monitor your cattles energy balance

[chalice]

Watch a couple of videos on how to monitor your cows energy balance and body condition score. www.onestoplivestock.ca.

[grassfarmer]

Or if you have cows you can do it for real.

[chalice]

GF not everyone is an expert like you. Some of us still realize we can learn something.

[rkaiser]

The one on the right would winter well but the one on the left could use a bit more carbs.

[Happytrails]

Good info especially the cow pies indicating the ration quality. I think their taller cowpies were OK for wintering cows but just. As far as BCS it is too late now to fatten up your cows. However I believe a thin cow that is gaining condition after calving will breed OK and maybe better than a fatter cow that is on poorer feed. Back in the dark ages we would feed barley chop to the herd for AI'ing. My point is that the nutrition level after calving is crucial. HT

[per]

If they have both had the same amount of feed and the same conditions you would have to consider culling the one on the left. For sure there could be a several hour conversation around this topic.

[grassfarmer]

Oh I don't consider myself an expert and realise I've lots to learn on lots of topics. This is pretty basic stuff though for anyone with any experience of feeding pregnant cattle through to calving. It's a bit like the Cattleman magazine "calving edition" where you get all the wonderous tips from guys with 16 cows and 3 years experience.

[rkaiser]

This could be fun Phil.

Even though the one on the right is a little fuller, he is still holding his belly like he is hungry. Wish they would take their caps off so we could see how far forward their hair swirl is. My guess is that it is father down the middle of their backs like mine. According to Gearld Fry, the location of the swirl not only tells us the marbling capabilities, but the butterfat content as well. Don't know if it tells us anything about the alcohol content in the beers the one on the right drank last weekend.

Come on chalice lighten up on old GF.

Or maybe you could help Phil and I out with some evaluations instead of being so serious all the time grassfarmer.

[chalice]

Actually,I have it on good authority that the grain consumed by the one on the right has been fermented and spent about 12 years in an oak barrel.

[per]

Is there a correlation to the number of years the grain spent in the Oak barrel to the quality of the the carbs or is it just a palatability issue increasing the consumption.