4 Factors to Consider When Feeding Livestock
Feeding cattle is a lot more science than people outside of the industry realize. Incorporating the best feeding policies can both reduce the feeding cost and increase productivity. This is about a lot more than just making sure they eat!
Feed cost is the largest operating expenses in livestock businesses. In fact, it often accounts for around 70% of the total production costs. For this reason, you should take great care when feeding livestock. Here are a few factors to consider in order to not only make sure your cattle are fed, but happy, healthy, and productive.
Table of Contents
- Consider the Nutritional Requirements of Cattle
- Take Care to Use a Little Anti-Nutritional Factors as Possible
- Keep Feed Costs as Low as Possible
- Add Additional Supplements to do More Than Just Feed Them
Consider the Nutritional Requirements of Cattle
Cattle have daily nutrient requirements varying according to weight, milk yield, physiological condition, and environmental factors. For instance, they need a certain amount of protein, fat, and fiber each day. Knowing these ensures that you select food that has everything they need, and they get enough of it.
Take Care to Use a Little Anti-Nutritional Factors as Possible
Certain components that develop within certain raw materials used for feeding livestock may interfere with the digestion, metabolism, or the overall health of your animals. A few examples of this include:
- Mycotoxins
- Trypsin inhibitors
- Tannins
- Lectins
- Glucosinolates
Mycotoxins are naturally-occurring toxins produced by certain molds and can be found in cattle food. These affect cows by reducing feed consumption, reducing nutrient utilization, suppressing immunity, altering reproduction, irritating tissues, and causing cellular death. When feeding cattle, diets should be formulated and fed to reduce nutritional stress and to supply sufficient protein, energy, fiber, antioxidant nutrients, and buffers.
Keep Feed Costs as Low as Possible
Feeding livestock is expensive. Your feed rations are mainly formed according to the herd needs, but it is also important to consider the cost. The cost of feeding cattle should be reduced as much as possible without negatively affecting your cows. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for your business to turn a profit.
Add Additional Supplements to do More Than Just Feed Them
Cattle farmers must battle horn flies, face flies, house flies, and stable flies on behalf of their herd. This can be done via their food! JustiFLY is an insect growth regulator (IGR) larvicide. You simply mix one add pack with one 50-lb. bag of free-choice minerals. Pre-mixture guarantees uniform dispersion in the final feed product. Available for use on farms, it effectively treats horn flies as well as disease-caring face flies, biting stable flies, and nuisance houseflies as well.
With JustiFLY, made by Champion Animal Health, it is possible to prevent flies from cattle via food. Your cattle eat the mixture as feed, and it goes through their system. The cattle ingest the larvicide as the feed on the treated mineral. It passes through the animal and starts to work on flies in the cattle manure. This breaks the life cycle, making female flies unable to lay eggs in the manure of the cows who have eaten it.
You can order JustiFLY directly through our website. By adding it to the feed you are feeding livestock, you can greatly reduce and even eliminate the flies that bother your cows and reduce yields.