What feed to give Calves

Sharpshooter82

Right i have 6 AAX bull calves that will be 6 months old in Nov when they will be housed.
I am currently feeding them about 1kg of beef nuts per head. I was thinking of feeding them a straight ration (Rolled Barley/ Oats/ Soya) along with the beef nuts cime the winter. Anyone have advice if this is a good idea or what straight is best

bbam

Sharpshooter82 wrote: »

Right i have 6 AAX bull calves that will be 6 months old in Nov when they will be housed.
I am currently feeding them about 1kg of beef nuts per head. I was thinking of feeding them a straight ration (Rolled Barley/ Oats/ Soya) along with the beef nuts cime the winter. Anyone have advice if this is a good idea or what straight is best

Get your silage tested..
Our test comes with a recommendation of what to feed along with the silage to gain either 0.5kg/day or 1kg per day.. Its the only way to know..

However.. there is a big difference in adding barley to beef nut or soya to beef nut, one will lower its overall protien and soy will raise it.. Obviously there is a serious price difference too..

My advice is get the test done and then decide what your feed requirements are...

Sharpshooter82

bbam wrote: »

Get your silage tested..
Our test comes with a recommendation of what to feed along with the silage to gain either 0.5kg/day or 1kg per day.. Its the only way to know..

However.. there is a big difference in adding barley to beef nut or soya to beef nut, one will lower its overall protien and soy will raise it.. Obviously there is a serious price difference too..

My advice is get the test done and then decide what your feed requirements are...

I get my silage off a neighbour as payment for stacking during the year for him. Most years he told me that it came back as 60 - 70% Dm.

bbam

Sharpshooter82 wrote: »

I get my silage off a neighbour as payment for stacking during the year for him. Most years he told me that it came back as 60 - 70% Dm.

Get it tested..
What % Protien is it ??
They won't grow if their overall diet isnt in the region of 15%. You'll need to know what the silage is to know what to supplement with.. Concentrates are too expensive to just work blindly, I learned this over the last few years myself.

Sharpshooter82

Ok so I'll be aiming to have the protein level well over 15%. You ll have to bear with me as I'm on a learning curve here.

Midlandsman80

bbam wrote: »

Get your silage tested..
Our test comes with a recommendation of what to feed along with the silage to gain either 0.5kg/day or 1kg per day.. Its the only way to know..

However.. there is a big difference in adding barley to beef nut or soya to beef nut, one will lower its overall protien and soy will raise it.. Obviously there is a serious price difference too..

My advice is get the test done and then decide what your feed requirements are...

Hi,who does your testimg and about how much does it set you back?

bbam

Midlandsman80 wrote: »

Hi,who does your testimg and about how much does it set you back?

Oldcastle Labs did it and it was €45.
Last winter was my first testing as I wasn't happy with results from other years feeding.. Its money well spent.

Sharpshooter82

bbam wrote: »

Oldcastle Labs did it and it was €45.
Last winter was my first testing as I wasn't happy with results from other years feeding.. Its money well spent.

Must do it this year as that place is close enough to me

Midlandsman80

bbam wrote: »

Oldcastle Labs did it and it was €45.
Last winter was my first testing as I wasn't happy with results from other years feeding.. Its money well spent.

like soil tests do you need to submit sample from each field you cut in? And it's 45 per sample? Don't doubt it's worth it just working out what it's gonna set me back..

bbam

Took silage from two bales, mixed and dropped it off. Plastic shopping bag full.
Just the one sample.

Sam Kade

Sampling would be costly when you have bales of different quality from different fields. Surely having a fair idea of the quality and even if you feed a little bit extra ration you won't go wrong.

f2

Can anyone tell me how much soya to add to a tonne of ration to raise the protein content by 1%

rancher

f2 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me how much soya to add to a tonne of ration to raise the protein content by 1%

25kg approx., I THINK

bbam

rancher wrote: »

25kg approx., I THINK

Would it not depend what the % of the ration was first?

bbam

Work out how many grams protein is in the ration.
Divide this by the %p of the ration.

This will tell you how many grams makes 1%

Take soy to be 50%p.

Example.
15% ration. Will have 150kg protein per 1000kg
150/15 = 10 kg protein per 1%

So adding 20kg soy @ 50% will add another 10kg protein or another 1%

mf240

bbam wrote: »

Would it not depend what the % of the ration was first?

It would. One 25kg bag of soya brings a 12 % ration to 12.87 and a 15 to 15.80 and a bag and a half brings a 15 to 16.2

mf240

bbam wrote: »

Work out how many grams protein is in the ration.
Divide this by the %p of the ration.

This will tell you how many grams makes 1%

Take soy to be 50%p.

Example.
15% ration. Will have 150kg protein per 1000kg
150/15 = 10 kg protein per 1%

So adding 20kg soy @ 50% will add another 10kg protein or another 1%

Yes but you will have 1020 kgs in total then so just unde one percent.

bbam

Yea.
And the difference in 20 or 25 is so little it's not worth the bother with the math.

I had a spread sheet done out last year as we were making a 3 was mix with beef nut/ barley and soy.

Interesting question:
Is this right to be working out the % protein as a % of weight of the diet.

Herself just threw me a curveball. For the human the %protien that's quotes is actually the %energy in the diet coming from the protien in the whole diet. A very different and much more complicated calculation.

mf240

mf240 wrote: »

Well some people are starting to take this into account and using pdie

I don't claim to understand it but it's along the same lines as you oh mentioned.

f2

thanks bbam

was never great at maths

rancher

bbam wrote: »

Work out how many grams protein is in the ration.
Divide this by the %p of the ration.

This will tell you how many grams makes 1%

Take soy to be 50%p.

Example.
15% ration. Will have 150kg protein per 1000kg
150/15 = 10 kg protein per 1%

So adding 20kg soy @ 50% will add another 10kg protein or another 1%

I thought soya was 46% P.....long time since I bothered mixing my own rations

bbam

rancher wrote: »

I thought soya was 46% P.....long time since I bothered mixing my own rations

52% I think.
But 50 is so easy for calculations

Farmer Pudsey

bbam wrote: »

52% I think.
But 50 is so easy for calculations

I though it was around 48% but I know it varies depending on quality of crop. 50% would get you near enough. Soya also has the advantage in that it is a high quality protein very soluble type of protein and also it is a high energy feed.

Just came across this on Soyabean meal
http://www.soymeal.org/ReviewPapers/SBMExceptionalProteinSource.pdf

Dampintheattic

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I though it was around 48% but I know it varies depending on quality of crop. 50% would get you near enough. Soya also has the advantage in that it is a high quality protein very soluble type of protein and also it is a high energy feed.

Just came across this on Soyabean meal
http://www.soymeal.org/ReviewPapers/SBMExceptionalProteinSource.pdf

Lot heavy reading there.
I give 1.5kgs 16% P&V beef nut to weanlings over the winter. I mix in 1kg of soy meal (46%) for every 10kgs nuts.
Not scientific I know, but better performance than straight nuts.

jmurf100

Where do ye buy Soya Meal?
Does it come in 25Kg Bags & how much does it cost?

Sharpshooter82

jmurf100 wrote: »

Where do ye buy Soya Meal?
Does it come in 25Kg Bags & how much does it cost?

i think you could get it from any mill that produces meal

f2

as far as i know any mill selling straights should have it in bulk, but can be bought in 25kg bags, its expensive up to 500euroa tonne but you use very little