Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?  (Read 14784 times)

BexNewman

  • Joined Oct 2011
Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« on: October 18, 2011, 04:10:42 pm »
Hi there, someone suggested using 'cattle booster' feed blocks as a possible way of reducing quantity of hard feed needed this winter for my Shetlands.  The booster block is supposed to encourage the cows to eat more of the poorer quality forage as well as provide vitamins and minerals. Our grazing is  fairly rough, we are above the snow line and our cows out winter.  The cows have access to average quality haylage.  Just wondered what mineral licks and feed blocks other people use for their natives / Shetland cattle?

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2011, 04:50:49 pm »
you could  try pot ale syrup poured over there haylage or straw  :farmer:

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2011, 07:41:13 pm »
We haven't overwintered ours outside yet, so our experience is limited. We're on lowground with pretty good grass - although even we were above the snow line last year  ;D

Last winter, the calves were in from end October when we got them until February, I think. This year, I intend to leave them out, unless it's very wet and they are making a real mess of the ground. Our's get rock salt and access to a yellow Rockie all year. They have had access to a Crystalyx Standard until recently - which is probably why they are fat.

Now that they are in calf, I'm not minded to give them anything apart from the licks above and hay, if the weather is bad. If they start to lose too much condition, I'll give them the Crystalyx one again.

Corrie Dhu

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #3 on: October 25, 2011, 09:53:22 pm »
I only give mine hay in the winter if there is no grass (ie snow cover as I have loads of grass) and I gave them a cattle booster block in the worst weather last year.  They don't seem to go at it like sheep do so it lasted a long time.

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2011, 07:35:18 pm »
The vet advised straw and a mineral lick over winter to get a bit of weight off them  ::) I'll use the rock salt, yellow Rockie and Crystalyx Standard, I think.

belgianblue

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2011, 08:11:11 pm »
try BRINICOMBE group ltd. they specialise in mineral blocks and liquid and also for the equine as well.  brinicombe used to be bells. :)

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #6 on: October 31, 2011, 01:06:01 am »
You know what BH thinks, Rosemary - no molassed licks, molasses = weight on.  Use drench or bolus instead for the minerals needed.  Straw only if grass not accessible.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Shetland Centre

  • Joined Sep 2011
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2011, 12:18:13 pm »
Having kept up wards at times of 100 shetland cows yearly for 25 years, my thoughts would be that this is an  impossible question to answer until knowing the following as feeding will need to be tailored accourdingly

1) What age are they
2) What body condition are they in
3) What point of breeding are they at
4) What is their breeding 
5) Is the area they graze mineral deficient

Please do remember we are talking about Shetlands and they are SO SO different to feed from say pedigree continentals - my daughter keeps and shows a herd of Simmentals. Now that is another story!!

Linda

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #8 on: November 02, 2011, 07:33:13 pm »
1) What age are they
2) What body condition are they in
3) What point of breeding are they at
4) What is their breeding 
5) Is the area they graze mineral deficient

Ours were born March 2010, CS about 3.5, both in calf due end May and end June respectively, by Creadyknowe Ertie out of Trondra cows, so quite stocky / beefy, yes, our soil test indicated general mineral deficiencies.

I agree with CorrieDhu that they don't go at the molasses lick like the sheep do, but if I have them on straw, I think they will need the molassed lick to help them digest the straw (my understanding is that the molasses feed the rumen bacteria that, in turn, digest the straw.) They do have a good go at the salt and the yellow Rockie.

Happy to receive any advice, Linda

BexNewman

  • Joined Oct 2011
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #9 on: November 04, 2011, 10:44:27 am »
Hi, thanks for your answers - appreciate you can't give an exact answer specific to my herd without all the details - but just wanted to gauge what other people are doing.  My cows have access to crystalyx hi-magnesium lick tubs all year round and there is a yellow rockie kicking about in the paddock too (we are very low in selenium).  The cows got a ration of course mix and adlib hay/haylage through the worst of the winter.  I cut back the ration when the temperatures got above freezing and the snow had melted.

