How would you like to save $15 per cow on your winter feeding bill? What if I told you it could be done by making one timely change to what you are feeding your cows grazing on native grass pasture?
Many people only buy one type of feed during the winter. This mindset may be costing a 50-head herd the equivalent of the value of a $750 calf.
If you do a good job managing your native pastures and are properly stocked, you should not be feeding supplemental hay. The pasture will come very close to meeting cows’ requirements most of the year (Figure 1).
The feeding scenario developed below will only be valid if cows have ample, good-quality pasture ahead of them and are never limited.
With these assumptions, you can then develop a cost-effective winter feeding program. In this example, I will only compare the cost of feeding two common feed types: 20 percent or 38 percent crude protein range cubes. Figure 1 illustrates good-quality native grass pastures will meet a spring-calving (Southern Great Plains area; March 15 – May 15 calving season) cow’s requirement for protein until November and energy until January.
Table 1 lists the amount of actual protein and energy, or total digestible nutrients, required by the spring-calving cow.
In November and December, the cow only needs additional protein in its diet, so it should be fed a high-protein supplement. In January and February, the cow needs additional energy in the diet but still needs more protein, so you should keep it on a high-protein-type supplement.
However, during the last month of gestation, March, the cow’s energy requirements now exceed the protein requirements. This is when it will pay to switch the type of supplemental feed to a lower-protein/higher-energy feed.
Table 2 demonstrates the amount of feed and the associated cost of feeding a cow two types of range cubes on a monthly basis, along with the yearly total.
The cost of feeding the high-protein feed in March is more than 50 percent that of feeding the lower-protein/higher-energy feed.
The last line of the table lists a winter feed cost of $61.14 if a switch in feed types occurs in the cow’s last month of gestation. The difference in feed cost savings is between $13.64 and $15.05, depending on whether you were to only feed the 38 percent or 20 percent range cubes all season long.
This is just an example of what can be done with a planned winter feeding program. Additional money could possibly be saved by looking at other feed sources, such as alfalfa hay and commodity byproducts.
Remember to consult with a nutritionist prior to starting any feeding program to avoid any potential feeding problems before they develop. 
ILLUSTRATION: Illustration provided by Thinkstock.
