Best Cattle Feed

In the end, feeding healthy, happy animals is what matters most. The diet during this time can vary depending on your farm and your production goals; it may even be that you keep the growing and finishing diets the same.

Keeping breeding bull requires extra time and care outside your normal herd duties. “Oftentimes when a bull goes into a breeding season, it may go off feed. Cows bred this time of year will calve in the fall; those bred in the fall will calve this time...

They roamed as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico, from the Smoky Mountains in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west. Only a few hundred animals are left in the wild, representative of the large population that once freely roamed the...

Get tips and advice for keeping cows on your farm: How to Milk a Cow Did You Ever Want to Ride a Cow? Courtesy Lora H. They provide dairy and meat . Courtesy Kimberly F. Courtesy Tony S.

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Focus on the body type, climate adaptation, temperament and—lastly—breed when putting together your grassfed beef herd. There will always be some variation in the quality of the animals in a herd, but overall, the herd should look healthy and well...

Another key component in getting quality milk is making sure the cow is up-to-date on its vaccinations, such as tuberculosis and brucellosis . While adding a family dairy cow with its traditional twice-daily milkings to your farmstead will surely add...

A trade-off between extra feed in the winter versus increase prices for animals in the spring and summer is a combination of an economical, geographical and environmental evaluation but is worth considering regardless of the size of your herd.

(Banding is never used on horses because they have a more complicated blood supply to the testicles and are more prone to serious infection.) Banding Method 2: Surgery The other method for castration is surgical, meaning that the skin of the scrotum is...

Do you have domestic grasses, like fescue and Bermudagrass, or native grasses , which need to be grazed lighter? Also consider the average amount of rainfall your area receives, as this could affect forage density, especially in summer.

Simple, efficient designs for sheep and goats utilize full- or half-circle round tubs. V-shaped chutes work well for younger cattle handled in feedlots. Some commercially available one-way backstop gates are designed so that they can be opened easily...

Not only do their systems become acidified and livers often compromised/abcessed, their health is managed by medications and other compensations that aren't necessary when the animals receive the forage-based diet they're accustomed to digesting.

Here's a breakdown: Bulls are mature male cattle. Steroid-hormone drug pellets are placed under the skin on the back side of the animal's ear and dissolve there. From dairy cows to beef herds, not all cattle farms are created equal.

Broadus cattle were medium-sized and blocky; the Ezell and Dedeaux cattle were chunky and short. This would likely be true of Spanish-type cattle found throughout the Americas, if they could be found.

The complex issue of vaccinating newborn calves is explored in a peer-reviewed article called Does Your Vaccination Protocol Compromise Newborn Health? In addition to this vaccination, Jensen's area is low in selenium, so she also gives a BoSe shot that...

Cold weather increases your cattle's energy demands, so give them some help to ward off winter's bite. When the temperature drops below this zone, cattle have to use energy to warm up.

They both got third place overall for rate of gain—2.99 and 2.91 pounds per day; feedlot cattle gain 2.4 to 4 pounds per day. “That's a lot of grass,” he admits. According to the American Grassfed Association, feeding cereal-grain crops is A-OK...

Insecticide-laced ear tags, oral larvicides, pour-ons, sprays and dust bags or back scrubbers are all viable options; but because pesky horn flies develop resistance to the chemicals used in these controls, it's important to rotate organophosphate and...

All cases of milk fever are emergencies. In the second installment of a three-part series, we examine calving and a common post-calving problem in cattle known as milk fever. As a result of this rapid calcium depletion, the affected cow begins to show...

But sometimes there's trouble at calving time; the first few hours or days can be rough, and without help, a newborn calf can die. “Depending on the time of year, we may apply fly repellant once we're done.” Howley recommends that you get to know...

Dry weather, either cold or warm, is best because there's less chance of disease and calves can survive on dry pasture even when temperatures fall well below freezing; however, cold and wet can be a fatal combination.

You cannot tell the quality of hay by just looking at it,” says Kendra Graham, livestock specialist with the University of Missouri Extension. “While being a bit subjective, BCS is far better as an indicator of condition than two different peoples'...

If you want to make cheese, you may want to consider a higher butterfat-milk breed, such as a Jersey. They also require larger amounts of water for the same reason. You can also vaccinate for scours and mastitis.

The twofold idea is straightforward: Increase the Dexter's dairy abilities by breeding with a revered milker, and add some quality muscle to the Jersey's spindly frame. But small farmers and homesteaders don't need maximum meat yields; they need beef...

Find Wyatt at her blog or her website . The calf-cow bond is strong, the calf receives the nutrients and motherly attention it needs to thrive while helping to effectively empty the udder, and the hobby farmer is not only saved the time of bottle-feeding...

There are two types: a longer-legged version (Kerry type) and a Dexter with shorter legs. Breed her to your choice of miniature bulls. Reds and duns are far less common and grade from palest red to darkest mahogany; reds have pink noses, while duns have...

The following are a few tips I've picked up while working with producers. Boosting your herd's immunity through a proper vaccination regimen is the best way to prevent clinical disease outbreak and also reduce subclinical disease, where the animals appear...