on barley and possibly split the feeding to twice per day just for a start.

snowman707

as bbam says they most likely need fibre

some pulp or soya hulls in the mix or even access to a small amount of straw or hay could be of benefit

Farmer Pudsey

restive wrote: »

They have access to a mineral bucket. The grass quality is good.

Where would i get limestone flour? What is the going rate for soya hulls?

When you say they should be getting 12 kg of dry matter a day is that considered a fattening diet? Is my aim in supplementing barley to make them go above what the would normally consume so that they would finish quicker?

Sorry for the amateurish questions. Thanks for the assistance.

You will get limestone flour in any co-op it is cubicle lime ( not burnt/hydrated lime) about 4-5 euro's/bag. I am a big fan of soya hulls as opposed to pulps as a fibre source they have a high energy content and none of this is in the form of sugar unlike beet or citrus. They will cost around the same as barley. However a bit of hay or straw may preferabley be a better solution.Limit hay if you are giving it as they tend to consume a lot of it and it will reduce there intake of grass.

Cattle are considered to consume 2% of there body weight in dry matter a day. However on grass this can reduce this time of year as if on poor quality wet grass of a low DM they find it hard to consume that much DM and also as grass is watery it tends to go right through them. Also by adding in barley you are reducing the protein of the diet and increasing the energy. The 1st 1-2 kgs tend not to replace much grass however as you go above that when they get towards the end of a paddock/field they tend to spend less time grazing as they become choosey about there intake.

What breed are they and is the cod filling( area between the legs behind the scrotum which will start to shrivel/retract into the cod

restive

I took these photos this evening, the light from the setting sun got in the way. There are three limousines, a charolais & a belgian blue.

http://imgur.com/a/wheFl

restive

Sorry about the quality of the above, my phone is not substitute for a camera