Animals will be housed indoors again as winter sets in.
ADVERTISEMENT
You can not just start feeding ad-lib diets, you have to build the animal up to ad-lib levels. It is best to do this at the right pace.
Lower DMD silage will make concentrate feeding look more attractive and, in some cases, farmers have made the decision to step up to ad-lib feeding.
Feed cost per kg of carcase gain should be considered in these decisions. Feeding 6kg of concentrates (€260/t) and ad-lib 65 DMD silage (€144/t DM) costs €3.40/kg of carcase gain, versus €3.19 for ad-lib concentrate diets.
ADVERTISEMENT
This article isn’t going to go through the economics of ad-lib versus a silage and concentrate diet. It is going to look at the dos and don’ts of ad-lib feeding, for those who may not be familiar with the practice.
The basics
In simple terms, ad-lib feeding is giving a beef animal unrestricted supply of concentrates.
You can NOT just start an animal on an ad-lib diet and, ideally, you should build them up to the diet over a period of three weeks.
Silage should be included ad-lib up to day 14, with straw introduced from day nine.
By day 15, when you have your animals at 9kg of concentrates, silage should be removed from the diet and only clean fresh straw offered to the animals.
When your animals reach ad-lib, they need straw to ensure that the digestive system functions correctly. Animal performance is delivered from the concentrate, so there is no need to feed silage.
You can feed hay or silage but you need to keep an eye on intake. If an animal eats too much hay, it will restrict their intake of concentrates and impact on performance.
Around 1kg to 1.5kg per head per day of long fibre (10%), e.g. straw, is required to keep the digestive system operating effectively.
It is important to keep straw in front of animals at all times and to ensure that it is fresh and dry.
If animals are eating too much straw, eg in excess of 2kg per day, there may be issues concerning access to or palatability of the ration.
Research at Teagasc Grange clearly show that, after 90 days on ad-lib meal, performance declines dramatically and daily feed costs start to outweigh animal performance.
It is therefore important that steers and heifers are close to 100kg to 120kg away from slaughter when starting ad-lib feeding and it is also important to sell cattle when they are fit for slaughter.
Bulls can be treated differently and can sustain high performance for over 160 days.
In general, to encourage high animal performance, the higher the daily intake of concentrate the better.
Some farmers may be concerned at the level of concentrate intake. They should, however, be more concerned if intakes are below where they should be.
If animals are not consuming high levels of meal, the following areas should be explored:
Access to the feed trough/hopper.
Stocking rate in the pen.
Palatability of the ration.
Diet formulation.
Access to water.
The level of straw being consumed.
Overall health status of the animals.
Minerals and consistency
Feeding ad-lib meal means that you must take into consideration the inclusion of minerals in the diet.
The mineral inclusion rate in standard beef rations is based on up to 5kg to 6kg being fed per day.
Therefore, on an ad-lib system, you would be feeding twice the required level, which may lead to poor performance and risk of scouring.
For an ad-lib ration, you should ensure that minerals are only added at 50% of the standard rate.
You should also be aware that changing the ration during the feeding period can have a negative effect on the animals.
For example, even slight changes like going from the inclusion of rolled barley to ground barley may cause digestive upsets.
The ration should be kept as consistent as possible. In the unlikely event that you have to change a ration, do so gradually. If possible, mix the two rations for a period.
Constant access to fresh water is of utmost importance during ad-lib feeding.
A simple rule to follow is that four to six litres of water is required per kg dry matter intake, therefore, an animal eating 10kg of concentrates per day will require over 40 litres of water per day.
Animals on a silage diet will require less than half of this as the diet has a far lower dry matter content.
Where management standards are high and ration formulation is correct, the risk of animals suffering from acidosis is very low. Symptoms to watch out for are:
Animals standing kicking their bellies.
Grinding of teeth.
Reduced feed intakes.
Grey scour.
The main causes are when:
Meal is introduced too quickly.
Lack of fibre in the diet, eg not eating enough straw.
Sudden changes in the ration.
Animals running out of feed and then subsequently gorging themselves.
This is why animals should, at all times, have fresh meal in front of them. It is also important that the troughs/hoppers be cleaned out regularly.
When feeding a mixed ration, separation of the ration components can occur, especially at the bottom of the trough/hopper.
Forcing animals to eat this before re-filling can reduce performance and increase the risk of digestive problems.
Some farmers will remove the feed left at the bottom and either remix it back into fresh feed or offer it to other animals on the farm, eg dry cows, etc.
Treatment of acidosis
Animals suffering symptoms of acidosis should be removed immediately to a pen where they have access to fresh water and long fibre.
Mild cases should respond to an oral drench of 110g (grammes) of sodium bicarbonate in at least one litre of water followed by a half dose two hours later.
In severe cases (when animals have a grey scour), veterinary attention is required immediately.
In many cases, animals that are severely affected will be unable to go back on to ad-lib meals.
A word of caution. For those who have never fed ad-lib before, it is harder to spot sick animals when feeding ad-lib meals.
*This article, by Padraig Foley, was previously published in the Irish Farmers Journal on 28 November 2013.
This content is available to digital subscribers and loyalty code users only. Sign in to your account, use the code or subscribe to get unlimited access.
The reader loyalty code gives you full access to the site from when you enter it until the following Wednesday at 9pm. Find your unique code on the back page of Irish Country Living every week.
CODE ACCEPTED
You have full access to the site until next Wednesday at 9pm.
CODE NOT VALID
Please try again or contact support.
