Raise Grass-Fed Beef
(Page 6 of 6)
May/June 1980
By Helen Molitor
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Spring is the time when livestock are most susceptible to the disease ... particularly after April calving, when blood magnesium in the new mothers is subnormal anyway (or when cows are still eating hay or nibbling grass that has just turned green).
But-as we've said-grass tetany needn't bother your herd at all . . . since some magnesium each day keeps the vet away!
*It's best to pamper your heifers a bit . . . for several very good reasons. If—while they're young—you feed them enough to make them gain weight rapidly, the animals will breed two months earlier than those fed on minimal rations. In addition, more of the well-fed heifers will get pregnant (80-98% versus 80% or lower), and-most important-they'll have fewer problems delivering their calves. So give the "young ladies" supplements two or three times a week during the winter. Certainly at the very first sign of slowing weight gain, start supplementing. (The same recommendations apply to pregnant heifers and to cows nursing early calves. Full-grown cows can usually get all the nourishment needed during pregnancy from their hay or pasture . . . but be sure to feed them generously.)
Another good practice is to mate heifers with a bull of a smaller breed (match a Hereford heifer and an Angus male, for example). Then slaughter ail that first year's crop, since the crossbred calves will be smaller when mature than their mothers. The following year you can use a Hereford bull with the now-full-grown Hereford cow, and that breeding will produce replacement stock for you.
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