To some producers, it is a matter of pure economics to put on profitable extra weight on spring calves — while to others, creep feeding makes for better autumn-preconditioned calves. Last and not least, there are producers who don’t see the value of creep feeding.

Many of them might have valid reasons. Yet it seems to me that whether one doesn’t want to creep feed or is one of those who haul out their creep feeders by the end of summer, I advocate that one should calculate its present economics, plus its practical advantages in 2025.

A new beef producer I met last year inherited a 250-head cow-calf operation. He asked me to determine the economic value for him of putting out his creep feeders at the end of this July. He doesn’t expect his spring calves (mostly born at the end of February) to eat much creep feed until the middle of September. That’s because his pastures up to now have received a few timely rains and thus have good carrying capacity, and his cows and first-calf dams are milking well.

Once the weather cools off, he expects all calves eat to up to three kg of creep per head per day. With a feed conversion of 6.5 pounds of creep feed (costing 15 cents per lb.) to one lb. of gain, it should be no problem to add 60 lb. extra weight onto calves that would otherwise weigh 700 lb. at weaning time if the creep feeder remained by his machine shed.

With such pertinent information added into the graph shown here, as well as an already pre-established contract price of $4.95 per lb. of weaned calf sold this October, a tidy profit of about $168.50 per 760-lb. calf or a return on investment of 288 per cent will be directly attributed to creep feeding.

TABLE: Creep feeding program, 2025

Here is a general review of the major factors that determined this profit of $168.50 per head:

Established calf price

Some ag news states that grass and feeder calves are selling on historical highs driven by depressed calf crops and feedlot placements in the United States.

Calf price gradients

There is a sliding price discount as calves hit higher weight classes. In my example, I used a price discount of about $10 per hundredweight. As this price gradient narrows between weight classes, creep feeding becomes more profitable.

Feed costs

Creep feeding profits are attractive when calf prices are high relative to low feed costs. In 2025, I see that forage and grain prices are modest, which contribute to substantial 2025 creep profits.

Feed efficiency

The conversion of a well-balanced creep feed into saleable weaning weight is a major driver in the profitability due to creep feeding. It ranges from six to eight lb. per lb. gain for most grain-based creep feeds. For example, every 0.5 lb. improvement in feed efficiency means an extra $4.50 revenue per calf.

Aside from the almost unbelievable economics of 288 per cent return on investment, there are other practical benefits to creep feeding calves. Some other producers have told me that their creep-fed calves are not as dependent on the nursing cow by autumn.

As a result, calves are much easier to wean with less stress. Other producers say that creep-fed calves are bunk-broke, which is a real advantage when put onto background feeding programs.

Despite such positive and practical creep feeding advantages, I spoke with another cow-calf operator who runs about the same size of ranch, and he never considers creep feeding his spring calves. It’s not that he has anything against creep feeding, but he believes his cows milk well throughout the summer due to his heavily managed rotational pastures. Plus, he grows cover crops, and he pastures both cows and calves on their regrowth from August to late November.

As a result, he successfully gets similar performance on his calves’ weaning weights compared to his neighbours’ calves that are creep fed.

In summary, I value what this producer had to say, but I also value the experiences of people that seem to put their creep feeders onto pasture every year. For them and those new cow-calf operators who might consider creep feeding their calves in 2025, it’s a hard-to-beat profitable creep feeding year.

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Yet, the writing was on the wall with increased world demand for milk-based food and ingredients. Like most dairy producers, some people acknowledge its skyrocketing cost but have become advocates to remain feeding high levels or accelerated levels of milk replacer.

Their endgame is that better-quality calves make better (high-milk producing) dairy cows.

Consequently, Iowa State University proved more 20 years ago that standard calf milk replacer programs (still practiced today) yield only modest calf growth rates. The researchers at that time fed milk powder at the rate of 1.25 to 1.5 per cent of bodyweight to groups of pre-weaned calves, which supplied only enough dietary energy and protein to support maintenance requirements with a little left over for nominal growth. They found that feeding milk replacer at an accelerated rate of two to 2.5 per cent of bodyweight allowed a matching group of calves to achieve phenomenal double neonate birthweight growth.

For example, a 150-dairy cow operator that I visited a few years ago switched up his automatic calf feeding system to feed a reconstituted 1,200 grams of 26-26-18 milk replacer (from a standard 20-20-20 milk replacer of 800 g) to each of his pre-weaned calves.

