OLDS, Alta.— Weather extremes across Western Canada can sometimes cause livestock feed shortages.
Farmers must calculate availability and cost before a single load of feed is purchased, said Barry Yaremcio, beef specialist with Alberta Agriculture.
“Figure out what you can feed and when you can feed it to minimize your costs,” he said at a recent cow management workshop at Olds, Alta.
Inventory includes how many cows need to be fed and how much winter feed is available in terms of bales, grain and other feedstuffs as well as feed quality.
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“If you don’t have the cornerstones for what you are needing for a proper feed program, it is about as effective as pushing a wagon uphill,” he said.
Check the Alberta Agriculture Cow Bytes program to calculate feed and bedding requirements and potential costs, he added.
“If you are using a straw-grain ration with the supplements and limit your hay until after calving, your average feed costs should be $640 per cow,” he said.
Producers might consider limit feeding.
This was done in the drought years of 2002 and 2007. Typically, cows eat two to 2.5 percent of body weight daily, but they can manage when feed is cut back to half a percent of body weight plus some supplements to fill in mineral, vitamin and protein requirements.
Body condition must be monitored and if they start to lose weight, producers must add more feed. When offered less feed, cattle must be protected from the wind and require bedding. If sleeping on the snow, cattle can lose 25 percent of their energy trying to keep warm.
A thin cow that is 200 pounds light going into winter requires an extra 1,400 lb. of hay to keep warm.
In a dry year, producers can wean calves early and put them on a grain, silage ration to relieve the cows. A dry cow requires 25 percent less nutrition than a lactating cow.
Feed testing is important on baled forage and silage. Twenty samples collected with a forage probe at random are sufficient.
Producers should use a probe to get a complete sample because a handful will drop pieces and re-sults could indicate unnecessary supplement requirements.
Feed test sample results should contain details on fibre levels, protein and minerals, such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and sodium. They should also show results for trace minerals such as copper, manganese and zinc.
In Alberta, the feed is probably deficient in cobalt, iodine and selenium. If using canola for feed, producers should request a test for sulfur levels.
Wet chemistry analysis is the standard for testing feed. The near infrared spectroscopy is good for protein and fibre, but there are no organic molecules tied to the minerals so results may not be reliable.
Nitrates in feed should be considered during drought and after hail, light frost or herbicide application.
Nitrate levels peak four days after hail or light frost. Cereal plants cannot regulate the nitrate and the leaves cannot convert the nitrogen into protein.
Legumes do not accumulate nitrates.
“The two big misconceptions with nitrates is people think a killing frost is the problem and that is when you are going to get nitrate accumulation. That is backwards. When you get that killing frost Mother Nature throws a hand grenade into the plant and destroys all the vascular tissues that move those nutrients up and down the stem and you don’t get nitrate accumulation,” Yaremcio said.
He also recommended that producers feed the lowest quality feed first if feed is in short supply.
“In a year when feed is short and you are having trouble with knowing what to feed, always start using the low-quality forages first when the requirements of the cows are the lowest,” he said.
Add ionophores into supplements or pellets to improve fibre digestion. These products improve digestive efficiency by five to seven percent. Bovatec can be fed free-choice, but Rumensin cannot. Rumensin can kill horses and dogs so caution is needed.
There are many alternative feeds available but protein content and cost must be considered, he said.
“When we start looking at unusual ingredients, what we typically want to do is not rely on it 100 percent as part of a ration. Inclusion rates of 15 to 40 percent and adaption periods are generally needed,” Yaremcio said.
Producers are urged to start with small amounts mixed with other feed ingredients and increase the alternative feed levels gradually.
They should watch for signs of digestive upsets like feed refusal, sloppy manure and changes in animal behaviour.
Cereal straw has about four percent protein. This is the minimum amount needed for rumen function. It a good filler for cows in mid-to-late pregnancy and for mature bulls. It can be fed at a rate of 25 to 40 percent of total dry matter intake per day.
Straw is not recommended for lactating cows or young calf rations because it takes too long to digest.
Pea straw has two to three percent more protein than cereal straw. It is also a good filler and has more calcium, while the energy content is equal or slightly less than oat straw. It has a different taste and may take the cows a few days to try it.
Canola straw is about one percent higher protein than cereal straw. Cows need to develop a taste for it, but once they do, they eat it eagerly. Canola straw is hollow stemmed and if it is put through a processor it can be reduced to dust. It is better to roll it out.
Weeds generally provide good quality feed if cut early before flowering. Producers should limit their animals’ intake to 2 to 25 percent.
Look up the weed on the Canadian poisonous plant registry to see if there are problems with toxicity.
Weaned cows will clean up stubble but bloat and grain overload can occur if they get into a pile of leftover grain.
They will need a high calcium feedlot type mineral because grain is high in phosphorus. They could also develop a magnesium deficiency that results in downer cows.
Producers should monitor the manure consistency to determine how much protein livestock are getting. If it is lumpy and pyramid shaped this is a protein deficiency so they may need supplementation.
Quality depends on the maturity of the crop. Slough hay is generally better than straw but not as good as tame hay.
Be careful when feeding reed canarygrass, whether cut or grazed, because there is a possibility of alkaloids and that can cause reproductive problems.
These vary in quality depending on the plant growth stage and extent of damage. Cut at the regrowth stage and get it tested.
If it was a heavily fertilized crop or the producer was going for high protein wheat, there can be nitrate accumulations.
Canola is at its highest quality in the late bloom to early pod stage. The quality is as good as high quality alfalfa hay with 14 to 16 percent protein. It can be fed as the only forage but there are concerns with nitrates, sulfur and high oil content if cut mature. If it is cut three weeks after pod set and full maturity, there could be up to 20 percent oil. This higher level of fat could disturb the rumen contents and bloat could result.
Barley quality is variable this year.
Lightweight barley has less starch and more fibre. Cattle will gain less if the grain is less than 42 lb. per bushel, but it can be fed to growing and finishing steers. A consistent weight should be fed rather than changing rations midstream.
