Nutrition
does not include labor cost to
deliver feed to the creep feeders.
Under severe drought
conditions, creep feeding can
be used to offset declining
forage quality and quantity
due to replacing some forage
consumption. However,
creep feeding will not replace
or decrease the calf’s milk
intake. Thus, creep feeding
calves in drought conditions
does not result in lowered
nutrient requirements for
the dam and may exacerbate
the loss of forage due to
drought on the cowherd.
Another concern with creep
feeding is the long-term impacts
on creep-fed heifer calves. The
increased rate of gain from
creep feeding in heifers can
cause over-development of the
udder or fatty udders, resulting
in lowered lifetime milk
production of replacements
going into the cowherd. In a
long-term study conducted
at Purdue University, cows
that were creep-fed as heifers
weaned less pounds of calf
during their lifetime production.
Creep feeding must be carefully
appraised in view of economics
of cost of gain, potential
market, and the influence
on sale price of the calves.
For more information on this
topic NebGuide G2077 “Creep
Feeding Beef Calves” (http://
extensionpublications.unl.
edu/assets/pdf/g2077.pdf ) is
a good source of information.
The information from this
study can be found on page
18 of the “2018 Nebraska Beef
Cattle Report” titled “Effects of
Gestation Supplementation,
Synchronization and Creep
Feeding in a Spring Calving
Beef Herd in the Nebraska
Sandhills” (https://beef.unl.
edu/documents/2018-beef-
report/2018-05-Effects-of-Late-
Gestation-Supplementation-
Synchronization.pdf ) I
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