beef and protein

[big hunter]

I bought a 24% protein tub for beef. they are supposed to lick it. my steer isn't licking. I was thinking about chopping some up and mixing it with some sweet feed. so the question is, can you give a steer too much protein? If you feed too much to a horse it gets "hot", too much to a pony it will "founder" (am I right?) as it is we have been feeding a scoop of sweet feed a couple times a week to stay friendly with the hunk of meat (we will be riding him soon)

 

[phillip d]

too much protein to dairy cows over a perion of time will reduce the fiber content in the rumen and will cause laminitis or foot ulsers.Will it do the same to beef,???pd

 

[Mitch Furness]

Big Hunter is this calf locked up? Does it have access to grass? If it does then it will only take to the protein supplement if it is not getting enough protein from the pasture/other feed supplies. What form is the protein in, is it vegetable meal? You cant really give a grazing animal too much protein, they just wont eat it. Unless feed is non existent and your feeding supplement with urea(fertiliser) in it then you can definately have problems with that.

Mitch

 

[Anonymous-0]

no it's not locked up, yes it lives in the pasture and has free access to all the hay it wants. I forget what the tag said on the protein tub. I bought it from Southern States