What should I look out for in concentrate feeds?
When it comes to buying rations, Beef Specialist at Teagasc, Catherine Egan reminds us that it’s important to focus on the basics.
In buying concentrates, the nutrient contents – energy, protein, minerals, fibre and starch – are more important than the individual components. However, it’s important to be aware of ingredients that don’t contribute the same nutritional value to a concentrate. Always buy concentrates on the basis of nutrient content.
Energy and protein
Energy is the most limiting nutrient in beef diets; always ask about the energy content of the concentrate. The energy density of concentrate mixes for high levels of performance should be a minimum of 0.94 UFL/kg as fed for suckler cows, weanlings and growing store cattle, and a minimum of UFV of 0.95/kg as fed for finishing cattle. (UFL is the unit used for lactating or growing animals, UFV is the metric used for finishing cattle).
The protein requirement will vary with type of animal, stage of the production cycle and the quality of the base forage being offered. Always balance the protein content of the concentrate with the protein content of the forage and ensure it matches the requirements of the intended animals, e.g. weanlings will have a higher protein requirement for growth than finishing animals.
Minerals
Unless feeding minerals separately, check that minerals are included in the concentrate mix. Check that the feeding rate of the concentrate mix supplies the correct daily amount of minerals, e.g. if the label of a ration states that it should be fed at 5 kg/animal/ day, it should not be fed at 10kg/animal/ day. Why? There is a risk of toxicity from oversupplying minerals.
Typically mineral inclusion is at a rate of 2.0 to 2.5 %, which means a kilogram of concentrate supplies 20-25g of minerals in this scenario. This is particularly important if considering using a high feed rate or ad-lib finishing system this winter due to constraints around silage availability or quality, and in these situations a ration with no or low mineral inclusion may be more suitable with minerals added in separately.
As a rule of thumb, beef cattle require 20g of a general-purpose beef mineral/100kg of liveweight, pre-calver minerals typically have a feeding rate of 120g/head/day and post calver minerals have a feeding rate of 150g/head/day.
Tune in to this week’s Beef Edge Podcast
Teagasc Nutritionist, Aisling Claffey discusses winter nutrition and diets on this week’s Beef Edge podcast. Aisling explains that beef systems are simple and it comes down to trying to maximise intake and growth whilst minimising stress and digestive upsets.
A combination of factors ultimately decides how close you get to growing and finishing cattle to their genetic potential. These include management, diet, housing, water and disease control. Aisling highlights the importance of taking a silage sample and discusses the targets to see in the report. Then based on the result, the concentrates are balanced.
Listen in below:
Diary date - Teagasc National Beef Conference
The Teagasc National Beef Conference 2024 takes place on Tuesday, 19 November at 5pm in the Landmark Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, N41 N9W4.
The theme of the conference is 'Sustainable Beef Farming: Pathways to a greener future'