Farmers attending the ABP Demo Farm open day last week heard advice on feeding cattle from Brett Brothers’ ruminant support specialist David Lawrence.
Speaking to the farmers in attendance at the event, he said: “The starting point in terms of dietary requirements for cattle is to know the stock that you’re feeding.
“While that’s sounds like a fairly fundamental thing, age and growth stage are very important and to have a realistic expectation of growth and gain from the diet run over time.”
“Weight versus the age of cattle is a very important metric to understand,” he said.
“When we have cattle coming into sheds over the winter that are a little bit under their growth stage for their age, that requires a different supplementation regime than if we have cattle coming into the shed right on target or even ahead of target.”
Lawrence said that the 2023 grazing season “hasn’t been ideal for thrive”. He said that a lot of cattle “went out of sheds very late this spring and had very stale grass that was growing since autumn”.
“There was a lot of stem and they were grazing that into June when the grass growth rates were hit [with drought],” he added.
He said that in some areas, cattle went out in February and were rehoused in March.
“Cattle were walking and walking around fields with the cold and wet, trying to keep warm,” he said.
With the current wet conditions, Lawrence said that “grass is running through cattle on a lot of farms”.
Because of the above factors, the ruminant support specialist believes “targets will be back this winter”.
Front loading feed
Lawrence told farmers at the ABP Demo Farm open day: “Front loading feed is very important, not only with concentrate but with good-quality silage. That’s the place for it, when they enter housing.”
Once 2023-born stock have settled in to the shed, they should be given the best forage farmers have available, Lawrence explained.
This is to try pick back up on that growth rate so when we exit housing, they are back on a good stage of growth for grazing the following year.
Last winter on the ABP Demo Farm, the first winter cattle were 20kg behind the target weight going into sheds following a poor summer of growth. The farm focused on that in the early points of the winter and when the cattle were leaving housing, they were above target on the previous year in terms of weight gain.
“So it can be done, you just need to set up your diet appropriately to do it,” Lawrence said.
Protein levels
The Brett Brothers’ ruminant specialist said: “Protein level is very important for growing young stock. If you have poor-quality silage, it will have lower levels of protein so it’s very important to get high-quality silage built in.
“If you don’t have it, supplement with the right level of protein.
“On farms where there’s only one meal bin, farmers often look for one feed to stretch across both the finishing diet and growing diet and the reality is keeping protein level up here, especially if cattle are under growth stage coming into shed, is fierce important. “
Second winter cattle
Cattle that are housed for their second winter will generally either be finished in the shed or finished at grass the following season.
Lawrence said: “We talk about two phases, the growing phase and the finishing phase. The first few weeks after housing is about stabilisation and making sure you have clean cattle and are not feeding parasites.”
He said that crude protein should be kept higher in the diet when a farmer is trying to grow the frame of the cattle.
“If we bring low proteins into cattle diets at this stage, what happens is they start to fatten too quick and we don’t realise the optimum carcass output then,” he said.
Lawrence believes that pulling back meal-feeding where there is low-quality silage can scupper growth rates, in particular where there is a late spring for cattle going to grass.
“He recommended: “”Try keep the protein a little higher here with moderate energy, high fibre and low starch and then we can transition that for the final 60-70 days to a finishing diet,” he said.
“For finishing cattle, the crude protein is dropped but there’s still a range here and this comes back to knowing your stock.
“For continental cattle, a 12% protein ration will get them finished and they’ll do fine.”
“If you’re working with traditional breeds such as Angus and Hereford, we find we can get a better carcass confirmation without going overfat by keeping the protein levels up,” he added.
Lawrence said that different farmers finishing cattle have different preferences for winter feeding cattle and advised all farmers to discuss this with whoever devises their winter feed programmes.
He also mentioned that adequate pen space and ensuring the availability of clean water is also essential to ensure good livestock performance over winter.