At 56 days or eight weeks of age, he weaned them off the milk replacer and was able to achieve an average weaning weight of 102 kg (1.05 kg per head per day). He then put them on a modest-energy heifer grower diet until they were bred at 14 to 15 months of age. He then reduced their dietary energy slightly until they were finally brought onto the milk-line at about two years of age. His first group of accelerated heifers yielded about 15 per cent more milk during their first 305d-year of lactation as compared to past milk-reared animals.

It should be mentioned that this producer also introduced a 21 per cent protein texturized oat- and corn-based calf starter to all his pre-weaned calves at seven days of age. At first, they nibble at it, but by three to four weeks of age, they were eating about 700 g, which by nature stimulates good rumen development. By the time, these calves reached 56 days of age, most of them were eating about 1.2 kg, which is proven to facilitate weaning/transference onto post-weaning replacement heifer diets.

My case-study dairy producer was always aware of the cost of his accelerated calf milk replacer program in order to achieve its superior benefits. See the included simple 2025 balance-sheet of his accelerated milk replacer program as compared to a current conventional feeding option.

1. Investment of each program — It costs about $156 or 60 per cent more to feed Holstein dairy calves on an accelerated dairy program. At first glance it seems excessive to spend over $400 per calf weaned at eight weeks of age. However, weaned heifer calves are no longer worth $400 as they once were, but $1,000 to $1,500, depending on health and genetic statute of each weaned calf.

2. Investment in a consistent milk-based program — Investing in an accelerated milk replacer feeding program just lends itself to feeding a well-formulated 26-26-18 milk replacer that now costs about $110 per 20 kg bag. The advocates say that it cannot be substituted by feeding less-expensive milk replacer or pasteurized whole milk that often cause digestive upsets when fed at higher than conventional milk-feeding levels.

3. Importance of good quality and clean water — All conventional and accelerated milk replacer feeding programs requires high-quality water free of high total dissolved solids and other contaminants. I recently witnessed a 100-cow dairy that fed milk replacer to their calves. They put in a water-treatment system in their calf barn in 2024 and within a few months, significantly improved calf health and performance.

All three points are valid. It is a matter of “accelerating” young pre-weaned dairy calves on a better plain of nutrition to meet their full growth potential. A full transference of such superiority means more milk produced and thousands of dollars earned in the not-so-far future.

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The remaining cow herd is now in its earliest weeks of gestation and requires a modest level of nutrition. It is an opportunity to feed some of the most cost-effective forage diets. But as time goes on, beef cows’ nutrient requirements steadily increase, and new enhanced diets are required.

Unfortunately, some producers do not follow suit, which often leads into a poor calving season. To avoid such catastrophe, a nutritious early-gestation diet should be established for the cow herd that can be built up as winter and their greater nutrient demands descend upon them.

Even before we get started on setting up any gestating cow feeding programs, most producers should walk through their herds, whether on pasture or at home, and think about which cows should be culled. There might be many reasons that beef cows are to be culled; the top qualification on most peoples’ list should be open cows.

I recently spoke to a lifetime producer and friend, who operates a 400-Angus/Simmental cow herd. He allows no exceptions to this rule. He figures that if an open cow (that is, not pregnant) is not sold, not one dime will be generated until the fall of 2025, even if she gets rebred by next spring. And she is already an $800 liability when she is overwintered. Besides, with the strong cull prices at the saleyard, it only makes common sense to put $2,500 per cow in your pocket.

Once these open cows and other stragglers are gone, it’s time for producers take a second walk and assess the general body condition of each gestating cow. That’s because a properly fed cow during autumn and going into winter with an optimum body condition score of five to six — on a scale of one (emaciated) to nine (obese) — has a great chance of maintaining a trouble-free pregnancy and good calving season. This compares to a thinner cow with a BCS of less than four, which is most likely to have difficulty surviving winter and often ending up in a difficult calving situation.

Early- to mid-gestation mature cows make the best overwintering candidates to either maintain their optimum BCS of five to six or build it up. In the fall, their nutrient requirements are comparably low to other times of the year.

Therefore, to support their own vital functions and an early-term fetus, cows require 52-55 per cent TDN (dietary energy), nine to 10 per cent crude protein, 0.4 per cent calcium, 0.25 per cent phosphorus, 0.2 per cent magnesium and salt, essential trace minerals and vitamins.

With the advent of bountiful cereal straw across the Prairies this autumn, I have already built a couple of dozen diets to meet these initial nutrient requirements from late October to the middle of December. Plus, I am prepared to increase their plane of nutrition as we progress into the colder weather of winter. In the table here you’ll see six well-balanced early gestation diets for 1,200- to 1,400-lb. pregnant beef cows.

