What time of day do you feed your livestock?

[Beekissed]

I just read an article where they did a study on wt. gains and feeding efficiency on cattle and sheep fed in the PM instead of the AM.

I have been doing this with my chickens for awhile under the assumption that the birds will retain more of the food for longer and metabolize easier, if fed before going to roost. I also felt it would keep them warmer at night.

Now I find out that this is on the money for cattle and sheep, at least...so it makes feel not so crazy for feeding this way!

The study showed that the lambs in the study put on significantly more wt. (7.7 lbs) and used less feed when fed in the PM than the lambs fed in the AM. They did this study when they observed dairy cattle fed in the PM produced more milk and consumed less feed.

Interesting to say the least....how many of you willing to feed chickens and other livestock in the evenings and see if they utilize their feed better and use less?

Here's a link to the article:

http://www.sheepmagazine.com/issues/26/26-6/TE_Marshall.html

 

[freemotion]

Hmm, I feed twice a day, and with my weird schedule, they never know when it is coming! But they always have access to something to nibble on until I get there, so no one suffers. For example, I have xmas trees for the goats, they will munch on them when I am late. The chickens have feed in there litter, always. If I know I will be up late the next morning, I will put veggie or fruit scraps in their litter after dark to keep them busy until I let them out, sometimes as late as 10 am.

Having horses most of my life, I alway feed at LEAST twice a day, for horses not in pasture, that is a minimum, 4x is better. Do people really feed just once a day?

 

[2dream]

Bee I haven't read the article yet, but I will.

Like you I already feed in the late afternoon. I just always have and my only reason behind that was I did not want anyone going to bed hungry. I never really thought about it beyond that though.

So yippee for me - I am actually doing something right just because it felt right for me.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

We are up at 7 am and everyone is fed and watered by 9 am and then we repeat the process at 5 pm, so everyone is fed two times a day.

Course, I'm tossing treats out to the chickens several times throughout the day as well.

 

[Beekissed]

I know the farmers around here will roll round bales out each morning.

This study explained it as these sheep had feed free choice between 8 am and 8pm and the PM group between 8pm and 8am. Any feed left over at the end of the free choice period was weighed and that amount subtracted from the feed ration for the following day.

So....I guess they really have free choice starting at 8pm or 8am in this study. I do the same with the chickens.....I put out a certain amount and if there is a little left in the am, I just leave it. If there is a lot left in the am, I cut back. Feeding free choice in an open container like mine always runs the chance that rats, mice or squirrels can get in and eat any excess. So, I try to feed just enough but not too much.

Since mine free range, they are not totally devoid of snacks during the day and I find they lay more and better when fed this way. In the spring and summer, I always felt they foraged better when they were a little hungry in the morning and, if they didn't find enough by the evening, they would have their feed and go to bed with a full belly.

 

[2dream]

Like Bee and probably most everyone else between free range and leftover feed the chcikens have access to food all the time. Its just that in in afternoons when I fill up containers it is like treat time and they come running. They seem to eat less bought feed this way and continue to lay. When most people are complaining about no eggs I am complaining about trying to get rid of all my eggs.
The rabbits are another story. If I feed them in the mornings they scratch out the food on to the ground. If I feed late they actually eat most of it.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep, got eggs here too, 2dream. Up to 17 a day from 27 gals....so not great but more than half, at least. The ten not laying are some of the older gals and nonlayers from last laying season.

 

[FarmerChick]

I feed one time per day. Morning or early afternoon at the latest.

Horses, goats, chickens, cattle, pets, 1 time----but hogs get 2 times per day cause of their size and fast metabolism.

I do not feed grain at night. It takes more body heat to process food in their systems, so I feed grain in mornings and grazing animals chew their cud thru the night. Free range and hay available toward evenings.

It is no different than people that at night, your body needs to repair and relax and regenerate. Food late at night puts the body into full swing and it is actually against the natural order.

And feeding at night doesn't keep a body warmer actually. The body spends heat processing the food so it kinda does the opposite if your goal is to stay warm.

and I agree there would be more weight gain and if that is an objective selling animals price per lb. it makes sense of course, but as all us women know, you eat before bed and you will be fatter in the morning..LOL-LOL

now this is just all the material I have read over the years that puts me into this system that I do. I am sure it will be different for everyone out there and I don't think there is a wrong time to feed, it is just what everyone wants to do.

 

[Beekissed]

You may be right! Maybe in the summer, when the nights are cool, feeding in the evening is best? That's when I started it, spring and summer. I could see the sense in feeding in the morning for winter time feeding, from your viewpoint, FC.

The study they did was in early Sept. and they mentioned overstressing animals with heat....of course, they were feeding grains and not hay.

I think the animals would have higher core temps after eating, but would this leave their extremities more prone to frost bite at night~as in chickens? Since my chickens are hitting the roost at 4:30 and 5pm now days, I'm having Eli feed them in the late afternoon around 2-ish. I haven't had any frost bite issues, except one roo who won't put his head under his wing! Maybe mine have enough time to digest, metabolize, etc. before bedding down. In the summer, I feed around 5pm, as its cooler and they are winding down on their free ranging then.

Maybe it would have to be a seasonal thing? Feed mornings in winter, evenings in spring and summer?

 

[FarmerChick]

well all critters can be fed differently of course.
like horses, if worked hard and maybe doing show jumping and all that business, they need smaller feeds thru the day etc. etc. But for my backyard trail horse not working that hard, heck she needs just 1 feeding ---the fat piggy..HA HA HA....no only kidding, she was a perfect weight for what she did in life, eat the pasture and hang out most of the time...HA HA


See for me being in the south, I feed grain to the goats ONLY every 2-3 days depending on how far they are near kidding. I have pasture grass and then just supp with small grain doses if needed. So in summer you can get away with less protein if the grasses are high of course. People without much sustaining pasture need to supp. with little grain and more hay.

My mornings are cool....my afternoons get hotter and my nights are hottest..LOL-LOL------so I guess climate would depend on how to ration out I guess.

Once I pick a feed schedule I just never changed. I keep their systems on the same schedule except for summer when I hold back grain cause of the pasture being more than enough.

works for me..LOL

But for business if the goal is money driven, then scientific feeding is used more and more to get optiumum advantage out of the animals. It is understandable, but for me working on a farm, I can't feed animals 3-4-5 times a day....I don't have the time..LOL