Is it more efficient to move the cows or move the feed?

In areas of long-term drought, forage might have to come from areas far away from the affected area, out of state or multiple states away. Cost of transportation, type of forage and quality of forage all need to be considered in this decision. If that is not economical, producers can consider limit feeding a high concentrate diet to cows in a drylot environment. In this case, an energy-dense ration based on grain or byproduct feeds such as distillers’ grains would be fed in limited quantity so that the cows receive adequate nutrition to maintain BCS, but not enough to get fat. Because the diet is essentially a finishing diet for feedlot cattle, careful management is needed to avoid nutritional disorders such as acidosis. –Drovers CattleNetwork Read more…