I watched this documentary to try and find some opinions about what to feed cattle. Right away, the farmer talks about what he puts into his feed. He uses a nutritionist to evaluate what his cattle need. The nutritionist, like any good nutritionist, has told him that he needs to gives his cattle a lot of protein in order to build muscles and bones used for carrying a fetus during pregnancy or for providing meat to the country. The farmer was also told to use plenty of grains, grasses, and forages needed to give the cattle nutrition for growing and maintaing and healthy body in his feed.
Personally, I would agree with what the nutritionist is saying. Would I use a nutritionist? No. Why? They are costly and they are often unnecessary for the amount of cattle that I plan to be dealing with. They are used mostly for very large dairy farms and feeder calf lots. In regards to what he is feeding them, proteins are key. Cattle need to have the muscle to help them do their jobs as either a feeder going to become meat, or a cow being used to produce calves.
The other part about the video is about cattle management and how one must be careful about checking each calf to make sure that they are healthy and gaining weight. One must also make sure that all calves are properly being fed and watered.
On my farm, I am very particular about each calf on my property. They are treated like royalty. It is rare to have an unhealthy calf on my lot. I know that they best way to do well in the cattle business is to have a healthy herd and good management.
I know I told you this in class, but I absolutely love what you want to do. This post was very interesting. Since you do not feed your cattle this nutritionist, is there something else that you feed them that is beneficial to their health and growth? Or do you just feed them a lot of protein? Also, I was wondering, what do you have to do to check that the calves are healthy?
ReplyDeleteI can tell you have such a passion for this and I really am jealous. Make sure to follow through with your dreams, because this job just sounds downright awesome!