Bulky feeds such as oats or wheat bran should be included to protect against overeating. Pelleted creep rations are handled easily and will have less feed waste. Simple mixtures of grain and protein supplement make satisfactory creep rations. Rolling or coarsely cracking grains rather than fine grinding, helps reduce dust and will also reduce rumen upsets of home-mixed creep diets. If liquid feed ingredients are added to the creep feed, they must be included at a level that doesn’t impede creep feed flow through the feeder. For creep rations that are not pelleted, the ration must be dust-free and uniformly mixed so the calf cannot sort out ration ingredients. Most commercially available creep rations are pelleted and highly palatable. Not only must a creep ration be nutrient dense, it must be palatable. Examples of creep feed compositions a.ĪConsider adding an ionophore to the ration. The ration needs to supply 1.32 pounds of protein/day and 5.0 pounds of TDN/day (0.70 Mcal/lb NE m 0.44 Mcal/lb NE g). As an example, for a 220-pound calf to gain 2.0 pounds per day, it must consume about 7 pounds of feed (milk, forages, plus creep feed) on a dry matter basis. This is because the rumen of the calf is small, so the calf will not eat a large amount of feed. If it is decided to creep feed calves nursing their dam, the ration must be energy and protein dense. In addition, for spring calves, the quality of grass decreases in late summer and fall again, there is usually insufficient protein or energy in the forage for optimum gain. As the calf gets older, the amount of milk produced by the dam decreases and it becomes more difficult to meet the calf’s nutrient needs. For spring-born calves, milk and vegetative forage should allow for adequate weight gain. The dam supplies part of the nutrients needed for calf growth through her milk. Nutrient Requirements and Ration Composition Information on this management alternative can be found in NebGuide G2047, Management of Early Weaned Calves. In drought conditions producers may want to consider early weaning the calves, especially if they have the facilities to feed lightweight calves, because they are very efficient at converting feed to weight gain. Data would suggest that creep fed calves still nurse. Creep feeding calves in drought conditions does not result in lowered nutrient requirements of the dam. A risk of creep feeding is getting calves too fat, resulting in price discounts or lowered lifetime milk production of heifer calves intended to become replacements for the cow herd.Ĭreep feeding must be carefully appraised in view of the economics of cost of gain, potential market, and the influence on sale price of calves.ĭuring drought conditions when cows are nursing calves, instead of creep feeding calves to sustain a targeted weight gain, producers should consider early weaning. Under severe drought conditions, creep feeding can be used to sustain minimal calf growth. Because there are data that suggests noncreep fed calves catch up with their creep-fed mates post-weaning, the greatest return is realized if calves are sold at weaning. Creep feeding of beef calves usually is reserved for certain market/management situations such as high calf prices, low feed prices, drylot operations, fall-born calves, and purebred bull calves. Likewise, increasing milk production of the dam increases the nutrient requirements of the dam and reduces the number of cows that can graze a fixed nutrient resource base, and possibly result in a need for supplemental feed.Ĭreep feeding studies consistently have shown an increase in weaning weight. Management practices exist to increase standing forage quality, but management of forages for the calf only can be difficult. They are to increase milk production of the dam, increase forage consumption of the calf, or provide supplemental feed to the calf to increase nutrient intake. Three possible strategies can increase calf weaning weight if weaning date is not changed. Gross income of the cow/calf enterprise is partially dependent on weaning weight of the calves.
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