Rolled Barley Vs Rolled Oats - Feeding Value for Cattle

Slashs hat

Hello,

I have been buying rolled barley this year and have been feeding it to my weanlings this year to give them extra nutrition over the winter. I was talking to one of my mates who suggested that rolled oats may be better. As Both are roughly the same price i was wondering is there any truth in this and should i feed rolled oats instead of Barley. Can someone give me the feeding values of both and any extra advise would be appreciated.

freedominacup

Slashs hat wrote: »

Hello,

I have been buying rolled barley this year and have been feeding it to my weanlings this year to give them extra nutrition over the winter. I was talking to one of my mates who suggested that rolled oats may be better. As Both are roughly the same price i was wondering is there any truth in this and should i feed rolled oats instead of Barley. Can someone give me the feeding values of both and any extra advise would be appreciated.

Oats is excellent for pregnant cows and B&W youngstock but I reckon barley would be better for beef cattle. Different type of feed for different jobs.

saranac1

Would oats be good for pregnant continental heifers too?
How much would you give per head per day during pregnancy and after?

freedominacup

saranac1 wrote: »

Would oats be good for pregnant continental heifers too?
How much would you give per head per day during pregnancy and after?

Yes. How much depends on silage quality and availabilty. For the last month I'd take out 10 kgs per head of silage and replace it with 1kg of oats and 1kg of straw.

saranac1

freedominacup wrote: »

Yes. How much depends on silage quality and availabilty. For the last month I'd take out 10 kgs per head of silage and replace it with 1kg of oats and 1kg of straw.

They are due to calve feb/ march. They are still out on the field happy as larry with round feeder of silage. Not sure how good silage is tbh. I have easi trace bolus in their drinking trought and should I now throw them some oats and straw.


What about this ration in the pic attached

freedominacup

saranac1 wrote: »

They are due to calve feb/ march. They are still out on the field happy as larry with round feeder of silage. Not sure how good silage is tbh. I have easi trace bolus in their drinking trought and should I now throw them some oats and straw.


What about this ration in the pic attached

I've seen a lot worse. There's not much filler in it from what I can see. Though I just googled canola rape pellets and this is what came up

https://cdn.harper-adams.ac.uk/document/project/120919-Oilseed-Rape-straw-as-a--biomass-fuel-source209414.pdf

If thats what they're using I'd want to know and I'd want my money back. If it's rapeseed meal on the other hand I'd have no complaints.
Is there an ME or a UME figure on the bag. The CR fibre figure looks a bit high and it's a rarely used figure nowadays.

Here's a handy reference link for feed ingredients.

http://www.countrywidefarmers.co.uk/pws/Content.ice?page=AgricultureAlternativeFeedsStraightsProducts&pgForward=businesscontentfull

Try to keep the number of ingredients in a concentrate lower than 4 not counting molasses and minerals.

.

DMAXMAN

saranac1 wrote: »

Would oats be good for pregnant continental heifers too?
How much would you give per head per day during pregnancy and after?

oats are great feeding for pregnant stock. mate of mine feeds 1 kg oats to incalf heifers and thin older cows and never has any calving problems( using a charolais bull)

saranac1

thanks freedominacup,
much appreciated. i will enquire about the cr. fibre content and canola rape pellets also with regard to in calf heifers.
when i rang drummonds last week they swore by this meal and @ 300 per tonne i was getting it at a great price. said it great for weanlings also but just to up it to 3kg per head per day to build them up with over the winter with either haylage or silage.
i on the other hand am weary of this.

DMAXMAN

saranac1 wrote: »

They are due to calve feb/ march. They are still out on the field happy as larry with round feeder of silage. Not sure how good silage is tbh. I have easi trace bolus in their drinking trought and should I now throw them some oats and straw.


