by Chris Hicks, County Director – UT Extension-Smith County
Much of the hay fed in TN is average to below average quality. As we go deeper into winter, many animals will need supplementation to meet their required energy and protein needs. Knowing how to compare prices among the different options is important when deciding what supplement to purchase.
To measure the true cost of items such as feed and supplements, it is necessary to look at the unit price. Since high-priced protein supplements often provide cattle more protein per ton of feed, simply looking at costs on a per ton basis will not provide an accurate cost of the supplement. Of course, there are other things to consider along with price such as convenience of feeding, ingredients, and recommended intake levels, but for this article’s purpose we will focus on price.
Let’s look at an example comparing two different supplements, a “low-priced” option and a “high-priced” option. The low-priced supplement is a 20 percent protein cube at $185 per ton and the high-priced supplement is $250 per ton. Of course, that’s $65 per ton less for the 20 percent cubes so it must be the better deal, right?
Well, not so fast. Say the high-priced supplement contains 48 percent crude protein. That means with the higher priced supplement you also get more crude protein per ton of feed. Ultimately, it may actually be cheaper with the high-priced supplement.
To know for sure, it’s necessary to look at the cost per pound of nutrient delivered to the farm. For example, the 48 percent protein supplement would contain 960 lb. of crude protein per ton. With a cost of $250 per ton, a pound of crude protein would cost 26 cents per pound. The 20 percent cube would contain 400 lb. of crude protein per ton and the actual cost per pound of crude protein would be 46 cents per pound.
Further calculations indicate that if a producer needs to provide an extra pound of crude protein supplement to a hay ration for beef cows, it would take about 2 pounds of the 48 percent supplement to meet the needs, and cost 26 cents per day. To meet the needed protein with the 20 percent supplement, 5 pounds of this feed would be needed and would cost 46 cents per day.
The total cost for a protein supplement for a 100-day feeding period would be about $26 with the high-priced supplement (48 percent protein) and $46 with the low-priced supplement. This is a cost savings of $20 per cow. With an average beef cow herd of 30 cows, using a high-priced supplement would result in a total savings of $600 per herd.
The moral of the story is that when you look at feed or supplements, don’t just look at the per bag or per ton price, but take time to figure the price per unit of nutrient. For more information concerning supplementing livestock, contact the University of Tennessee Extension office at 615-735-2900.
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