One assumed consideration in all these just-under-$2 diets is to include an accompanying mineral-vitamin program. In this way, I often recommend to producers that they feed their cows a well-balanced yet less costly standard cow mineral for the first 90 days of early to mid-gestation and then switch their herd over to a breeder mineral formulated with organic trace minerals and higher vitamin levels for the remaining 60 days before calving.

It is common that many people forgo this two-step mineral program and feed the latter fortified breeder mineral for the entire gestation period.

As a beef nutritionist, I am aware that these outlined early-gestation diets (with a good mineral-vitamin feeding program) have a limited overwinter purpose. By mid-December, they should be re-evaluated and necessary changes should be made to enhance the level of their nutrition.

Such changes may include replacing a significant amount of straw with more nutritious grass hay and corn silage, or it may simply mean adding a couple extra pounds of barley. Either way, the essential nutrient requirements in most cowherds are achieved until the calving season.

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It is known that abomasal bloat needs three elements to occur: (1) a population of gas-producing micro-organisms, (2) a source of dietary carbohydrates and (3) a general abomasal environment, which results in the slowdown of the gas-emptying rate of the abomasum. There are also a multitude of mitigating nutritional and management factors that seem to tie these three conditions together, which substantially increase the threat of abomasal bloat in dairy calves.

Clostridium perfringens — a bacterium that is found in many environmental sources including the intestines of animals — is the first element often cited as the primary microbial culprit and leading cause of abomasal-related deaths in fast-growing/milk-fed dairy calves of two to five weeks of age. It is a relatively common organism found in many dairy barns, calf housing and even naturally in the gastrointestinal tract of exposed calves, but usually in small harmless populations.

Such passive existence of clostridium perfringens ends when large amounts of dietary energy such as from lactose (milk carbohydrate) become available. Type A of clostridia proliferates in the abomasum and small intestine of the calf, which rapidly produce toxins that cause damage to the intestinal mucosa lining. There is also excessive gas production by microbial fermentation of carbohydrates, coupled with the prevention of its expulsion, that leads to associated bloating.

Some research suggests that feeding a large volume of milk or mixed milk replacer in a single feeding, erratic feeding schedules or not feeding enough extra water to pre-weaned dairy calves contribute to a higher incidence of abomasal bloat. Furthermore, dairy calves fed high-osmolality milk replacers or electrolytes have been thought to increase the risk in some dairy calf barns.

Milk replacer particle size

High osmolality or the concentration of total particles in a solution (re: milk powder or electrolyte salts mixed with water) has been theorized to slow the natural digestive process of feeds in the calf’s abomasum. This delay could possibly allow the resident clostridia in the abomasum enough time to ferment available carbohydrates (re: milk lactose), which causes its population explosion, excessive gas and finally, bloat. Since cow’s milk has a natural osmolality (280-290 milliomoles/litre, mOsm/l — number of particles per litre) similar to that of blood; it usually does not lead to this abomasal unbalance.

This doesn’t mean dairy producers should abandon using milk replacer for feeding pre-weaned calves in favour of feeding whole milk in order to avoid abomasal bloat. More research has demonstrated dairy producers should only avoid feeding mixed milk replacer solutions of greater than 600 mOsm/l, as the risks of abomasal bloat significantly increases. Since, osmolality is the density of particles in solution; milk replacer powder should be weighed on a scale and mixed into water as per rates of 120-130 grams per litre of total milk replacer solution, which is similar to cow’s milk.

A good consistent mix is important too, so it also becomes a matter of spending adequate time to ensure this easy-to-follow mixing recommendation is followed every time that milk replacer is mixed. When most high-quality milk replacers are fed in this manner, osmolality of the final milk replacer solution is almost guaranteed to be under the dangerous threshold leading to abomasal bloat.

Now it becomes a matter of feeding milk replacer in a well-balanced calf-feeding program. Encompassing suggestions that help reduce abomasal bloat in pre-weaned calves are:

• Make sure colostrum is fed to newborn calves and afterwards provide milk replacer or whole milk at 2.5-4.0 litres per calf per feeding (twice a day) at approximately the same times (am/pm) each day.
• Start to feed a high-quality dry calf starter to calves at two to three weeks of age.
• Lastly, assure that extra clean water is provided in addition to milk replacer or whole milk feedings.