At present I have one shetland in fleshy condition, 2 are just right and they each have followers who will not be weaned till early spring.  The cows hopefully are in calf for next summer - they were recently ai'd  and I haven't seen any bulling since.

I wondered if anyone else had experience of these 'booster' blocks.  If anyone used one last winter - did they dramatically reduce the need for hard feed? Did they dramatically increase the amount of forage the cows consumed? I don't want to be over sold something which would be better suited to continental cattle etc.  But I am tempted if they do reduce the number of bags of hard feed I would need to keep in store (I have very limited storage and deliveries and feed supply can be tricky here in the worst weather).  Think I will have another chat with the sales rep and see if we can work out what would be more cost effective and practical.

Thanks again guys.  :wave:

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #10 on: November 04, 2011, 01:58:04 pm »
It would be good if Linda responded, given her experience of Shetlands.

I'm not planning to give mine any bagged feed this winter - just hay and blocks.

Shetland Centre

  • Joined Sep 2011
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #11 on: November 09, 2011, 09:54:42 pm »
I have often read these kind of conversations but never joined in, so hopefully will not say the wrong thing/explain what I mean clearly!! I am also dyslexic so hope you will excuss the spelling.

Oh this is a hard one as it is very complicated. Feeding is hard enough but then add Shetlands in who have never read the rule book!!!

I suppose part of feeding cattle or any stock for that matter is stockman's eye (Just being able to look and know) - fine but that does take years to gain the experience to just know what the correct feeding is.
We started as small holders 25 years ago so have learned the hard way!!

I got a shock 10 years ago when starting with Quarter horses, had to go back to the drawing board and learn the stockman's job again, fortunatly the retired stockman that bred my stallion was there to advise.

I would split them down into at least 5 groups in my mind,
1) heifer calves post weaning up to bulling/5 months post service.
2) Cows/heifers 3/4 months from calving
3) Cows with calves at foot
4) Othe dry cows
5) ill/fat/thin or mineral deficient females

So Bex your cattle seem to fit into 3) above,

Now this is one occasion when Shetlands    can    need careful feeding, the reason is that A good cow - well good in my eyes will milk hard and will milk off her back, so a   very good   one can go from fat to wreck in 6 weeks with just adlib silage  and no hard feeding having said that I am talking about a cow that will give 5/6 gallons a day, then the bigger problem comes of how to feed to stop the cow becoming a wreck but not feed as even a Simmental calf will not take all that milk at such a young age.

Hence the question about breeding - to try and establish the milkyness of the cattle.

Having said that most Shetlands are not bred to be that milky, pity as we could loose the greatest asset the breed has, so if they are the dry beefier sort then there is less need. I certainly would be giving them some type of concentrate feeding/block. The problem with blocks is that they are around £4/500 per ton yet concentrate feeds £210/250. I would be wanting to get a high energy (ME) feed yes for milk, protien is needed but if the cows are reasonable sorts then they should not need to higher protien.
In a mineral deficient area I would say mineral buckets a must but then on a good place I supose they could get staggers hence need extra Mag. Again a milky sort will need this more than a beefier cow.

If there is grass in the spring and summer  then I would not see the need for feed blocks/buckets - I am unsure if the crysatllix are feed or mineral buckets? Very important to be clear about the difference.  One feeds the other tempt them to take the minerals. We always use mollased mineral buckets, never feed buckets.

We also use boluses as well but then our place is very like Shetland in ground conditions. Copper/Cobalt/Selenium deficient.

"Did they dramatically increase the amount of forage the cows consumed?"

Shetlands can eat most/all breeds "under the table" remember they evolved "on a diet of controlled malnutrition"  so if its eadible they will eat it - now give them sweets instead yes they will eat those by preference!!
Remember the inlifting? ie. the winters when cattle became so thin they collapsed and had to be put in slings, in the spring they where carried out to the grazings. They where bred to get fat when the going is good to  help tied them over the bad.

