Quote of the year!!!!

[Glenn]

If you ain't already on the train, don't buy a ticket now!!!!

[George]

Jul 30, 2014 12:15:32 GMT -6 Glenn said:

If you ain't already on the train, don't buy a ticket now!!!!

Since it absolutely refuses to rain here this year, I'm just about ready to cash in my ticket.

[hoekland]

Just a thought, Glen and George...

Wouldn't it be an option to sell and move somewhere where the rain is more reliable? That is basically what I have done and I fully understand what it entails, but I can't help but thinking if I had done it 10 years ago I would have been so much better off and could have moved to a much bigger, better place.

[George]

Jul 31, 2014 9:12:39 GMT -6 hoekland said:

Just a thought, Glen and George...

Wouldn't it be an option to sell and move somewhere where the rain is more reliable? That is basically what I have done and I fully understand what it entails, but I can't help but thinking if I had done it 10 years ago I would have been so much better off and could have moved to a much bigger, better place.

Not practical for me, Harley. Another month of no rain and I'm going to have to cut down to about 30 cows - which'll make it truly a hobby then. But I'm too old to move and the granddaughter lives here. The only way I'd get my wife to move anywhere would be at gunpoint.

[Glenn]

Same here. I have wife and three kids. I have two businesses in Wichita Falls besides my cattle business. If I was younger and truly was 100% cattleman only, I think I would move to western Missouri. After visiting there this summer and seeing how much greener and more dependable the rain is and talking to several breeders about operations and the cost of land it would be a no brainer. There is no way a "new" cattleman could compare here to there. Land costs per acre are similar but it takes 10-25 acres here to support a cow calf pair where as there you are looking at 3-4 acres per cow calf pair and you have access to much cheaper feed for raising bulls/replacements or hay should you need it.

[larso]

I can truly sympathize with your predicament Glen and George having been through a number of severe droughts myself, it can be soul destroying. It is because of the droughts we suffer here a system called "barley sprouting sheds" has grown more popular. After extensive research both Sudsy and I have done, visiting different setups and looking at costing we believe it is the only way to go, so much so that Sudsy purchased a small one this year. To be able to become drought proof is something not to be taken lightly and these sheds do just that. Every place we visited it was the wife that said how valuable they were because it took the stress out of their lives and the worry she had about her husband's health. I sure Sudsy would not mind discussing his decision making regarding his purchasing one and any other information, such as websites etc. by a PM if you were interested.

[hoekland]

How well do they really work and how do you use it? A neighbour of mine has one that he uses to mix into a complete ration for lamb fattening.

Would other small grains also work, I'm not in a barley producing area, just too much rain for barley

[Sudsy]

Hoekland,
How well do they really work, good question.
As Larso stated, we carried out considerable research, both theoretical and on farm inspections of existing units.

Firstly, they are a little time consuming, I spend 1 - 2 hours daily feeding out, however this is a task I actually enjoy.
I am all cattle, so no need to mix a ration, just feed it as it is to the cattle.

Now to answer your questions.
Yes, they work very well. The key component is the mj of energy in grain, and the fact we are led to believe that ruminants utilise 30% of the energy in grains in order to be able to digest/utilise it. When compared to the fact that sprouted grain actually increases in mj of energy and it is wholly/entirely available to the animal.

Thus, a quick example:
Non Sprouted Barley. Approx. 12mj of enegy, subtract 30% (4mj) equates to 8mj available to the animal.
Sprouted Barley. Approx. 12mj of energy, add 2 mj after grain has sprouted, equates to 14mj which is totally available to the animal.

As can be seen, there is a 75% increase in energy available to the animal, from 8mj to 14mj.

There is a similar/corresponding increase in protein as well, however protein is both easy and cheap to introduce to any ration.
It is energy that is difficult and expensive to introduce to the ration.

There are other smaller side benefits as well for the animal. When a grain actually sprouts, it undergoes a quantum and significant chemical metamorphis, which among other things includes converting starches to simple sugars, amino acids to protein, and a number of enzymes become active, which are dormant in the whole grain.

We too have been experiencing severe droughts and at the height of the last, Larso and myself visited to farms in the one day. The second of the two (who by the way did not have a blade of grass on his farm at all, quite literally), said and I quote, " I dont know whats in this stuff or why it works, all I know is that it works." He wasn't applying a great deal of science, just simply keeping his stock alive - they were actually putting weight on, albeit ever so slowly, compared to his neighbours who had almost completely destocked.


Other small grains do work, just not as well as barley. A great deal of research has gone into this - wheat, oats, barley, mixtures of those three, legume mixes etc. Barley comes out on top every time. One of the major reasons is the very large amounts of vitamin B6 present in barley.

The above is a breif overview/precis of the process, time and space do not allow me to expand fully.

I hope this is of some value to you.
Regards Sudsy.

[hoekland]

Thanks a lot, do you provide straw or any other form of roughage as a filler? So you don't add anything to the sprouted barley?

[Sudsy]

Add nothing to the sprouted barley.

Provide straw when no roughage availablein the paddock, however sufficent roughagein paddocks 90% of the time.o

[hoekland]

Last question... how much barley seed do you need per LSU per day and how many kgs of sprouted barley will it yield?

[Sudsy]

What is an LSU?

1.3 kg of barley grain per biscuit which results in a sprouted biscuit of approx. 8kg.

Is LSU your equivalent of our DSE?

[hoekland]

Large stock unit, usually 500kg

[Sudsy]

Yes. one biscuit per animal per day, this 1.3kg of grain peranimal per day.

However, they still requireaccess to additional grazing.
Å
I am in the process of feeding some weaner bull calves as somethinåg of an experiment.
4biscuits daily, equivalent of 5kg of grain-32kg of sprouts.

[hoekland]

Do you get that kind of consumption from weaner bull calves?

[Trailmaster]

Jul 30, 2014 12:15:32 GMT -6 Glenn said:

If you ain't already on the train, don't buy a ticket now!!!!

That is a good quote! It always amazes me how so many get excited and want to buy cattle when they are really high. Then when prices drop they sell them all because "cattle aren't worth nothing". 

[Sudsy]

Aug 1, 2014 7:28:17 GMT -6 hoekland said:

Do you get that kind of consumption from weaner bull calves?



Not too sure of the actual question.
If I have figured this correctly, you are enquiring as to the consumption of the weaner bulls. If so, they consume 4 biscuits each daily, however this is somewhat dependent on the prevailing pasture conditions at any given time. If possible I do reduce the ration, in order to make more available for the steers/cows and calves etc.

As the bulls mature and grow, if the pasture is incapable of sufficiently supplementing their requirements, they receive some silage (quite expensive) and up to a maximum of 1% of thier body weight in pellets.