We Stopped Restocking the Hay Pile in January — Here's Why

We fed liquid feed for a long time to supplement these cows in the wintertime. The liquid feed was pretty labor intensive. You pump it in those tanks. We'd pump it out of the tanks, put it on a trailer, bring it out, and she'd say, dad, do we really need to be feeding this liquid feed because it's not real handy. You have to pump it in, pump it out, stir it, do that several times and it was like, what is this for? And the health on my cows just wasn't great. I was feeling like a lot of foot rot, a lot of they'd get sick on me and I wasn't really sure why, so I switched to loose mineral, am I not giving them the right one. I always wanted to make sure these cows get what they need and I I wasn't trying to starve a profit into them. So I seen it on Facebook. I when I first heard the price, you know, you get you get some sticker shock. I thought that must be one heck of a product. If they if they can charge that much for the product, called Rio, they gave me referrals of people to call. And, you know, I also prayed about it. I gave it to God and said, you know, God, lead me in the right direction here because this is important to me. This is our livelihood. He pretty much said, if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this together. I was like, okay. We've had some tough weather. We've had some some dry summers, this cold snap we had, but I feel like the grass goes further in the summertime when you've got it, and I feel like the hay goes further. I also seem more content, not just wanting to meet you at the gate and just, you know, follow you out of the gate. I got a guy that helps me feed the hay, so I haven't really kept an eye on the hay over there in that pile. Usually in late January, we're restocking that hay pile. I was over there the other day and there's a lot of hay left, a lot more than what we normally have. They're more satisfied and more content. It's breaking it all down inside the rumen, and we're getting more out of the product that we're putting in them, let's put it that way. They explain kind of the Riomax tub is kind of like a probiotic. That makes a lot of sense, you know, giving your cows something that's gonna digest their food. Any cowboy can get the first calf out them. Takes a real cowboy to get the second calf out of them. Having them cows at home there, watching them every day cycle and breed back. I've had some troubles getting heifers bred back in the past. When them heifers calved, I left the bull in there with them just for that simple reason was I I I wanted to get them bred back as fast as I could. Now, them cows, they calved in when they calve in? March, April. Okay. Now, these cows, even though it's not ideal weather, I these cows are starting to calve back. That's how fast they bred back. I wasn't used to seeing these cows cycle like they were cycling. So yeah, now I wonder why I'd done that, but you know you live and learn. So I give the credit to the Rio as far as that goes. I did nothing different. If you believe in the product that you're feeding and you see it working out here in this business, peace of mind's worth a lot. Can't put a price on peace of mind. Yeah. On my cows, I had a tub with them. Yeah. On the weaned ones. And honestly, I mean, knock on wood, I didn't doctor one of them this year. And they all seemed to stay healthy. So When I first started looking into it was I thought, if I give four hundred and ninety five dollars for this tub and they burn that thing down, I'm not gonna be a very happy customer. We set it out there and that's what they would eat, a quarter to a third a pound. And another thing, you know, Twain told me was is that, you know what, if they eat more than they're supposed to, we back that up. So you couldn't be any more fair than that. I'm getting rid of my mineral. I'm getting rid of feeding these cows a supplement. There's hay savings, breed back, grass savings. You add all that up, it's really not costing you any more than what you've already spent in the past. It's just mind boggling when you hear four ninety five dollars or whatever on the Rio tub. It, you know, it kinda hits you, takes you off guard. But, I definitely think the tub pays for itself.