Little wonder they are real tough beasties - they constantly amaze us compared with "normal breeds"!!!!
(No do not get me going on that one!!!!)


not sure about yours Rosemary3) or 4) ?

Did you say the vet suggested they get weight off???!!! Why ? (Assuming they are breeding regularly ofcourse)
"The book" would say that a cow will not get in calf if fat I would say Shetlands are less likely to get in calf if slimmer.
Trouble is vets tend to be book people. We have had great fun with them over the years!!! Called living and learning. It seems to take us about two years to train them into the Shetland's way of thinking!!!
It is possibly worth remembering that Shetland's have not read the native cattle book either, as they can act very differently to other native breeds.

I suspect that some lines clamp down - anesterous if the going gets tough, in normal terms that can mean they have lesser fertility than other lines that can be super fertile. Again an important thing to breed in or out for the future of the breed -depends on your view point which you choose.

I would have though that cows without calves and no access to any grazing would need more than just straw to last a winter. IF they need it I would have thought they would eat the blocks a plenty.

Hope that helps?, seems a lot of rambling??

Linda





landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #12 on: November 27, 2011, 12:05:26 am »
 Rosemary, like SC above, I'm surprised at the vet suggesting just straw and minerals for pregnant cows. That's what you feed to animals that you're drying off after weaning and has no way near enough energy for a cow with a growing calf inside.
 Bex - we have highland cattle, which have a very efficient digestive system, and in winter feed them straw with a high energy feed block or bucket, where there is some grass as well. Where the grass is virtually non existent they get hay with the high energy supplement. They can therefore regulate their energy intake as they require and get the minerals they need from the blocks or buckets. I actually prefer the buckets because there's no wastage with them, whereas the blocks tend to get dumped in the mud once they are eaten down a bit.
 Thecows are normally in calf over winter, due about April/May, they get no other feed but the forage and energy bucket, and they keep in really good condition on these rations alone.
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #13 on: November 27, 2011, 12:23:33 am »
We use the high energy buckets as an alternative to cake for growing youngstock.  For lactating and in-calf suckler cattle we use the minerals-only buckets. 

All stock get grass until it's not nutritious enough, then hay or silage and occasionally good eating-quality barley straw.  They'd get straw more often if we didn't manage to make so much of our own hay and silage.

Any fat heifers are outwintered on our very rough (not quite moorland) ground with a flap of hay a day and a minerals-only bucket - we don't want them too fat when it comes to calving. 

Our neighbours mostly all feed straw mixed into silage (all silage makes for a lot of wet muck, which doesn't always suit farmers who don't run their cattle on slats) along with the minerals-only buckets.  Calves and youngstock get additional rations, either cake or the high energy blocks.

Some of these suckler cattle are native breed (there are some Galloways, Blue Greys, Shorthorns and an increasing number of Anguses about, and we have a few Hereford crosses and one neighbour is going into Luings) but a lot are Limousin or Limi-crosses.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Feed Blocks for Shetland Cattle?
« Reply #14 on: November 27, 2011, 07:16:35 am »
Rosemary, like SC above, I'm surprised at the vet suggesting just straw and minerals for pregnant cows. That's what you feed to animals that you're drying off after weaning and has no way near enough energy for a cow with a growing calf inside.

My understanding is that, during the middle third of pregnancy, the calf is not growing significantly. Development is pretty much complete though, therefore it is a good time to get a bit of weight off. The calf's main growing period is the last three months and as this time, you don't want to be giving the cow too much feed as it will go to the calf, possibly causing calving problems. After calving, you can shove as much food into the cow as you like to grow the calf through through the cow's milk.

 

Forum sponsors

FibreHut Energy Helpline Thomson & Morgan Time for Paws Scottish Smallholder & Grower Festival Ark Farm Livestock Movement Service

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2024. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS