25 feeder calf mistakes

This fall when calves will be entering the feedlot, the feedlot team including the veterinarian, nutritionist, manager, pen riders and feeders will have the opportunity to all work together to get these calves off to a good start.

Beef cattle nutritionist Mike Hubbert, PhD, from New Mexico State University’s Clayton Livestock Research Center, says it’s important to “feed for health” with these new calves. “I define feeding for health as: the individual animal is consuming the proper nutrients at the proper units/levels for the promotion of healthy, cost efficient growth,” Hubbert explains.

“What is the biggest deterrent to our success in doing that?” he asks. “The biggest deterrent depends on the cattle buyer, the facilities we work with, the ingredients from the milling/mixing/moisture levels, the weather we have to deal with, the animal health crews, the feeding crews, feedyard management, the veterinarian and the nutritionist. We have to work together as a team to achieve our goal. Many times that is not done as well as it needs to be done.”

Hubbert says what’s needed is the creation of a “happy zone” that revolves around comfort for the animal, the veterinarian and the nutritionist, based on good animal husbandry. “The better we make this comfort zone and animal husbandry between us, the greater chance for success,” he says. “We can’t have the animal health side working against us and we can’t have the nutritionist working against us. We have to work together.”

1. Inconsistent feeding times. Cattle should be fed within 15 minutes of when they were fed the prior day, and be fed within 0.2 lb from what was called.

2. Bunks too high for calves. Hubbert says bunks are higher in today’s feedlots because larger calves have been the norm. However, with today’s prices, a lot of smaller calves are coming into the feedyards and they can’t reach into the bunks very well.

3. Cattle standing around. Hubbert says standing costs 15% more in maintenance than lying down. If cattle are standing around waiting on late feed trucks, they are losing energy.

4. Not recording pulls for the feeder.