Essential Partners in 2021

Jan 18, 2021


By Justin R. Crocheck, Senior Cattle Consultant,

With another winter season upon us, now is the time to take inventory of your feedstuffs and sample what you have available on the farm. Some Key producers have already taken the initiative to have us pull samples of their 2020 forages. The test results help us to work in partnership to come up with rations that meet the needs of the cow as well as utilizing on-farm forage inventories. Cuttings of hay tested well in 2020, if we were able to put it up without complications. QLF Pasture Enhancer 40 from Quality Liquid Feeds gives us the opportunity to improve forages like grass hay and cornstalks, extending the supply of your better forages.

The sugars and proteins in the molasses-based QLF Pasture Enhancer 40 work to form an essential partnership to unlock the potential of your forages. We can unlock the energy in the forage, which is a more efficient way of getting energy to the cow than adding corn to the diet. Corn has the tendency to increase the energy of the diet, but reduces the forage intake and fiber digestibility as the inclusion increases. The effect of corn in a forage-based diet is that the energy that we were hoping to receive from the corn in the diet is nullified by inefficient fiber digestion. Protein works to feed the “fiber bugs” with nitrogen so they can break down the fiber in our forages. This has been incredibly important this year with the amount of corn that was baled up with our cornstalks from the derecho damage. When non-protein nitrogen (urea) is added to the liquid, it readily breaks down to feed the “bugs” and provide degradable protein to the cow at the rumen and bypass protein at the small intestine. A little of it in the liquid can deliver improved rumen performance in the cow.

QLF Pasture Enhancer 40 can be delivered from our Newton and Barnes City locations. Pick up QLF Bullets at Gilbert. 250-gal. caged totes can be available at these and other locations. The liquid can be used in QLF lick tanks, added to a TMR ration or used to “pour” bales. Pouring delivers more dry matter, more protein, more energy and supplemental vitamins and minerals.

Contact Justin Crocheck at 515-291-0763 or Dustin Drexler at 319-560-4442.

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