By Chelsey Erdmann
The plan was to graze corn stalks for a month or so before we started feeding daily, but those stalks are now under a foot+ of snow.
We work with a nutritionist to balance the ration our cows eat and with a tech company to manage the data. Balancing a ration is actually the same concept as humans counting macros.
Our cows could eat hay through the winter, but we’ve had our bales tested and found where we have nutritional gaps. That’s where the silage, grain, and liquid come in to provide the nutrition these mamas need to grow a calf.
It was really incredible to see the difference in grass the last two years. 2021 brought us drought and with it less grass. However, that grass had higher nutritional value than our plentiful grass from this year with our excessive spring moisture.
Our cows and calves graze grass or planted forage all summer and as much of the fall as we can before snow. Then when the weather forces our hand we provide a balanced ration to meet all the nutritional needs of a pregnant cow. All this to say — our cows would be classified as grain-fed.
This post first appeared on Chelsey's Oh That's Chesley Facebook and Instagram pages. Be sure to follow Chelsey if you want to learn about agriculture, first-hand.