What about this ration in the pic attached

i would class it as a fairly good ration .imo canola rape pellets is rape seed with the oil extracted and the remainder made into a pellet same as rape expeller

freedominacup

DMAXMAN wrote: »

i would class it as a fairly good ration .imo canola rape pellets is rape seed with the oil extracted and the remainder made into a pellet same as rape expeller

You're probably right and I'm just being paranoid but there was a product on the market back in the day (pre BSE meltdown) called processed wheat meal/feed what they neglected to say was that it had been processed through chickens. Remember assumption is the mother of all f**k-ups:D

Jamesleacy501

freedominacup wrote: »

You're probably right and I'm just being paranoid but there was a product on the market back in the day (pre BSE meltdown) called processed wheat meal/feed what they neglected to say was that it had been processed through chickens. Remember assumption is the mother of all f**k-ups:D

Your right there.. Assume = making an ASS out of U and ME :D:D:D

Farmer Pudsey

Barley would have a higher ME than Oats. The advantage of feeding oats is that you can take it to higher levels than barley or wheat by itself. If they are both the same price and you are not going higher than 1kg/100kgsLW I use the barley if it was the same price. However if I want to replace a lot of silage and did not want to go down the route of a ration and had access to a straight protein I would use the oats.

Saranac
that ration is ok as rations go it looks like it is about 35% barley 20% beet pulp, 15% rape seed nut, 10% soyahulls, 10% distillers, 5%flaked maize, 5% molasses and minerals.

No fillers per say two issues with it the moisture content is high at 15% so do not buy too much at once, the other thing is that it is high in fibre due to there being 30% pulp and hulls in it. It would be ideal to replace silage you could feed it at high levels with little fear of digestive upset. Bet you are paying well for it. It amazes me (well actually it dosen't)the way millers put a bit of maize in just to say there is maize in a ration

blue5000

Another advantage of oats is that they are broken down slower in the rumen than barley, sort of slow release energy. I've been feeding 1-2 kgs to in calf heifers up to calving for the past few years. If buying by the bag they are not as dense, so a bag only holds 20kg instead of 25kg.

Muckit

blue5000 wrote: »

Another advantage of oats is that they are broken down slower in the rumen than barley, sort of slow release energy

uncooked Porridge blue Probably keeps them full so they don't eat as much.....makes sense in a way to feed to incalf cows

saranac1

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Barley would have a higher ME than Oats. The advantage of feeding oats is that you can take it to higher levels than barley or wheat by itself. If they are both the same price and you are not going higher than 1kg/100kgsLW I use the barley if it was the same price. However if I want to replace a lot of silage and did not want to go down the route of a ration and had access to a straight protein I would use the oats.

Saranac
that ration is ok as rations go it looks like it is about 35% barley 20% beet pulp, 15% rape seed nut, 10% soyahulls, 10% distillers, 5%flaked maize, 5% molasses and minerals.

No fillers per say two issues with it the moisture content is high at 15% so do not buy too much at once, the other thing is that it is high in fibre due to there being 30% pulp and hulls in it. It would be ideal to replace silage you could feed it at high levels with little fear of digestive upset. Bet you are paying well for it. It amazes me (well actually it dosen't)the way millers put a bit of maize in just to say there is maize in a ration

I'm paying 289 euro a tonne for it

Great price tbh

Farmer Pudsey

blue5000 wrote: »

Another advantage of oats is that they are broken down slower in the rumen than barley, sort of slow release energy. I've been feeding 1-2 kgs to in calf heifers up to calving for the past few years. If buying by the bag they are not as dense, so a bag only holds 20kg instead of 25kg.

The reaso fir this is it is high in fibre there is not alot of flour in oats

saranac1 wrote: »

I'm paying 289 euro a tonne for it

Great price tbh

Yes a good price for what is in it if you were buying it in bulk not to mind in bags

Dunedin

DMAXMAN wrote: »

oats are great feeding for pregnant stock. mate of mine feeds 1 kg oats to incalf heifers and thin older cows and never has any calving problems( using a charolais bull)

+1

Richk2012

saranac1 wrote: »

I'm paying 289 euro a tonne for it

Great price tbh

Who is supplying the ration to you ????

grazeaway

Any one know what price rolled barley is going for this year?

The price for the barley off the combine is pretty poor this year but quality seems good. With the price of meal pricey enough this would this be a better option.

