Why do you feed molasses and why are you looking for an alternative??lms0229":1oz7sy3m said:Are there other natural alternatives to providing molasses? If there are alternatives to molasses; do they affect the cattle differently? Do some people never have to provide molasses? Thank you!
If your cattle are ruminating their digestive system is most likely in excellent condition. No amount of microbes will digest something that is undigestible.lms0229":9a71fnsv said:I was looking for a way to increase rumen microbes on pasture cattle without having to buy molasses. Something I could grow for the cattle to forage on naturally to increase the microbes to better aid in their digestive system.
TexasBred":1s6gj2ai said:If your cattle are ruminating their digestive system is most likely in excellent condition. No amount of microbes will digest something that is undigestible.lms0229":1s6gj2ai said:I was looking for a way to increase rumen microbes on pasture cattle without having to buy molasses. Something I could grow for the cattle to forage on naturally to increase the microbes to better aid in their digestive system.
lms0229":33m5m5wp said:I was looking for a way to increase rumen microbes on pasture cattle without having to buy molasses. Something I could grow for the cattle to forage on naturally to increase the microbes to better aid in their digestive system.
lms0229":1hj4xbb6 said:Sugar increases microbial activity far more than grass alone... that's why it is fed to dairy cows to increase milk production... so I was seeing if there was a cheap alternative that could be grown and grazed on that would mimick this in pasture cattle in southern parts of the US...
lms0229":2dyvmlmz said:M-5 I'm by no means a "hippie" but a Conservative Libertarian Texan to be exact if you are into labeling people you don't know anything about. Just because I am ignorant in raising cattle does not make me by any means dumb. I have been raising exotics for most of my life and not cattle, so excuse me for asking hippie like questions. Why waste my time and yours and everyone else's by writing derogatory comments??? If you are any good cowboy I am sure you have heard the saying "If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all!"
lms0229":3msf4gd7 said:BC thank you for your answer. I found that I need prilled urea to act as a carrier for the sugar (molasses) for the rumen bugs to properly utilize it. I found out that urea supplies 2.87g of crude protein per gram of urea (46% nitrogen)
Grasses contain sugars...usually all a cow needs this time of the year is good grazing. I wouldn't waste hard earned money on molasses of any kind.lms0229":usq9dnu0 said:Sugar increases microbial activity far more than grass alone... that's why it is fed to dairy cows to increase milk production... so I was seeing if there was a cheap alternative that could be grown and grazed on that would mimick this in pasture cattle in southern parts of the US...
You've got it a bit reversed lms.....the molasses is the carrier for the urea. And yes urea has 287% equivalent protein and works very well with a molasses carrier in a high roughage (grass) diet. Unless you're cattle are losing body condition I still don't think you need the molasses or the urea at this time.lms0229":3udejjai said:BC thank you for your answer. I found that I need prilled urea to act as a carrier for the sugar (molasses) for the rumen bugs to properly utilize it. I found out that urea supplies 2.87g of crude protein per gram of urea (46% nitrogen)