Using Self-Feeders
Jeff Pastoor, Senior Cattle Consultant, Land O’Lakes Beef Feeds.
Beeflinks.com
Feeding cattle with self-feeders or steer stuffers is a popular option in the Upper Midwest. They are a very convenient way to feed cattle, however day to day management will make a big difference in the performance of cattle on the self-feeder.
In general, diets fed as a TMR in a feed bunk will give us better performance and lower costs of gain than diets fed through a self feeder. In trials done by the University of Minnesota, steers fed on a TMR had $23.90 more profit per head than identical cattle fed on a self feeder. Closeout records from Land O’Lakes would indicate a much larger benefit than this from TMR vs. self feeder.
However, because of equipment costs and the learning curve involved with bunk management, self-feeders are probably the best choice for feeding operations of less than 100 hd.
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