10/05/2026
Monday Moos…
Do you feed corn?
The short answer is yes, we do feed corn.
And if we left it at that, that would be a very misleading answer to how we feed our cattle, so let’s dive in.
FEEDERS & FATS
Feeders are young calves that are destined for the butcher shop. They are raised on pasture for the majority of their lives and when they are around a year they are moved to a pasture where they get fed a some grain every day. Every few days that amount goes up until they get to about 14-15 months old and they are moved off pasture to a finishing pen. Once in the finishing pen their daily diet of primarily roughage with some corn starts flip flopping until they are eating a primarily grain based diet with a small amount of roughage when they head off to the butcher at around 18 months.
18 months is the average. Some may be a little older, some may be a little younger. That’s where genetics come into play. We’re actually working on a little science experiment on that and can’t wait to share it with you guys and see what it says.
More Grain
More Fat
More Flavor
BREEDING STOCK
Yes, our breeding stock also gets corn. Why? Because when I get out in the middle of a 40 acre plus pasture, I want the cattle to follow me and the best way to get them to follow is having calm, bucket broke cattle.
Go out, shake a bucket, holler and they follow.
So, when we’re developing bulls or heifers, they get a very small amount of grain (poured from a bucket) into their troughs. It’s maybe** 3-5% of their daily feed intake which is roughly 2-2.6% of their body weight depending on animal.
For a 1,000 pound animal that’s about 1.5 # of grain a day on the high side and about half a pound on the low side out of 20-26 # of total feed. With the remaining being a good quality roughage.
We want our breeding stock to develop at a steady, consistent rate BUT a slow one. We aren’t pushing pounds like on a fat steer. Rushing things leads to ruined animals that won’t hold up on pasture.
Slow and steady and they know buckets mean good things. That’s it.
COWS
In the summer months, we will take a bucket of corn out 1-2 times a week and the cows have to follow us into the center pen to get it. Center pen is where they rotate to all the pastures from, load out at the end of the season and get minerals and fly treatment. If they know the bucket means good things and the good things are in the center pen, it makes my life much easier in the long run as well.