A CAREFULLY designed supplementary feed ration delivered through a clever but seemingly simple feeding system is paying big dividends for Biddeston beef producer Ken Baldwin.
Mr Baldwin uses innovative self-feeders to limit the intake of a custom made ration involving Riverina pellets to the steers. The clever design of the pellet delivery system on the feeder units forces the cattle to use the saliva on their tongues to pick up the pellets. Once the saliva is exhausted the animal is forced to walk to the water trough to sate its thirst.
“It’s actually very interesting to watch them,” Mr Baldwin said.
“Instead of gorging themselves on 5kg of pellets and blowing the feed budget they are effectively limited to about 2kg and the steers are making much better use of the available pasture.
“Soon after they run out of saliva they leave the feeders looking for water. What is interesting is they don’t come straight back. They have learnt they can’t tickle the pellets out with a dry tongue. After drinking they tend to go straight onto the pasture to satisfy their hunger.
“It took a little while to get the settings right on the feeders. Now that is done we are pretty precisely regulating the actual amount of feed each animal receives and keeping the cost of supplementary feeding within budget while maximising weight gains and feed efficiency.
“The other big benefit is that the feeders do not become gathering points for the more dominant cattle. This allows the less pushy cattle and shy feeders plenty of access to the pellets.”
The well-bred Angus weaner steers were brought in at an average liveweight of 212kg and had been on the ration for 280 days. Mr Baldwin said he was working on a 1kg/day weight gain based on pasture representing 75-80 percent of each animal’s daily intake.
When ready the steers over 500kg will go direct to works while those under would likely head to feedlot, he said.
“Will Robinson from Riverina in Oakey and Toby Doak from Alltech have helped us fine-tune the diet and we are very happy with the program, especially how how it allows the feed budget to be managed,” Mr Baldwin said.
Part of that fine-tuning of the feeding system previously included the addition of the Alltech product Optigen II to the pellets.
“We’ve tried a few different formulations but it was the mix with the Opitgen that performed the best,” Mr Baldwin said.
“I like Optigen because it really gets the bugs in the rumen working and increases the amount of pasture the cattle will consume.”
Toby Doak from Alltech said Optigen II was a controlled release nitrogen source that provided a sustained food source to the fibre digesting bacteria in the rumen.
“Optigen feeds the bugs in the rumen that break down fibrous material resulting in improved feed efficiency and increased weight gains,” Mr Doak said.
“Unlike urea prills which are commonly used in feed rations, Optigen is comprised of nitrogen crystals wrapped in a fat matrix.
“The reality is that the effectiveness of urea is limited to one hour. Unless the animal consumes urea on a hourly basis the fibre digesting rumen bugs are just not being fed to their potential and that is placing obvious limitations on the productivity of the animal.
“What makes Optigen effective is that it consistently releases nitrogen over time, feeding the bugs in the rumen for a 12 hour period. Assuming the animal ingests the supplement twice a day, the rumen is fired up and capable of breaking down fibrous material around the clock.”