Feeding cattle is not as easy as just putting feed in front of them and expecting them to eat and stay healthy. The truth is you need to figure out a lot of things in order to keep offering nutritious feed to your animals. In this article, we go through some of the best tips animal feed manufacturers also advise.
Weight and Body Condition
It is important to record the weight and body condition of your animals on a regular basis to understand how to keep them healthy. If you see any sort of changes like sudden weight loss, thin animals, or excessive weight gains, etc, this should be an indication that you need to contact a veterinarian immediately.
Set up a meeting with them and take your animals to get them checked. But it would also help if you get them checked once in a while even if there aren’t any bad signs.
Feed Amount
You should always keep a tab on how much an animal has to be fed. Calculating the weight and body condition is just one section of the whole process. If you know how much to feed an animal regularly, keeping them healthy becomes much easier.
You can calculate the amount of feed to be fed to each animal by taking the stage of life, the amount of activity they do, their health status, and the type of food they are offered. This can be used to calculate the right amount of feed each animal requires with the help of a formula.
But you should always remember that the number of calories can depend on the type of and brand of food you are offering to your animal. You can find these calculators online that will let you enter the calories and it will tell you the feed amount for each type of animal.
Have a Written Feeding Protocol
For each animal that you have, you should create a written feeding protocol that will be followed every time you feed them. Make sure the feed that you are offering your animal has been through some feeding trails and is certified for best nutrition values.
Bowls & Trays
When feeding you animals, don’t just lay down the feed on the ground. Instead, use some stainless steel bowls to feed them. If you have access to disposable paper trays then you can use them as well. Just make sure you use a clean one every time you feed them.
Morning feed
For morning feed times, try to separate them from your cleaning routine. Either clean the place before you feed them or let them eat before you start cleaning the place. The latter is more suitable for most situations.
Water
Always make sure you are offering fresh water to your animals. If you are storing water somewhere for the animals, make sure you clean and refill them on a daily basis. If the water gets soiled within the day, it is better to refill it with clean water.
Monitor
Each day, you need to monitor the behavior of the animals you have. Check them when they are eating, drinking water, etc. This information can help you keep track of their health consistently.
It’s always a good idea to take them to the veterinarian whenever you see some kind of abnormalities in their eating behavior or their elimination process. When you have a group of animals together, make sure all of them get enough food and water.
Try silage making machines for your feed management if you are having trouble otherwise.
