Feeding Beefers - Question(s)

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chedly_farms
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Feeding Beefers - Question(s)

Post by chedly_farms »

So now that I am finally playing the new game, I'm learning a whole bunch of new things. One of things I am learning has to do with cow diets. They seem to wat a lot less food than I feel like they ate in 19. At least beef cattle are. Or is that because of the young age of my cattle? I bought the youngest black angus available to start my cattle operation on Elm Creek. So here are my questions. Do cattle have different food needs (amount of food) depending on their age? Right now I am feeding them just hay, until I buy a mixer to add silage to their diets. If i then add TMR, will the game do as it did in 19 and have them eat just the TMR then when that runs out, have them eat hay. or does it feed all if I give them all.
Also, how long does it take for them to eat the max amount of food, meaning, if put feed until I can't put anymore in, how long does that last? Thank you in advance for answering or discussing. Any knowledge you all have on the new mechanics is greatly appreciated. Thank You again.
Currently Playing on XBoxOne : Elm Creek
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Zero76Gaming

Re: Feeding Beefers - Question(s)

Post by Zero76Gaming »

To your question: how long does the food last
It depends on the pasture they are in and how many cows you have. (Modded pastures may use more or less)
What i normally do is just fill it fully up with food and just check it each day. If they use normal amounts (so not modded) it should last 3/4 months(when playing 1day a month)

Don't have an answer to all your questions but 1 tip.
TMR is giving 100% effectiveness on dairy cows.
Since beef cows are just there for profits, i wouldn't give them TMR. But just simple hay or grass.

With dairy cows you have three options: For the cows to be fully (100%) productive and give as much milk as they can, you have to feed them Total Mixed Ration (TMR) - consisting of straw, hay, silage and mineral feed. You can buy all the ingredients at the dealership.

If you don't have all the ingredients (or the time), you can feed them with grass or hay. By feeding hay, they will still be 80% productive. By feeding them only grass, their productivity drops to 40%.

Does your farm rely heavily on milk production, especially in winter, you should always prepare enough quality food for them to be as productive as they can be.
Spardose
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2022 1:38 pm

Re: Feeding Beefers - Question(s)

Post by Spardose »

You can make TMR just from silage and hay, no need for mineral feed or straw
Eische
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Re: Feeding Beefers - Question(s)

Post by Eische »

Yes, all animals eat a different amount of food according to their age.
Angus for example start at 50 liters per month and reach their maximum food demand of 450 liters per month with an age of 18 month.
It works similar for other animals. Milking cows only eat 350 liters per month (same amount as in FS19).

Yes, cows or beef cattle will eat the better food first, just like in FS19.
But this can be changed by the map creator. So it can be different on certain maps.

The maximum amount of food in the pen is now fixed and defined in the pen itself. In FS19 it was depending on the number of animals you actually have.
So depending on the pen and how much food it takes, it will last longer. For base game pens you can assume that food will last about 2 month with fully grown animals and a full pen.

Another thing to mention:
The food capacity is shared among all food types of a pen. If you have filled it up completely with TMR, you can not add hay for example.

I attached the base game animals file, so you have all default values. Contents should be self explaining I guess.
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Drmattymd
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Re: Feeding Beefers - Question(s)

Post by Drmattymd »

Ive also found that they eat less in the summer when there is grass for them to graze on as well. Im not sure of thats base game or if theres a mod Im using that is causing that.
Playing on PC and PS4
deerefarm
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Re: Feeding Beefers - Question(s)

Post by deerefarm »

To answer your question Chedly, if you are raising only beef don't waste the time and effort on TMR, they will reach 100% productivity on Hay alone, and then will continue to grow at the same rate as if you've fed them TMR.
The only animals that benefit from TMR are milking cows. With TMR they produce 20% more milk. And yes the older they get the more they eat.
This video was an experiment on growing cows and shows how growth and productivity is the same for beefers on hay alone;

Have been playing FS since FS 2011 came out and still going strong. *thumbsup*
Check out Dairy Air Farms https://www.youtube.com/c/DairyAirFarms
Honkyfarmer_v1010
Posts: 309
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2022 7:19 pm

Re: Feeding Beefers - Question(s)

Post by Honkyfarmer_v1010 »

I havent started animal husbandry yet. So this is some good info. I wasn't aware dairy we could get away with hay to start and maintain a descent percentage. This was alot of good information for me to "digest". Wheres the door? Lol
FTF
NotoriousWeber
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Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2018 11:12 pm

Re: Feeding Beefers - Question(s)

Post by NotoriousWeber »

Chedly, I also recently took my first foray into beef cattle in FS22.

I saw a video that feeding them TMR and Hay is roughly the same result, with the exception that if you feed them TMR they produce more slurry/maure. I wish I could find that video to share, but I cannot remember who did it.

Feeding them TMR won't get them fatter faster or worth more money faster. I just feed them TMR for a touch of added realism. Some of the youtubers I watch that have beef cattle still feed them a mixture of hay and silage and other stuff...so I kind of stick with that once I am able to source my own silage/afford a feed mixer.

One thing of note, you can feed them straight grass if you wish, but according to that video the slurry/manure production is cut in like half or less. I haven't ever did just grass though, probably Realismus' Seasons habits carrying over...grass has always rotted so I'm just kind of keeping that in mind.
The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.
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