NOVEL FEEDS FOR CATTLE BY PRODUCTS by Mike Mehren Ph.D.

NOVEL FEEDS FOR CATTLE
BY MIKE MEHREN

I promise this will be my last column for a while that deals with winter feeding! It’s probably too late this year to find a new feed since most have already been spoken for. However, that shouldn’t stop us from preparing for next fall because feed prices will probably remain high for the next few years.

Before you buy and start feeding something you know little or nothing about do some investigating. Here is a short guideline:

1. Does the feed have natural toxins such as nitrates, molds, endophyte, ergot, oxalates, gossypol, or estrogen?

2. Could it be contaminated with a herbicide, pesticide, heavy metal, hardware, or chemicals such as p.c.b.’s or dioxin.

3. Has it been stored properly? Heating from too much moisture; poorly ensiled. musty or moldy smelling.

4. Is it exceptionally high in a nutrient or several nutrients? Fat, unavailable protein, ash (or dirt).

5. What is the nutrient content? A feed test using wet chemistry should be performed on your sample by a lab of your choice. Consider testing for protein, moisture, fat, ash, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, sodium, zinc, copper, manganese, iron. Test things like nitrates and selenium if there is any doubt.

6. How will you store the new product? Does it need to be pitted or ensiled? Does it need to be covered or put in a tank? Do you have a slab to dump it on?

7. Does the product vary from load to load? This has a big influence on how much can be fed to cattle. It also is a big question when determining value.

8. Do you have to roll it, grind it, crush it, or chop it before feeding? If so, what will that cost, and how long will it take.

9. Has any University research been conducted feeding that ingredient to cattle like yours? Did they determine how much could be fed? Were there problems with feeding it? What was cattle performance and feed efficiency when fed?

10. Consider a contract. How much, how often will it be delivered, how long will it be available? Is there a guarantee for moisture and nutrient content. If a load varies from guarantee what happens to price (up or down). Buy only on a dry matter basis.

I had a client many years ago that purchased corn cannery silage to feed his cows. Of course, his thought was that he could save money compared with feeding alfalfa hay.
He called me because he thought the cannery was cheating him. He said that the cows were eating over 100 lb/head/day and that just couldn’t happen. If he had done his homework he would have found out that cows could easily eat that much cannery silage because it was only 21% dry matter. One hundred pounds provided the cows with 21 lb. of feed dry matter daily. His cost was $25/ton delivered. His daily cost/cow was $1.25 for the silage plus $.20 for 5 lb of hay. His hay cost $80/ton. He normally fed 25 lb of hay that would have cost him $1.00/cow/day. Obviously, this new feed wasn’t a bargain. Lesson learned: pay attention to cost/lb of dry matter.
New ingredients might come from sources other than your normal suppliers. Here’s a partial list of sources that might be considered.

After you have purchased this new feed treasure:

1. Start S-L-O-W-L-Y! Begin feeding at 5 to 10% of the daily ration.

2. Increase the amount fed slowly. Give the cattle a week or so to get used to a feed. A feed they might not like at first may be quite acceptable after cattle get used to it. Potato slurry is a good example. Some cattle look at that ‘grey
gruel’ as if it was a poison. After several weeks they will have slurry covering a good portion of their face as they dig in.

3. If possible check-weigh some cattle after at least 30 days feeding the new product. Then check feed intake during that period so that you get an idea how efficiently the feed is being converted to gain.

4. Remember any potential ‘landmines’ that have been identified. Watch the cattle
for any evidence of symptoms such as choke, labored breathing, slobbering,
kicking at their belly, blind staggers, or sore feet.

5. Keep samples of every load of a new feed. Identify the sample: Name, Date received, Purchased from. Freeze if necessary to maintain integrity of the sample if high moisture, ensiled, etc. I know this seems absurd, but what if you were
raising cattle in Mabton and B.S.E. was found in your herd? You would need to prove to the FDA that any and all feeds that were fed were BSE-free. All of your feed suppliers would have to do the same.

All feed has some kind of problem when overfed or stored improperly. The table that follows depicts feeds that may be available in your area. Hopefully it will give you some ideas for waste products that you hadn’t considered. One of the most common problems encountered on the ranch when considering a major feed change is lack of feeding equipment or something to feed it in. If the financial incentive is large enough, these problems can be overcome using tools like hotwire fencing, old tractor tires, and of course, baling wire.

Novel feeds for Cow/Calf, Yearlings, Calves
HAY AND STRAW ALTERNATIVES
Name	Dry Matter	Crude Pro	TDN	Comment
Alfalfa Hay	88	18	58	bloat
Pea Hay	85	10-16	60	dirty, moldy
Pea Silage	24	10	60	mold
Bean Hay (straw)	90	6	48
Canola Silage	28	9	55	intake, goitrogens
Hop Pellets	90	24	32	low energy
Mint Slug Silage	28	14	50	protein unavailable
Grape Pomace	90	13	33	low energy
Bluegrass Straw	90	5-11	38	low energy
Fescue Straw	90	5	38	endophyte
Ryegrass Straw	90	5	38	endophyte
Wheat Straw	90	3	38	nitrates
Oat Straw	90	4	48	nitrates
Corn Aftermath	85	6	50	corn spill
Melon Aftermath	20	11	60
Asparagus Ferns	33	9	50
Sudangrass	35	14	60	nitrate, prussic acid
Lush Pasture	24	20	66	typtophan, emphy- sema.

CONCENTRATES/GRAIN SUBSTITUTES, MORE ENERGY THAN HAY
Name	Dry Matter	Crude Pro	TDN	Comment
Corn grain	85	10	90	mold
Apple Pomace	21	7	74	filler used?
Apples	9	8	75
Corn Canry Silage	21	7	70
Wet Corn Dstlr	30	34	95	sulfur
Corn Gluten Feed	88	25.6	88	sulfur
Dry Corn Dstlr	88	29	86	sulfur
Cull Potato	20	10	85	choke, solanine
Lentil/Pea Scrngs	88	17	68	dirt
Grass Seed Scrng	88	12	58-65	ergot, endophyte
Bakery Waste	92	10	88
Cull Onions	10	12	60	anemia, crush
Turnip, top, graze	13	21	67	nitrate, mold
Turnip	9	12	85	choke
Cull Carrots	12	10	84	fat color

NOTE!! These are average values. Test your source. If there is a crop grown or processed near you... cattle will probably eat and utilize the waste. From: Oregon Feed Library (OSU Extn Svc). Nutrient Reqs. Beef Cattle (National Academy Press). Personal feed tests over the past 35 yrs!