meal ration

25-10-2013 9:26pm #1

is it possible to make up a better ration to fatten animals at home using purchased straights , had a man in the yard buying a few cull cows and he was telling me he mixes and rolls all his own rations and does buy fattening nuts unless he gets a bit low , he has a large shed divided into sections and augers the straights to a wee mill he set up years ago and it all goes into the diet feeder ,

vermin99 · 25-10-2013 9:35pm

6480 wrote: »

is it possible to make up a better ration to fatten animals at home using purchased straights , had a man in the yard buying a few cull cows and he was telling me he mixes and rolls all his own rations and does buy fattening nuts unless he gets a bit low , he has a large shed divided into sections and augers the straights to a wee mill he set up years ago and it all goes into the diet feeder ,

I presume he grows his own barley and beet or something similar and grinds it himself,it'd be a lot cheaper than buying meal and its pretty much the same thing

25-10-2013 9:42pm

vermin99 wrote: »

I presume he grows his own barley and beet or something similar and grinds it himself,it'd be a lot cheaper than buying meal and its pretty much the same thing

he grows alot of barley and wheat but says the only reason he bothers with growing the tillage is to get rid of slurry and have lots of straw for feeding ,and everything else bought in

vermin99 · 25-10-2013 9:57pm

6480 wrote: »

he grows alot of barley and wheat but says the only reason he bothers with growing the tillage is to get rid of slurry and have lots of straw for feeding ,and everything else bought in

Might buy the normal bits in a load of meal in bulk and get it cheaper or something ,don't really know after that to be honest.

vermin99 · 25-10-2013 9:58pm

6480 wrote: »

he grows alot of barley and wheat but says the only reason he bothers with growing the tillage is to get rid of slurry and have lots of straw for feeding ,and everything else bought in

Might buy the normal bits in a load of meal in bulk and get it cheaper or something ,don't really know after that to be honest.

DMAXMAN · 26-10-2013 8:48pm

we never buy ration here. you can make up a ration using 2,3 or 4 ingredients.using barley as a base a 15% ration can be made up with citrus and distillers in equal parts. 1 ton of a 16% ration can be made up with 400 kgs barley, 400 kgs citrus and 200 soya.changing citrus to beet pulp will increase protein by a little more than 1% . a ration for ad lib could be made up of equal parts barley ,maize meal, citrus pulp, distillers and soya hulls, works out approx.13% protein , any ration can be made up by buying straights and just getting them layered in a trailer. tip them up and mix with a shovel or front loader depending on amount.

dharn · 26-10-2013 8:58pm

Would it be a bad idea to feed just rolled barley to 500 kg steers in early winter with good silage, they will be finished off grass

Sam Kade · 26-10-2013 9:09pm

Does anyone use pearson square method of formulating rations?

valtraman · 16-12-2013 7:08pm

I don't actually know that term pearson square but I think I used to use it at least a method with a square, mostly a calculator now with % . Could you explain how the pearson square operates to refresh my memory