Is this grain ok?

[BeanJeepin]

Our heifer, a 20ish month old (Christmas '10) dairy Jersey/Ayrshire we're trying to get to a healthy weight after bringing home, is eating the following for her 5 lb a day grain ration (breakfast, midday snack, dinner - she's a pet as well as a dairy cow so we spread it out like that to have more interaction with her):

16% Dairy "A Complete Feed For Dairy Cattle"
Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein, minimum 16%
Crude Fat, minimum 3.5%
Crude Fiber, minimum 7%
Acid Detergent Fiber, minimum 8 ppm
Calcium (Ca), minimum .40%
Calcium (Ca), maximum .90%
Phosphorous (P), minimum .40%
Salt (NaCl), minimum .75%
Salt (NaCl), maximum 1.25%
Selenium (Se), minimum .84 ppm
Vitamin A, minimum 5,000 IU per lb

Ingredients:
Grain products, plant protein products, molasses products, monocaliumn, phosphate D calcium, calcium carbonate, salt, magnesium oxide, magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, vitamin A, copper sulfate, ferrous carbonate, sodium selenite, zinc oxide, iron oxide, artificial flavors

She also gets free choice grass/pasture during the daytime and plenty of hay (second cut, sold for horses) twice a day. We need to pick up a mineral bucket she can share with the goats still. Is this an appropriate/good diet for her?

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

I'm not an expert on cattle but it looks good to me. I can't wait to hear some other's thoughts though. Cattle feed is VERY close to what goats eat because they are pretty similar believe it or not. I know some people who feed their goats cattle feed.

 

[BeanJeepin]

I'm not an expert on cattle but it looks good to me. I can't wait to hear some other's thoughts though. Cattle feed is VERY close to what goats eat because they are pretty similar believe it or not. I know some people who feed their goats cattle feed.

Our (dairy goat) grain is far more molasses-ey and stickier than the dairy cattle grain we have. I don't have the ingredients list handy for it right now though. It's less ground up as well - bigger chunks of stuff. I'm ok with feeding them different grains if appropriate since they go through them at a reasonable clip and are fed the grain away from each other (cow either at the gate or in her stall, goats on the milking stand with occasional handfuls at the gate if my kids are indulging them). The mineral/protien bucket OTOH, I'd really love if they could share since there's a 60 lb one available at just slightly more cost than the 20ish lb one we've been getting for the goats.

Jean

 

[redtailgal]

sounds good to me. Dont rush her too much on the weight gain, since she is not a slaughter animal, just let it come on slowly and not risk her scouring.

You can also give her some garden scraps as well. Ours will sit up and beg for cornstalks, lol.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

I'm not an expert on cattle but it looks good to me. I can't wait to hear some other's thoughts though. Cattle feed is VERY close to what goats eat because they are pretty similar believe it or not. I know some people who feed their goats cattle feed.

Our (dairy goat) grain is far more molasses-ey and stickier than the dairy cattle grain we have. I don't have the ingredients list handy for it right now though. It's less ground up as well - bigger chunks of stuff. I'm ok with feeding them different grains if appropriate since they go through them at a reasonable clip and are fed the grain away from each other (cow either at the gate or in her stall, goats on the milking stand with occasional handfuls at the gate if my kids are indulging them). The mineral/protien bucket OTOH, I'd really love if they could share since there's a 60 lb one available at just slightly more cost than the 20ish lb one we've been getting for the goats.

Jean

Yeah, I'm not saying you should feed them both the same thing. I didn't even know you had goats. lol Do you have any pictures of your cow?

 

[BeanJeepin]

sounds good to me. Dont rush her too much on the weight gain, since she is not a slaughter animal, just let it come on slowly and not risk her scouring.

You can also give her some garden scraps as well. Ours will sit up and beg for cornstalks, lol.

Definitely not rushing. We're hitting the 5 lb mark on the grain based on the advice of others here (but others who didn't have the breakdown of what the grain really was, which is why I wanted to post it). I went down and weighed out a normal scoop and was surprised to learn it was about 2 lbs, I'd thought we'd been giving her more. Manure seems to look good - normal, clean rear end, tail....

Here in upstate NY the gardens have a looooooong way to go before there's scraps. Even longer since we killed ours and started over (oops!). We do throw corn husks to the goats when the kids shuck our dinner corn - not sure the cow's even seen them the goats scarf them so quickly! I'll have to be sure to save some special for her. So far she's not really seemed to notice the random scraps thrown in for the goats to browse. Strawberry tops are the most popular currently, but the goats have to fight the chickens for those - if she knew they were there and liked them she'd win due to sheer size. She does seem to like grazing in the area where the wild strawberries grow though.

 

[BeanJeepin]

I'm not an expert on cattle but it looks good to me. I can't wait to hear some other's thoughts though. Cattle feed is VERY close to what goats eat because they are pretty similar believe it or not. I know some people who feed their goats cattle feed.

Our (dairy goat) grain is far more molasses-ey and stickier than the dairy cattle grain we have. I don't have the ingredients list handy for it right now though. It's less ground up as well - bigger chunks of stuff. I'm ok with feeding them different grains if appropriate since they go through them at a reasonable clip and are fed the grain away from each other (cow either at the gate or in her stall, goats on the milking stand with occasional handfuls at the gate if my kids are indulging them). The mineral/protien bucket OTOH, I'd really love if they could share since there's a 60 lb one available at just slightly more cost than the 20ish lb one we've been getting for the goats.

Jean

Yeah, I'm not saying you should feed them both the same thing. I didn't even know you had goats. lol Do you have any pictures of your cow?

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=19931 Of course! Love showing her off. She's looking awesome - when we got her she was thinner, coat very dull and you could hardly see any white on her belly or legs due to mud caked on a half inch thick. Now she just shines, she runs and dances and prances around (she'd never been off-lead before or off-tether except a 10x10 stall), muscle tone is looking better, some weight on her, mud gone.... we're having a lot of fun with her. She's so friendly and loves attention and is pretty well behaved. Yes, the horns are GOING (via a vet and local anesthesia) soon as we get the fly situation sorted out. We got her too late in fly season to do it immediately when she came.

 

[redtailgal]

lol, my goats line up for the lettuce that has gone to seed, but GAG at the thought of eating turnip greens. We are growing sugar cane this year, too, so around the end of sept/early october they will get the stalks (after they've been pressed), but will have to share with the cattle. The livestock all fall madly in love with us when we have sugar cane to share.

 

[BeanJeepin]

lol, my goats line up for the lettuce that has gone to seed, but GAG at the thought of eating turnip greens. We are growing sugar cane this year, too, so around the end of sept/early october they will get the stalks (after they've been pressed), but will have to share with the cattle. The livestock all fall madly in love with us when we have sugar cane to share.

Now you've made me want to find someone with pressed sugar cane to spare around here. I love to be loved by my four legged kids!

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

She's a good looking girl!! Why do want her horns removed? Just wondering.