Rough-N-Ready feeds are designed to provide minerals, vitamin A, energy, and natural protein in a highly palatable pelleted form for feeding to calves as a supplement to cow’s milk and grazing. Rough-N-Ready provides the additional nutrients required by calves to maximize their growth potential.



Why Creep Feed?
The primary reason for creep feeding is to increase the profit potential of a producer’s operation. Creep feeding can help accomplish this goal by providing the following benefits:

• Maximize calf growth potential

• Shorter weaning stress period

• Faster start in the feedlot arrival phase

• Improve carcass quality

• Increase stocking rates
   

1. Maximize Calf Growth Potential
Creep feeding bridges the gap when the calf is not getting enough nutrients from the cow’s milk and available forages to maximize the calf’s full growth potential. While a young calf can utilize forage, summer and fall forages are often not high enough quality to support the calf’s growth potential. Also, cow milk production is on the decline during this time. The graph below shows the gap between the growth of a 500 lb calf and the amount of milk typically produced by a cow during lactation.

Supplementing calves with a high-quality creep feed can help calves maximize their growth potential, which in turn can positively impact profits.

2. Shorter Weaning Stress Period
One of the challenges when weaning calves is to get them on feed quickly. Weaned calves that tend to walk the fences and bawl may not consume an adequate amount of feed, which can lead to higher sickness rates. Creep-fed calves are accustomed to eating dry feeds out of a bunk. Acclimation to bunk feeding helps calves adjust to weaning sooner, which can lead to reduced costs associated with shrink, treatment, and death loss.

3. Faster Start in the Feedlot Arrival Phase
The most critical factor for starting calves in a feedlot is achieving desired feed intake. Creep-fed calves are accustomed to eating out of a bunk which helps get calves off to a fast start in the feedlot. Research shows calves that don’t get off to a good start in the feedlot and become sick, grow slower (0.20/lb/day), have increased days on feed, incur greater medical costs, and tend to have lower carcass quality. The total value of these losses in the trial were ($91.23/hd) compared to their contemporaries (McNeill et at. 1994).

4. Improve Carcass Quality
With the industry emphasis on value-based marketing, retained ownership, Ranch-to-Rail programs, and alliances to develop branded beef products, studies have been conducted to determine the impact of creep feeding on carcass quality. Data in the following table shows carcass quality was higher when calves were creep-fed. Higher quality carcasses can lead to additional profit potential when marketing cattle under value-based marketing grids.

5. Increase Stocking Rates
A University of Missouri study suggests cow-stocking rates can be increased by about 10% when creep feeding of calves occurs. Increased carrying capacity makes it possible to increase the number of brood cows on pasture, which can lead to more calves and increased profit potential.
 

The Rough-N-Ready Advantage

Rough-N-Ready products contain highly digestible fiber sources, which compliment the forages calves consume. Highly digestible fiber sources also encourage lean growth rather than fleshiness and reduce the chances of digestive upsets, such as acidosis, bloat, and scours, which can occur with grain-based creep feeds.

The Rough-N-Ready lineup offers highly palatable products and flexible product options to meet the goals of your cattle operation regardless of management practices.

• Available as a complete creep with 12, 14, or 16 % protein levels.

• Intake limiter options to help achieve target intake levels.

• Available with Bovatec®*, GAINPRO®*, or Rumensin®*, in situations where cattle are hand-fed.

* Not trademarks of ADM.

Alliance Nutrition™ Rough-N-Ready Program Advantages

• Maximize genetic growth potential

• Improve carcass quality

• Shorter weaning stress periods

• Highly palatable to encourage intake

• Faster start in the feedlot arrival phase

• Increase stocking rates

• Flexibility to fit economic and feeding goals
   

No representation of profitability is hereby made. The statements and figures shown here are estimates and projections. Neither ADM Alliance Nutrition, Inc., nor its employees, agents, or assigns make any warranty of any kind, including warranty of merchantability or results, relative to the information contained herein. Actual results will be affected by the ability of animals to gain, health of animals, management, previous treatment, environment, etc. This proposal subject to credit approval.