Basic Beef Cow Nutrition Katherine Whitman, DVM, MS Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center

Overview Recognizing a problem Basic requirements Matching cow cycle with forage cycle Critical time points in the cow cycle Evaluating feedstuffs BRaNDS program application Nutrition in practice

Obvious…

…Sub-clinical

How do we know? Tools to evaluate nutritional status Body Condition Scoring Behavior? Health issues Increases is morbidity or mortality Unthrifty Ineffective preventatives, treatments Performance issues Reproductive deficiencies Poor growth

Nutritional Requirements NRC for technicals Minimum requirements Feed values are averages Feed analysis is under utilized!! Sampling-what feedstuffs?

What does she need? Age? Stage of production? Body condition? Environment? Feedstuffs available? Producer goals?

Changes in requirement

Production Cycle Lactation GrazingSupplement?

Nutritional Demands Demands vary with physiologic state of cow Trimester Lactation Growth Other stressors

Determining What to Feed Availability Cost Feasibility Quality

Feedstuff Evaluation Testing LOOK!!! Ask questions

What is the Focus? Major balancers Protein: 8% Cows, 13-14% Heifers (MINIMUMS!!) Energy: TDN, NE m, NE g, NE l Ca:P ratio-what is appropriate? Adjustments Supplementation??

Forage dry matter intake relative to forage crude protein concentration Source: Adapted from Moore and Kunkle, 1995

Carbohydrate Fractions Total Carbohydrate Nonfiber Carbohydrate Organic Acids Sugars Starches (NSC) Neutral Detergent Soluble Fiber Pectins Fructans ß-Glucans Structural Carbohydrate (NDF) Hemicellulose Acid Detergent Fiber Cellulose Lignin Maillard Protein Stimulate Fermentation Stimulate Milk Production Decrease Intake Increase Milk fat

2 Year Olds Year Olds1242 Matures5894 Calving season begins March 21 Wean October 20 Turned out to winter grazing Winter ration? Other questions? Case background

Feeding options Supplemental forages Supplemental concentrates Corn stalks Dry lot blicationId= blicationId= considerations considerations

Reading Feed Analysis As Fed100% Dry Matter Moisture, %7.3 Dry Matter, %92.7 Crude Protein, % CP Acid Detergent Fiber, % ADF Neutral Detergent Fiber, % NDF Total Digestible Nutrients, % TDN Net Energy, Maint, Mcal/lb Net Energy, Gain, Mcal/lb Net Energy, Lact, Mcal/lb Digestible Energy, Mcal/lb Met. Energy, Beef, Mcal/lb Relative Feed Value, (RFV) 162 Calcium, % Ca Phosphorus, % P Magnesium, % Mg Potassium, % K Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) Analysis

Ration formulation Scratch paper Rules of Thumb Excel spreadsheets Numerous online resources Software programs BRaNDS BRaNDS.xlsm NRC D:\NRC\UNL Practicum Revised NRC - November 2013.xls D:\NRC\UNL Practicum Revised NRC - November 2013.xls