Archive for March, 2012

Archive for March, 2012

Feeding Management Guidelines

Feeding horses correctly and safely often appears to be enormously complicated for the horse owner. Horses are unique in the livestock world, and cannot be fed the same way as cattle, hogs sheep, or any other livestock species. However, following a few guidelines will go a long way toward ensuring...

Winter Care for Horses

Cold weather presents horses with some specific nutritional and management demands. As winter approaches it is a good idea to evaluate horses, housing and feeding programs to insure that horses get through the cold weather in good shape. All warm-blooded animals have a critical temperature. This is the temperature below...

Hay Test can Lead to More Efficient Feeding During Drought

Nutritive value key to overall efficiency for beef cattle intake COLLEGE STATION – An inexpensive hay test can offer the best guidance as to how much supplemental feed is required for a beef cattle herd, and at the same time, save ranchers money, according to a Texas AgriLife Research scientist....

Preparing Your Goats for the Winter Months Ahead

Autumn is a good time to make sure everything in is in tiptop shape for the cold weather that’s just around the corner. The preparations you make now can have a long-term impact on the health and comfort of your goats, so here are a few fall tips: • Even...

Body Condition Scores for Deer

Body Condition Scoring allows you to monitor the health and condition of your deer. Optimal Body Condition in bucks will allow for greater antler growth. Does will be more fertile: produce more high-quality milk, resulting in healthier, faster growing fawns. The Purina Mills Body Condition Scoring System allows you to...

Deer and Feeds for Other Animals

People often want to feed deer what is handy, which might be sheep, goat, dairy, or even horse feeds. The problem is these feeds are not formulated for deer, do not meet their specific needs, and may even cause problems. Sheep are very intolerant of dietary copper, so sheep feeds...

Deer and Protein

There is considerable controversy regarding the percentage of dietary protein that deer should have. Many people believe that deer cannot tolerate more than 16% dietary protein and that high-protein diets are wasteful or even toxic. This simply is not true. Research in South Texas has shown that wild deer diets...

Fall is Prime Time to Begin a Supplemental Feeding Program for Deer

A buck can have the best genetics in the world, but without the proper nutrition, he’ll never achieve his potential. One way to stack the deck in his favor is to supplement his nutrition. Fall is an excellent time to begin this. But before we talk about how to initiate...

Quick Tips: Hay Management

Now is the time to make plans for getting the most from your hay as fall winds down and winter approaches. These tips can help: 1. Inventory the quantity of your hay on hand. 2. Work with your nutrition consultant to determine the quality of the hay you have. 3....

Is Your Hay Supply Adequate Until Spring?

Do you have enough hay stored to meet the needs of your cattle for the remainder of the winter? Even though you may have stored what you think will be enough hay to carry your herd through the winter, conditions often change so you might be concerned that you will...