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Craft a better winter ration with corn; here are a few tips.

Duane Dailey, Freelance

December 13, 2018

2 Min Read
cattle at feed bunk
WINTER FEED: With hay supplies short, it is time to consider what more to feed to cattle. Here are some thoughts from University of Missouri Extension beef nutritionist Eric Bailey. JOETEX1/Getty Images

Wintering cows in a year with poor quality hay or shortages of hay proves challenging to beef farmers. Add in the high cost of hay and you have farmers searching for winter feeding options.

"Feeding a bale of $85 hay makes no sense,” said Eric Bailey, University of Missouri extension beef nutritionist. “It's tough to pencil a profit.”

Bailey, University of Missouri Extension, answered farmers' questions at the Missouri Livestock Symposium in Kirksville.

Less hay can be fed by feeding grain supplements. But that takes management. Hay per cow can be cut from 30 or 40 pounds to 10 pounds. However, hay should not be eliminated.

The cow rumen digests fiber. Overfeeding starch disturbs rumen microbes without proper adaptation.

"From the standpoint of feed costs, corn makes sense," Bailey said. But too much corn upsets rumen digestion.

Caution on corn
Bailey told the group of farmers that corn can solve some feed needs this winter, but caution is needed when feeding high-starch supplements.

Limit corn to 6 pounds per head per day, he warned. Farmers questioned about that 6-pound limit on corn for cows. Most were taught 3 pounds was the limit. Bailey said research at Kansas State University shows 6 pounds to be safe. "That's been duplicated in other research," he added.

Again and again, Bailey said that "more corn means more management."

Look to byproducts
"There's an answer for high-price, low-quality hay," Bailey said. "This is where distillers grains shine." Byproduct feeds contain both protein and energy. Most of the starch went into making fuel.

Lower starch makes distillers grains more useful than cheaper corn.

But Bailey doesn't dismiss use of corn. "If hay is scarce and overpriced, corn has a place," he said. Whole or cracked corn can be used. Cracked corn digests better, but the cost and trouble of grinding corn may not be worth it. Feed it whole.

Care is needed when adding corn to hay of unknown total digestible nutrients or TDN. Too often producers don't know the energy or protein in hay they buy. That's needed to determine the supplement. Hay testing is a start.

Hay concerns
Bailey outlined ways to limit the amount of hay fed. Plan only 10 pounds of hay a day for a safe start in making a ration. However, available hay may not have enough TDN.

Bailey said a cow needs hay of at least 55% TDN. That $85 hay might be only 50% TDN, which means it needs supplement.

He also cautioned about using haylage. The high-moisture forage requires more pounds of feed than dry hay.

Harvesting and plastic-wrapping poor-quality forage doesn't boost feed value. Added value comes from cutting and wrapping hay in the wet spring season, before forage matures. Haylage cut in spring is better than dry hay baled in August.

Ration-building advice is available from MU Extension specialists. Regional specialists can be located through county extension centers.

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