# Offsetting Livestock Costs



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

This U of Missouri extension offers a few tips on reducing feed related costs....

Regards, Mike

http://www.agricultu...tle_281-ar28234


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I've been grinding one good bale of hay along with one that I've been using as bedding, then one stalk bale that we wrapped wet in 2011. Then I add one pound of glycerin, one pound of jelly then 3-4 lbs of corn per cow per day. The glycerin and jelly cost 5 cents and 7 cents per pound.

The good bale was just decent hay from two years ago that got moved outside, the bedding bales are decent enough and they will eat some if you unroll them in the field but aren't much alone, the cows lived all summer on the wrapped stover bales after the pastures gave up so those turned out real well. Wish now since I have the vertical TMR wagon I had rolled and wrapped twice as many stalk bales this fall. If I had next summer I would grind one hay bale to two stalk bales.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Marty, what is the jelly your referring to?

Regards, Mike


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Exactly that my friend, jelly/jam that didn't meet quality control for human consumption. Then it's cut with something so it will flow out the ball valve on the mini tote the stuff comes in. With the bits of fruit in it I'd say the cows are getting some strawberry jelly/jam that didn't cut the mustard.

I've got a 3" diaphragm mud pump coming that I bought on Ebay. Right now I'm just running the stuff into the loader bucket then dumping it in the grinder which works okay but makes a sticky mess out of the bucket. Okay for now but will be a fly magnet come summer. I'm going to get a tee, run a hose from each tote to the tee then into the pump, from the pump going to mount a two inch steel pipe with a downspout on the top of it to the silo. Drive under the down spout and pump it into the grinder. Just happen to have enough two inch gas pipe left over from installing the continuous flow dryer this summer to do that.

Going to yank the 4hp Honda off the mud pump and make an adapter so I can use a electric motor. Getting a small engine to start in the dead of winter isn't my ideal of a good time. Then I'll take the gas motor and mount a spare transfer pump body I have sitting around so I'll have a spare pump next spring for spraying/planting.

Right now we just took the height of the liquid in the tote, divided by the weight of the tote and figured taking around 1 3/4" out of it is real close to 180 lbs. With the pump I'll actually be able to use the scale on the grinder to meter it out.


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

Reminds me of my cousin. One time he had a deal where he would take his stock trailer and get loads of twinkies, go hos, and other bakery items taken off shelves and retuned to the bakery. He would then feed them to his hogs. However they had to remove the wrappers. They had to give it up because everyone was gaining to much weight!!


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## ANewman (Sep 20, 2012)

A neighbor feeds several hundred head of cattle. He feeds mostly mash from Jack Daniel distillery, but he told me he had tried lots of things including gummy worms/bears


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

My most affordable feed right now is bread. I have fed a couple of pick-up loads this year. The worst part is the time it takes to peel the plastic. It takes me @ 45 minutes to fill the loader bucket. Cows love the bread and it will add weight. They are also on free choice hay.
I bought two bags of feed (1500 lbs. bags) this winter just to save time in peeling bread wrapping.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Tim/South said:


> My most affordable feed right now is bread. I have fed a couple of pick-up loads this year. The worst part is the time it takes to peel the plastic. It takes me @ 45 minutes to fill the loader bucket. Cows love the bread and it will add weight. They are also on free choice hay.
> I bought two bags of feed (1500 lbs. bags) this winter just to save time in peeling bread wrapping.


Yah, we used to buy bread by the trailer load, some of never rose right, other was old but had no wrappers of any kind. Hogs loved the stuff, so did the dogs. Had to fence the pile off so the dogs wouldn't have chunks of bread all over the yard.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

mlappin said:


> Had to fence the pile of so the dogs wouldn't have chunks of bread all over the yard.


LOL...sounds like Tennessee!

Regards, Mike


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

mlappin said:


> Yah, we used to buy bread by the trailer load, some of never rose right, other was old but had no wrappers of any kind. Hogs loved the stuff, so did the dogs. Had to fence the pile of so the dogs wouldn't have chunks of bread all over the yard.


I had the raccoons and cats feasting on my first load. The second load I used the large bulk feed bags and tied the top. I have a more than normal **** problem as the guy down the road trains **** dogs. He live traps ***** and turns them out behind his house. They migrate to my hay barn. The Good Lord has been calling my barn ***** home early.


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

I have only been running beef cows a few years. Before that we owned a dairy for 32 years. We had one of the highest producing herds in the state and like the beef business feed cost is the BIG expense. I spent some of my most profitable time balancing rations. It's a important job on any good dairy today yet most beef operations just go on what ever they have or is easily available. Very few do much testing or ration balancing it seems. Mel


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I'm selling hay for $250-300/ton right now, cows are getting fed stuff that doesn't come close to that. A few bales here and there from under a tree line. A few bales that heated, some bedding bales left over from two years ago. Some left over 1st cutting hay that was overripe left over from two years ago and stalk bales that were baled wet and wrapped, low spots were considerably greener than the hilltops. Trying to get a representative sample of any of the bales when no two are the same is a exercise in futility. Grind two hay bales and a stalk bale at a time up, dump the glycerin and jelly in, several pounds of corn per cow per day and there doing their duty as garbage disposals.

Actually feeding some sugar right now as well. Place I get the glycerin and jelly from never knows what there getting when they get totes in, just know it's waste product. Picked up a tote that looks like a huge rubbermaid container, like a tote but with a snap on lid. They bailed all the jelly off the top (looked like blueberry to me) and had over a foot of undissolved sugar on bottom. Using a dirt shovel and adding 6-8 small scoops of sugar to the batch as well. After having jelly on top of it and having all that sticky soak into the sugar, 6-8 scoops is about all a guy wants to do at a time, REAL hard to get a shovel full.


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