Cattle Like Donuts, Potato Chips and Chocolate, Too: What Unlikely Feed Sources Will You Consider?

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 18:51:59 GMT

Have you ever considered slightly less ‘conventional’ feed components in your cattle ration?

When supplies are tight or the cost of regular feed sources become cost prohibitive, there may be alternatives that can fill the void without breaking the bank.

Here’s a list of less common, unusual feed sources, provided by University of Wisconsin-Extension and University of Nebraska-Extension that might be available for your operation:

Bakery Waste

• Includes stale bread, donuts, cookies and other pastry products

• Can be fed ‘as is’ without drying or even removal of wrappers or dried and ground to be added to a total mixed ration (TMR)

• Feeding rate must be limited, due to the high amount of cooked starch

• Upper feeding limit is 20% of concentrate dry matter (DM) and 10% of a total mixed ration on a dry matter basis (TMR DM)

Candy

• Includes milk chocolate, gummy bears, lemon drops or other candies

• High in sugar and fat content

• Can be fed in their wrappers, often blended by companies with other ingredients to standardize the content of protein and fat

• Upper feeding limits per cow are 5lbs. per day at approximately 15% of concentrate DM or 10% of TMR DM of candy and candy blends or 2lbs. per day at 6% of concentrate DM or 4% of TMR DM for chocolate

Potato Waste

• Includes cull potatoes, french fries and potato chips

• Cull fresh potatoes can be fed whole or chopped, not frozen, rotten or sprouted

• Potato waste usually contains 75 to 80% moisture, and should be treated as a wet, starchy concentrate in rations

• Upper feeding limit per cow is 25 to 35 lb ‘as fed’ and 5 to 8lbs of DM per day

Cabbage

• Includes unsalable cabbage and leftover cabbage leaves and cores from sauerkraut production

• Considered 93% moisture and is higher in protein and lower in fiber than corn silage

• Upper feeding limit is approximately 3 lbs. DM per day per cow

Pumpkins

• Includes leftover pumpkins in a field, once the fruit has undergone some freezing and thawing or light disking

• High in moisture content (83-88%), often fed in conjunction with cornstalk residue, grass pasture or supplemental hay, due to its lack of DM content

• Crude protein content averages 14-17% DM

When considering alternative feed sources, contact a ruminant nutritionist or veterinarian to discuss and plan a TMR that will best provide for your cattle.

Drought, record high commodity prices and high fertilizer inputs have greatly limited the availability and feasibility of feed on cattle operations.

Will you consider ‘unlikely’ feed sources to improve your bottom line?