Cattle Nutrition & Life on the Farm
Life on the farm is and has always been all about the cows. Farming for us is about peace & joy in life, we just like raising cattle. If we take care of the cattle, they will take care of us. That starts with Cow Comfort. We use Corn Stalks for bedding. Not only will the cattle eat them, they soak up moisture and makes a fluffy-like bed for them which keeps them clean & dry.
The most important part of raising cattle for beef is nutrition. What you feed the cattle is what decides the taste & texture. We feed our cattle free choice corn, mixed with a protein pellet, that really makes a difference in their health. The cattle also get free choice grass/alfalfa hay, & salt and minerals. We raise these calves from a week old to 1400lbs. Below we'll go over the type of feed our cattle are fed.
CORN
We feed corn free choice, meaning the cattle can consume as much as they want. Corn is important in the diet. It allows the animal to grow a bit quicker & it creates fantastic marbling and flavor in your steaks.
ALFALFA & GRASS HAY
We feed hay free choice, meaning the cattle can consume as much as they want. Hay is also important in cattle health. It creates a healthy roughage that helps them digest their other foods.
PROTEIN PELLETS
For each batch of feed mixed, 14% of the feed mixture is the protein pellets, the remaining is corn. The pellets are 40% protein and we've seen a huge positive difference in the overall look & health of our cattle since integrating pellets into the feed.
Fun Fact: the steers eat these like candy, they will pick these out of the corn mixture first.
SALT, MINERALS & CORN STALKS
We also add in salt & mineral in our feed ration. In a 5600lb batch, there are around 50lbs of each added.
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Farmers use corn stalks for bedding because they are readily available once we harvest our corn crop. They also absorb a lot of moisture which helps keep the cattle dry, keeping them healthy. The cattle will also eat the corn stalks once we spread them out.
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