Cattle should be fed 12 hours apart. Ideally, at 7am and 7pm.
Staying within a 30 minute window of your typical feeding schedule will help your cattle utilize every ounce of food they intake, and will also reduce the chance for digestive upsets such as diarrhea, going off feed, or even bloat.
There are hundreds of different cattle feeds, each with different nutrients intended to accomplish different goals. Make sure to ask your FFA advisor or breeder for assistance before changing feed or making adjustments to rations.
Cattle are Ruminants- that means they have a 4 compartment stomach. Each compartment plays a different role.
The Rumen (on the left side of the animal) is the largest stomach compartment and consists of several compartments within. It can hold 25 gallons or more of material depending on the size of the animal!!! Because of its size, the rumen acts as storage for feed. Aside from storage, the rumen is also where fermentation occurs, so we want the rumen to be full of microbes. Microbes digest the foods and turn them into volitable fatty acids for the calf to utilize. There are tiny little papillae that line the rumen walls, and we want to be sure to "irritate" these daily with roughage such as hay. This helps to increase the surface area of the rumen, and the amount of nutrients it can absorb!! Rumen microbes also produce B vitamins, vitamin K and amino acids. These are important in show cattle!!!
The Reticulum is a pouch-like structure in the forward area of the body, close to the heart. The Reticulum is known as the "honeycomb" due to small tissue folds within it. Heavy feed and foreign objects are stored here.
The Omasum is a globe-shaped structure containing leaves of tissue (like pages in a book). It absorbs water and other substances from digestive contents.
The Abomasum is the only compartment lined with glands. These glands release hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes, needed to breakdown feeds. The abomasum is referred to as the "true stomach"!