You can not just start feeding ad-lib diets, you have to build the animal up to ad-lib levels. It is best to do this at the right pace.
Lower DMD silage will make concentrate feeding look more attractive and, in some cases, farmers have made the decision to step up to ad-lib feeding.
Feed cost per kg of carcase gain should be considered in these decisions. Feeding 6kg of concentrates (€260/t) and ad-lib 65 DMD silage (€144/t DM) costs €3.40/kg of carcase gain, versus €3.19 for ad-lib concentrate diets.
This article isn’t going to go through the economics of ad-lib versus a silage and concentrate diet. It is going to look at the dos and don’ts of ad-lib feeding, for those who may not be familiar with the practice.
The basics
In simple terms, ad-lib feeding is giving a beef animal unrestricted supply of concentrates.
You can NOT just start an animal on an ad-lib diet and, ideally, you should build them up to the diet over a period of three weeks.
Silage should be included ad-lib up to day 14, with straw introduced from day nine.
By day 15, when you have your animals at 9kg of concentrates, silage should be removed from the diet and only clean fresh straw offered to the animals.
When your animals reach ad-lib, they need straw to ensure that the digestive system functions correctly. Animal performance is delivered from the concentrate, so there is no need to feed silage.
You can feed hay or silage but you need to keep an eye on intake. If an animal eats too much hay, it will restrict their intake of concentrates and impact on performance.
Around 1kg to 1.5kg per head per day of long fibre (10%), e.g. straw, is required to keep the digestive system operating effectively.
It is important to keep straw in front of animals at all times and to ensure that it is fresh and dry.
If animals are eating too much straw, eg in excess of 2kg per day, there may be issues concerning access to or palatability of the ration.
Research at Teagasc Grange clearly show that, after 90 days on ad-lib meal, performance declines dramatically and daily feed costs start to outweigh animal performance.
It is therefore important that steers and heifers are close to 100kg to 120kg away from slaughter when starting ad-lib feeding and it is also important to sell cattle when they are fit for slaughter.
Bulls can be treated differently and can sustain high performance for over 160 days.
In general, to encourage high animal performance, the higher the daily intake of concentrate the better.
Some farmers may be concerned at the level of concentrate intake. They should, however, be more concerned if intakes are below where they should be.
If animals are not consuming high levels of meal, the following areas should be explored:
Access to the feed trough/hopper.
Stocking rate in the pen.
Palatability of the ration.
Diet formulation.
Access to water.
The level of straw being consumed.
Overall health status of the animals.
Minerals and consistency
Feeding ad-lib meal means that you must take into consideration the inclusion of minerals in the diet.
The mineral inclusion rate in standard beef rations is based on up to 5kg to 6kg being fed per day.
Therefore, on an ad-lib system, you would be feeding twice the required level, which may lead to poor performance and risk of scouring.
For an ad-lib ration, you should ensure that minerals are only added at 50% of the standard rate.
You should also be aware that changing the ration during the feeding period can have a negative effect on the animals.
For example, even slight changes like going from the inclusion of rolled barley to ground barley may cause digestive upsets.
The ration should be kept as consistent as possible. In the unlikely event that you have to change a ration, do so gradually. If possible, mix the two rations for a period.
Constant access to fresh water is of utmost importance during ad-lib feeding.
A simple rule to follow is that four to six litres of water is required per kg dry matter intake, therefore, an animal eating 10kg of concentrates per day will require over 40 litres of water per day.
Animals on a silage diet will require less than half of this as the diet has a far lower dry matter content.
Where management standards are high and ration formulation is correct, the risk of animals suffering from acidosis is very low. Symptoms to watch out for are:
Animals standing kicking their bellies.
Grinding of teeth.
Reduced feed intakes.
Grey scour.
The main causes are when:
Meal is introduced too quickly.
Lack of fibre in the diet, eg not eating enough straw.
Sudden changes in the ration.
Animals running out of feed and then subsequently gorging themselves.
This is why animals should, at all times, have fresh meal in front of them. It is also important that the troughs/hoppers be cleaned out regularly.
When feeding a mixed ration, separation of the ration components can occur, especially at the bottom of the trough/hopper.
Forcing animals to eat this before re-filling can reduce performance and increase the risk of digestive problems.
Some farmers will remove the feed left at the bottom and either remix it back into fresh feed or offer it to other animals on the farm, eg dry cows, etc.
Treatment of acidosis
Animals suffering symptoms of acidosis should be removed immediately to a pen where they have access to fresh water and long fibre.
Mild cases should respond to an oral drench of 110g (grammes) of sodium bicarbonate in at least one litre of water followed by a half dose two hours later.
In severe cases (when animals have a grey scour), veterinary attention is required immediately.
In many cases, animals that are severely affected will be unable to go back on to ad-lib meals.
A word of caution. For those who have never fed ad-lib before, it is harder to spot sick animals when feeding ad-lib meals.
*This article, by Padraig Foley, was previously published in the Irish Farmers Journal on 28 November 2013.
If you would like to speak to a member of our team, please call us on 01-4199525.
Link sent to your email address
We have sent an email to your address. Please click on the link in this email to reset your password. If you can't find it in your inbox, please check your spam folder. If you can't find the email, please call us on 01-4199525.
ENTER YOUR LOYALTY CODE:
The reader loyalty code gives you full access to the site from when you enter it until the following Wednesday at 9pm. Find your unique code on the back page of Irish Country Living every week.
SHARING OPTIONS