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Utilizing Annual Cereals for Livestock Feed | |
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From the Oct 26, 2009 Issue of Agri-News | |
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| | In situations where producers find it necessary to feed more animals than anticipated due to any number of different reasons, additional feed requirements may partially be met by the harvesting of annual crops to supplement current hay production and carryover stocks.
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To assist producers plan and make informed decisions, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development has revised and updated the Utilizing Annual Cereals for Livestock Feed fact sheet. The fact sheet provides information on points to consider when using annual cereals as forages for livestock, such as conducting feed test, developing balanced rations and optimizing the feeds available to minimize costs, necessary supplementation when feeding cereal forage, special considerations for rough-awned barley and other awned cereals, and nitrate levels, to name a few.
The nutrition topics addressed in this fact sheet will be of value for producers considering using cereals as part of their livestock feed. The fact sheet also provides information on developing a ration balancing program, discussing the very useful computer program Cowbytes, a ration balancing program available from Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development.
A demo version of the Cowbytes software is available at www.agric.gov.ab.ca/ruraldev/homestdy/cowbytesdemo.html on the department's website.
This and other fact sheets are available on Alberta Agriculture's website at www.agriculture.alberta.ca/publications under Free Publications. Producers are also welcome to call the Alberta Ag-Info Centre toll-free at 310-FARM (3276).
Contact:
Barry Yaremcio
310-FARM (3276) |
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For more information about the content of this document, contact Barry Yaremcio.
This document is maintained by Rita Splawinski.
This information published to the web on October 21, 2009.
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