Aside from implementing such good bloat-prevention procedures, one should also talk to their veterinarian and discuss the best means of treating abomasal bloat discovered while walking along the calf hutches or pens. It might be a sporadic, fast-acting and often fatal disorder of young pre-weaned calves, but every animal saved is another possible high-producing and profitable milk cow of the future.

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Such is the case of a beef operation of a 350-cow-calf operation that I visited just before Christmas. I asked the producer and his wife how they managed their cows after calving in mid-March. I learned their feed and management program was a combination of common sense and economy.

They told me that once past-year calves were weaned in November, their newly gestating cow herd is moved onto on a section of unharvested barley (that were first affected by last year’s drought and then couldn’t be harvested due to a wet fall). Every few days, they dump out 20 per cent protein lick-tubs amongst them with access to loose mineral, salt and water in an opened drylot near their house. Cattle also have access to a few acres of bush to escape winter storms.

Once these cows calve, they remain on this cereal pasture, which is then supplemented with higher protein alfalfa/grass bales along with cattle lick-tubs as the main energy and protein source to maintain a body condition score of five to six (score of one being emaciated, while nine is obese) until the breeding season. At the same time, the cows are fed 1.5 kilograms of homemade grain ration (made up of 0.5 kilo of a 32 per cent beef protein supplement and one to 1.5 kilos of barley) if winter continues well into March or the nutritional support of the pasture wanes, where post-calving requirements are difficult to meet.

Constant feed requirements

Although this operation’s feeding program is unique to their own situation, their cow herd’s dietary requirements are identical to most other farms. That’s because most calved-out beef cows require about 60-62 per cent TDN (total digestible nutrients) and about 11-12 per cent crude protein daily by the time they are milking at their highest levels. First-calf heifers’ dietary requirements are very similar to mature cows, because they need the extra nutrients for growth. It is also important to keep in mind all cows, regardless of age calving in late winter, often need 20-40 per cent more dietary energy just to keep warm and maintain good body condition, which supersedes all milk production and reproduction requirements.

Essential cattle minerals (and A, D and E vitamins) should also be provided before and after calving — including calcium, phosphorus and other essential macro-minerals. Trace mineral requirements of these beef cows nearly doubles since the start of the winter season, and bio-available sources of copper, zinc, manganese, iodine, cobalt, and selenium must be fed.

As part of assuring there are sufficient essential nutrients, I often recommend beef producers take a midwinter stored-feed inventory. For example, I also know of a 200-beef cow producer, who has about 500 x 1,300 lbs. of fair-quality alfalfa/grass bales, especially saved for feeding his cows in the latter months of the winter. Therefore, he has about 80 days feeding inventory (accounted for 15 per cent wastage); ((500 bales x 1,300 lbs.) x 85%)/200 beef cows x 35 lbs. (“as fed” feed intake)).

If he starts feeding 30 days before calving, and relies solely on this forage inventory it would mean he only has enough baled feed for about 1-1/2 months after calvings begin. His forage inventory could be tight until spring pastures sprout and cows are allowed to graze new grass.

Having sufficient good-quality feed in a well-balanced post-calving, cow-feeding program is important. After a successful calving season, it helps cows raise good growing calves as well as rewards them after a successful breeding season with next year’s income.

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Moving forward, they now feed their calved-out beef cows diets which contain a higher plane of nutrition than diets they fed during gestation. These post-partum diets help cows produce lots of milk for new spring calves and return cows to good reproductive performance.

Post-partum beef cows require about 60 to 62 per cent TDN (total digestible nutrients) and about 11 to 12 per cent crude protein in their diet, by the time they are milking at their highest levels (re: 10 litres per day). First-calf heifers do not eat nor milk as well as older cows, but their dietary concentrations are similar, because they need extra nutrients for growth. It’s also important to keep in mind all cows that calving February to April might use 20 to 30 per cent more dietary energy just to keep warm, which supersedes milk production and reproductive requirements.

Essential cattle minerals (and A, D and E vitamins) should also be provided in post-partum cow diets, such as calcium, phosphorus and other essential macro-minerals. They complement whatever mineral levels found in forages. Also trace mineral requirements of beef cows nearly doubles since the start of the winter season. Bio-available sources of copper, zinc, manganese, iodine, cobalt, and selenium must be fed.

Manitoba experience

With these nutrient guidelines in mind, I asked a friend who runs a 150-beef cow operation in the Interlake region of Manitoba, how he specifically feeds and manages his cow herd after they calve in mid-March.