Have been feeding high protein meal to weanlings over the winter for last few years but was looking for a cheaper option. Silage quality would good this years and will be looking to use more straw for feeding too.

triple hh

got a price yesterday rolled barley north cork 170 a ton

mahoney_j

grazeaway wrote: »

Any one know what price rolled barley is going for this year?

The price for the barley off the combine is pretty poor this year but quality seems good. With the price of meal pricey enough this would this be a better option.

Have been feeding high protein meal to weanlings over the winter for last few years but was looking for a cheaper option. Silage quality would good this years and will be looking to use more straw for feeding too.

Dont feed low protein ration to weanlings,These are the ainmals that need protein the most as there frame is developing and there demand for protein is highest in the first 12 to 14 months of life.Skimp on that now and liveweight gain will be lower and feeding them straights will lead to them laying down loads of puppy fat instead of growing there frame.good proteins like soya is also comming down so high protein ration will be lot cheaper this winter

freedominacup

mahoney_j wrote: »

Dont feed low protein ration to weanlings,These are the ainmals that need protein the most as there frame is developing and there demand for protein is highest in the first 12 to 14 months of life.Skimp on that now and liveweight gain will be lower and feeding them straights will lead to them laying down loads of puppy fat instead of growing there frame.good proteins like soya is also comming down so high protein ration will be lot cheaper this winter

We always found that .5 kg of soya went a long way on giving weanlings the protein they needed. It's more about grammes of protein than %.

Farmer Pudsey

freedominacup wrote: »

We always found that .5 kg of soya went a long way on giving weanlings the protein they needed. It's more about grammes of protein than %.

You are right about this . Soya is a top class protein. We should actually look at the amount of soliable protein. This is where Soya wins out. Crude Protein percentage is exactly that crude. Also to grow cattle inside calcium is very important. I would feed about 20 grams of calcium/100kg(cubicle lime) to cattle that are still growing inside Also minerals are very important so if feeding straights make sure to balance same.

Western Pomise

Remembering vaguely doing it 5 or 6 years ago with an in calf heifer to keep calf small in her in last month
Isn't it rolled oats you use for this?
Will have a few nice heifers calving in spring and thinking of using it,say if Geoffrey was calving 1st April,when should you introduce it to diet and at what level?...they will be on silage ad lib for winter from Early Nov
Isn't it a 'hot' ration so you have to be careful not to over feed it.

Sam Kade

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

You are right about this . Soya is a top class protein. We should actually look at the amount of soliable protein. This is where Soya wins out. Crude Protein percentage is exactly that crude. Also to grow cattle inside calcium is very important. I would feed about 20 grams of calcium/100kg(cubicle lime) to cattle that are still growing inside Also minerals are very important so if feeding straights make sure to balance same.

Would you feed the lime in ration while they are on grass during sept oct? Would the lime make a noticeable difference in their weight gain?

Farmer Pudsey

Sam Kade wrote: »

Would you feed the lime in ration while they are on grass during sept oct? Would the lime make a noticeable difference in their weight gain?

N not to finishing cattle hope to grow as much as possible in the shed. When friesian's hit grass they keep growing it trying to stop them. Am moving away from them. when I used to buy weanlings bulls in the aug/sept I always fed about 1.5kgs at grass with lime and minerals to balance they used to do very well. Some of the minerals suppliers bulk up there minerals with it anyway. Know a farmer that is mad into salt for cows gives them a serious amount during the winter buy's it by the Ton:eek:. Do not know how much he feeds.

Sam Kade

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

N not to finishing cattle hope to grow as much as possible in the shed. When friesian's hit grass they keep growing it trying to stop them. Am moving away from them. when I used to buy weanlings bulls in the aug/sept I always fed about 1.5kgs at grass with lime and minerals to balance they used to do very well. Some of the minerals suppliers bulk up there minerals with it anyway. Know a farmer that is mad into salt for cows gives them a serious amount during the winter buy's it by the Ton:eek:. Do not know how much he feeds.

Would the lime cause bloat?