By Aaron Berger
Drought conditions are challenging producers to be creative as they think about options for maintaining the cowherd through the summer with limited pasture available. Several research studies conducted at the University of Nebraska have shown that cows can be managed effectively utilizing a limit fed ration.
In a limit fed ration, the nutrient requirements of cattle are met with a diet that is less than the actual total amount that the cattle would eat if they had full access to all they could. Typically, these are total mixed rations, fed with a feed truck or wagon, consisting of limited amounts of forage and combined with protein and energy dense feed resources such as distillers grains, corn, corn silage, beet pulp, soy hull pellets, etc.
For producers without access to a feed wagon, limit feeding can still be an option. Research at the University of Illinois1 and the University of Minnesota2 has shown that cows can be given timed access to hay bales in feeders and limit intake as well as waste. In the University of Illinois study, cows were restricted to as little as 3 hours of access to a bale feeder consisting of a high-quality hay. Cows restricted to 3 hours of access consumed 17 lbs. of dry matter of hay per day while cows with 24-hour access consumed 34 lbs. of hay per day on a dry matter basis. Total hay waste was reduced significantly in both research studies when cows were limited to 14 hours or less to the bale feeders. In these studies, hay quality was more than adequate to meet cow nutrition requirements. Testing hay quality and knowing cattle nutrient requirements is important when utilizing this method of limited hay feeding.
Source : unl.edu