Last updated on January 11th, 2021 at 03:27 pm
“Did a test with a group of 350 cows on Riomax tubs against our other 2,000 cows on our regular program. Conception rates went from 82% to 93%, weaning weights went from 480 to 565, they had better haircoats than the other cows, fed less supplemental feed to the cows on Rio and didn’t have to start supplementing them as early and at preg checking in January they came in at a 5 BCS compared to the others with a BCS of 4.5!”
The worst group of 350 cows was selected out of over 2,000 cows. This group had the lowest quality grazing out of all the cows and historically had the highest open rate. They were started on Riomax tubs in April of 2017. Kept them on the XL tub through August and then switched to PP and put them back on XL in Nov. Had to start feeding alfalfa to the other groups 1st of Nov and didn’t have to start putting out alfalfa to the cows on Rio until 1st of Dec and only fed them 14 lbs/hd/week and fed the other groups 28 lbs/hd/week. Weaned and preg checked cows in Jan and they were up to 93% bred from normal average of 82%, calves weaned off at 565 from normal 480, had a 5.0 BCS compared to the other cows with 4.5 BCS and of all the groups the cows that had been on Riomax tubs had noticeably better haircoats. At some times throughout the year the daily cost on the cows using Rio tubs was higher than the other cows but the total cost for 2017 was $15/cow lower than the other groups! Taking into account the extra 38 calves@$800, 85 lbs/calf@$1.50/lb and 350 cows@$15/hd savings this alone puts $80,275 on the bottom line!