Fattening heifers - no interest in eating

larthehar · 07-01-2017 8:01pm #1

I have 10 heifers that i am fattening, all dosed based on dung samples.. eating away but not really caring about it..
They are thriving but i feel they could be doing better.. all other cattle i am feeding would knock you down for a bag.. anyone have experience in this? They are getting all minerals etc too..

Butcher Boy · 07-01-2017 8:10pm

what you giving and how much ?

patsy_mccabe · 07-01-2017 8:19pm

Are they being bullied by older or bigger cattle?

larthehar · 07-01-2017 8:39pm

All ten are the same, that's the whole group no bullying.. 5kg/hd/day..

White Clover · 07-01-2017 8:40pm

larthehar wrote: »

All ten are the same, that's the whole group no bullying.. 5kg/hd/day..

How long are they being fed?

tanko · 07-01-2017 8:48pm

What breed are they, AA and HE would get fat if they were never fed.

Cavanjack · 07-01-2017 9:40pm

If they are getting fed too long they may be just sick of the feed

larthehar · 07-01-2017 9:49pm

CHX, home bred.. fed for 80 days at this point?

White Clover · 07-01-2017 9:53pm

larthehar wrote: »

CHX, home bred.. fed for 80 days at this point?

Jeez they must be fit by now? I'm thinking they're well sick of it/gone stale by now. What weight and age were they when you started feeding them?

poor farmer · 07-01-2017 10:16pm

Make sure their getting enough water. The small bowl type is useless for cattle on a finishing diet. The drinker would need to hold at least 3-4 gallons.
A vet explained to me once that after the eat the meal the need a good drink at least a gallon ,so everyone in the pen needs to drink at the same time.
And make sure the water is clean and fresh.

Cavanjack · 07-01-2017 10:46pm

poor farmer wrote: »

Make sure their getting enough water. The small bowl type is useless for cattle on a finishing diet. The drinker would need to hold at least 3-4 gallons.
A vet explained to me once that after the eat the meal the need a good drink at least a gallon ,so everyone in the pen needs to drink at the same time.
And make sure the water is clean and fresh.

Have the bowl type here in the finishing shed and often have cattle on ad lib with 7-8 to a drinker and wouldn't think there was ever an effect on thrive because of the drinkers.

Base price · 07-01-2017 10:49pm

larthehar wrote: »

I have 10 heifers that i am fattening, all dosed based on dung samples.. eating away but not really caring about it..
They are thriving but i feel they could be doing better.. all other cattle i am feeding would knock you down for a bag.. anyone have experience in this? They are getting all minerals etc too..

A little more information would be helpful.
What are you feeding - a ration, nuts, or straights.
What is the silage/hay like.
How long have they been in and when did you start offering them meal.
Have you switched from a different manufactured ration, nut or changed straights.

larthehar · 07-01-2017 10:58pm

Base price wrote: »

A little more information would be helpful.
What are you feeding - a ration, nuts, or straights.
What is the silage/hay like.
How long have they been in and when did you start offering them meal.
Have you switched from a different manufactured ration, nut or changed straights.

Sorry, just checked there.. 70 days feeding.. straights barley maize meal and minerals.. they are on 70 dmd silage ad lib with large drinking trough.. the only thing that changed was i sold their comrades (10 more that were with them) and seems to be since then.. they are out not in a shed.. never seen this before tbh..

Base price · 07-01-2017 11:33pm

larthehar wrote: »

Sorry, just checked there.. 70 days feeding.. straights barley maize meal and minerals.. they are on 70 dmd silage ad lib with large drinking trough.. the only thing that changed was i sold their comrades (10 more that were with them) and seems to be since then.. they are out not in a shed.. never seen this before tbh..

They have good quality silage ad-lib and access to fields where there maybe a picking of grass. The weather is mild (thankfully) so their nutritional requirements are less than previous Winters.
IMO add a "little" palatable source to the barley maize meal in the form of a crunch or a drizzle of molasses.
TBH when finishing cattle I never offered them pure silage. I used to start them off with a silage/straw mix in the diet feeder with bit of meal and then progress from there to ad lib meal and straw depending on what was available at the time - barley/wheaten or oaten.

Pidae.m · 08-01-2017 7:39am

Just wondering did you do them for ibr? I'd a brutal experience of that here. First symptom was off their grub

larthehar wrote: »

Sorry, just checked there.. 70 days feeding.. straights barley maize meal and minerals.. they are on 70 dmd silage ad lib with large drinking trough.. the only thing that changed was i sold their comrades (10 more that were with them) and seems to be since then.. they are out not in a shed.. never seen this before tbh..

davidk1394 · 08-01-2017 12:54pm

Have the same problem here with bulls. Slowed down eating ration. I'm putting it down to moving them into different sheds as we're selling bulls away, but I didn't change their groups. I put some molasses on the feed to sweeten it and it done the job. Back eating away

larthehar · 08-01-2017 8:11pm

davidk1394 wrote: »

Have the same problem here with bulls. Slowed down eating ration. I'm putting it down to moving them into different sheds as we're selling bulls away, but I didn't change their groups. I put some molasses on the feed to sweeten it and it done the job. Back eating away

Don't see any signs of respiratory diseases although they weren't vaccinated..

Might try molasses.. see how they go with it!

grassroot1 · 08-01-2017 8:33pm

Have you been weighing them? How can you be sure they are not thriving?

Robson99 · 08-01-2017 9:26pm

grassroot1 wrote: »

Have you been weighing them? How can you be sure they are not thriving?

Have noticed cattle going off their feed at times. Could be a different batch if feed

Two things I noticed this winter.
Cattle went into the shed 25 -50 kg lighter than they should have. Put it down to the wet summer
Concentrates dont seem to have the power in them this year compared to other. Again possibly the wet harvest.

You should weigh them for peace of mind

Pidae.m · 08-01-2017 9:51pm

Definitely not the same kick out of the ration this year

Robson99 wrote: »

Have noticed cattle going off their feed at times. Could be a different batch if feed

Two things I noticed this winter.
Cattle went into the shed 25 -50 kg lighter than they should have. Put it down to the wet summer
Concentrates dont seem to have the power in them this year compared to other. Again possibly the wet harvest.

You should weigh them for peace of mind

Bass Reeves · 09-01-2017 7:16pm

First thing that can happen after you sell part of a batch is that the animals sold are the heavier cattle. These are also the one's that were eating the most and the least shy cattle. The remaining heifer's may have gone from an average of 3.5 kgs back up to 5kgs. Also growth good over Christmas so the pick of grass might have been more bountiful. When ever after selling part of a batch I drop the amount/ head before pushing it back up. I would pull them back to 3kgd for a day or two and build it back up to 5 kgs. Other issue about straights if fed on top of silage is to watch in case silage goes sour.

Quality of barley is showing in nuts easy enough to hide poor quality barley in a nut. I have no barley in a nut and it is the same as other years. It is maize based with a bit of wheat. Feeding a bit of bagged barley on top of nut as it is a 14%p and I need to drop P for finishing cattle. last year finishing no money out of weight put on off meal.

Fattening heifers - no interest in eating

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