Post by buxombeefcowdairy on Dec 10, 2007 13:00:55 GMT -5
OK, first the wet/dry question:
Feed is usually spoken about in a ration as 'dry matter basis'. So I would make the assumption that the 30% of ration, 9 pounds of beet pulp would equate to just shy of 9 pounds dry beet pulp.
My old yellowing Animal Nutrition book from my time at UC Davis tells me that beet pulp is typically 91% dry matter. A feed analysis will almost always give you the dry matter percentage- hay is usually around 90%-so 10% moisture-, corn grain around 85 to 90%dry matter, corn silage 33%, and fresh pasture 20 to 30% dry matter, depending on the grass/legume content.
Beet pulp is one of those feeds that is labeled as a concentrate because of the amount of available energy, but is definitely toward the bottom of the concentrate list. Corn is about 90% TDN (total digestible nutrients), whereas grass hay is going to be around 50%. Really good alfalfa hay is more like 60% TDN. Beet pulp is abouat 75 % TDN, so really it falls between grain and hay. The other thing about beet pulp is that it is high fiber, that fiber tickles the rumen and makes it happy.
Beet pulp usually comes in one of two ways: shreds or pellets. The pellets are compressed, and expand to (my own observation here) about 3 to 4 times its size when soaked in warm water. It is important to feed the pellets at least partially pre-soaked, the soaking takes about 3 hours in warm water to be complete. With hot water, you can get a good pre-soak in 30 minutes, I think. The shreds also expand with soaking, but not as dramatically- to maybe twice the original size. These only need about 5 or 10 minutes in warm water (cold works, too, but takes longer) so they are more convenient. Many people feed the shreds in a dry grain mix without soaking, and get by ok, but available water is very important, because otherwise the beet pulp will simply absorb rumen fluids and give the cow a nasty tummyache/constipation. Beet pulp shreds are bulkier, and in my area 50 pound of beet pulp pellets are in a smaller bag than 50 pounds of shreds, and less expensive by $3 a bag, too.
Alfalfa pellets would qualify as a forage rather than a concentrate, but the pelleting process grinds the alfalfa down to small particles that are definitely smaller than ideal for a rumen. You would want to make sure that the cow is eating at least something 'long stemmed', like old dry grass to graze in the winter or grass hay, to keep the rument happy. Alfalfa pellets are good for when you have no choice but to feed poorer quality hay.
The term 'hay burner' is often applied to a horse, but cows do it too- that is, the process of digesting the hay creates heat. In the winter, especially in the north, this is a good thing. What we normally do, is add grass straw or another low-quality forage, IN ADDITION TO the normal high-quality hay/forage that the animal (bull, cow, calf) would eat. The cows get really hungry when it is cold, they do like to burn hay to keep warm. High quality hay can be used if you don't have any grass straw or, say, barley or oat hay, but it is more expensive.
I have had great luck feeding orphaned beef calves (when I didn't have milk or want to feed milk replacer) that were starting at about 6 weeks old, a ration of: Beet pulp shreds, alfalfa pellets, corn/oats/barley with molasses, calf manna, and rice bran. There was hogh quality grass hay available, but they mostly just peed on it (!). They grew up with a healthy shine, not with that nasty scruffy potbellied look. I think the rice bran (high fat content)/beet pulp(concentrate that keeps the rumen happy) combo was really important. Anyway, I had one bull calf that we sold at 14 months old, he weighed 1250 pounds by then.
As far as genetics goes for grass-based dairy production, this is really an important question. Certainly you can find Jersey and Guernsey cattle in this country that will excel on a grass based diet, but they will unfortunately be an exception to the norm. Wioth more organic certification, dairies are learning that they need to back off the high production and pay attention to the cows that do well with less grain inputs, so that is a plus. There are also bulls available to use AI from New Zealand, where most of the dairying is seasonal and grass-based, and the cows have been selected specifically for a grass-input, seasonal production system. Another option is to use a beef/dairy cross female to dairy. The production will likely be a little lower, but the money that you can get for the calf, for beef, will be much higher, especially if you breed your 1/2 beef cow back to a beef sire. (3/4 Angus, 1/4 Jersey, for example- would make a great beef cow or a great steer to eat.)
Feed is usually spoken about in a ration as 'dry matter basis'. So I would make the assumption that the 30% of ration, 9 pounds of beet pulp would equate to just shy of 9 pounds dry beet pulp.
My old yellowing Animal Nutrition book from my time at UC Davis tells me that beet pulp is typically 91% dry matter. A feed analysis will almost always give you the dry matter percentage- hay is usually around 90%-so 10% moisture-, corn grain around 85 to 90%dry matter, corn silage 33%, and fresh pasture 20 to 30% dry matter, depending on the grass/legume content.
Beet pulp is one of those feeds that is labeled as a concentrate because of the amount of available energy, but is definitely toward the bottom of the concentrate list. Corn is about 90% TDN (total digestible nutrients), whereas grass hay is going to be around 50%. Really good alfalfa hay is more like 60% TDN. Beet pulp is abouat 75 % TDN, so really it falls between grain and hay. The other thing about beet pulp is that it is high fiber, that fiber tickles the rumen and makes it happy.
Beet pulp usually comes in one of two ways: shreds or pellets. The pellets are compressed, and expand to (my own observation here) about 3 to 4 times its size when soaked in warm water. It is important to feed the pellets at least partially pre-soaked, the soaking takes about 3 hours in warm water to be complete. With hot water, you can get a good pre-soak in 30 minutes, I think. The shreds also expand with soaking, but not as dramatically- to maybe twice the original size. These only need about 5 or 10 minutes in warm water (cold works, too, but takes longer) so they are more convenient. Many people feed the shreds in a dry grain mix without soaking, and get by ok, but available water is very important, because otherwise the beet pulp will simply absorb rumen fluids and give the cow a nasty tummyache/constipation. Beet pulp shreds are bulkier, and in my area 50 pound of beet pulp pellets are in a smaller bag than 50 pounds of shreds, and less expensive by $3 a bag, too.
Alfalfa pellets would qualify as a forage rather than a concentrate, but the pelleting process grinds the alfalfa down to small particles that are definitely smaller than ideal for a rumen. You would want to make sure that the cow is eating at least something 'long stemmed', like old dry grass to graze in the winter or grass hay, to keep the rument happy. Alfalfa pellets are good for when you have no choice but to feed poorer quality hay.
The term 'hay burner' is often applied to a horse, but cows do it too- that is, the process of digesting the hay creates heat. In the winter, especially in the north, this is a good thing. What we normally do, is add grass straw or another low-quality forage, IN ADDITION TO the normal high-quality hay/forage that the animal (bull, cow, calf) would eat. The cows get really hungry when it is cold, they do like to burn hay to keep warm. High quality hay can be used if you don't have any grass straw or, say, barley or oat hay, but it is more expensive.
I have had great luck feeding orphaned beef calves (when I didn't have milk or want to feed milk replacer) that were starting at about 6 weeks old, a ration of: Beet pulp shreds, alfalfa pellets, corn/oats/barley with molasses, calf manna, and rice bran. There was hogh quality grass hay available, but they mostly just peed on it (!). They grew up with a healthy shine, not with that nasty scruffy potbellied look. I think the rice bran (high fat content)/beet pulp(concentrate that keeps the rumen happy) combo was really important. Anyway, I had one bull calf that we sold at 14 months old, he weighed 1250 pounds by then.
As far as genetics goes for grass-based dairy production, this is really an important question. Certainly you can find Jersey and Guernsey cattle in this country that will excel on a grass based diet, but they will unfortunately be an exception to the norm. Wioth more organic certification, dairies are learning that they need to back off the high production and pay attention to the cows that do well with less grain inputs, so that is a plus. There are also bulls available to use AI from New Zealand, where most of the dairying is seasonal and grass-based, and the cows have been selected specifically for a grass-input, seasonal production system. Another option is to use a beef/dairy cross female to dairy. The production will likely be a little lower, but the money that you can get for the calf, for beef, will be much higher, especially if you breed your 1/2 beef cow back to a beef sire. (3/4 Angus, 1/4 Jersey, for example- would make a great beef cow or a great steer to eat.)