First, he tells me his main goal after calving is to maintain the calving body condition score of cows at 2.7-3.0 (1 = thin to 5 = obese) for the next 80-90 days. It’s his foundation in order to have cows milk well, repair their reproductive tracts and almost assure cows and heifers have at least one strong heat cycle before the start of this year’s breeding season.

His subsequent post-partum feeding program is what he calls “old school nutrition.”

Back in the early December, he segregated his 1,200-1,400 lb. hay bales. Near the south side of an old barn, he stores bales of gestation hay; mostly fair-quality grass hay. Across the road in a tree-lined field, he stores lactation bales; better quality hay (1/3 alfalfa and 2/3 timothy hay) for main cows and replacement heifers after calving.

My friend rolls out the lactation bales at the rate of 30-40 lbs. of hay per cow on a daily basis. He will supplement with three to four pounds of ground barley, when the weather gets really cold. In contrast, he is a big advocate of putting out loose “breeder cattle mineral” (with organic/chelated trace minerals and fortified levels of vitamins A, D and E) at the rate of two to four ounces per head per day in tire-mounted mineral feeders along with blue cobalt-iodized salt blocks.

As a cost-conscious beef producer, he likes to budget feeding programs for his cattle. For example, this is his investment for this year’s post-calving diet:

• 35 lbs. forage @ $40 per 1,200-lb. bale = $1.17
• 3 lbs. of barley @ $3.75 per bushel = $0.23
• 4 oz. of Breeder mineral @ $40 per 25-kg bag = $0.18

Total cost per head …………………………………… = $1.58

For roughly $1.60 per head per day, my friend successfully maintains the BCS of his cow herd from calving to the breeding season. His cow herd’s conception rate by mid-June has consistently been around 95 per cent in a 70-day calving/breeding season.

Several university studies have confirmed my friend’s commitment of maintaining BCS from calving to the breeding season. Case in point: a two-year Oklahoma State University study illustrates two polarized BCS situations; beef cows that were fed to maintain body condition from calving until the beginning of the breeding season averaged 94 per cent pregnant, while those that calved in similar body condition but lost nearly a full condition score were 73 per cent rebred.

Regardless of my friend’s “old school nutrition” or the latter well-run university study, a good feeding program for cows after calving comes down to meeting their essential nutrient requirements, so they milk well and are ready for the upcoming breeding season. Success of these feeding efforts is measured with this year’s growing calves and the cows getting pregnant with another new calf.

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For the next 90 days after calving, the TLC nutrient requirements for a typical lactating beef cow are the highest for any time of the year. Compared to late gestation, once a cow calves her energy needs increase by about 50 per cent, protein needs increase by about 20 to 25 per cent and the need for minerals and vitamins nearly doubles.

Of all of the nutrients, dietary energy is by far, her single largest nutrient requirement.

Cows have priorities

A post-partum mature cow milking about 10 litres per day requires about 58 to 60 per cent total digestible nutrients (TDN) of dietary energy, while a first-calf heifer will require about a 62 to 63 per cent TDN, due to their natural lower feed consumption and body growth. Most of this energy intake in both cases is prioritized; body maintenance (including keeping warm) takes precedent, followed by lactation, growth and finally reproduction. It is also important to remember all cows calving out in January to March may need 20 to 30 per cent more energy in their diets just to stay warm.

Thin cows don’t perform

Widely accepted research shows thin beef cows with poor energy status BCS of 2.0 (or less) have trouble returning to estrus within 90 days of calving to be rebred, compared to those counterparts with adequate 2.5 to 3.0 BCS. Thin first-calf heifers have also been shown to be particularly vulnerable to poor reproduction due to the energy demands of milk production and growth.

Aside from the highest energy demands for the year, protein and minerals/vitamins are important in the post-partum cow diets. A protein shortage in the post-partum diet will likely depress milk production. Dietary protein is not only involved in actual milk synthesis, but is a basic constituent of milk (re: 3.0 per cent protein, DM basis). And a lack of protein in the ration can lead to decreased rumen microbial activity (decreased fermentation and digestibility of forages and other feeds), reduced total feed intake, poor body growth in replacement heifers and visible weight loss. A post-partum cow with a 2.5-3.0 BCS that is milking well should receive about 10 to 11 per cent protein in her diet.

• From the Canadian Cattlemen website: Vitamin E/selenium requirements an open book

Similarly, macro-minerals, trace-minerals and Vitamins A, D and E play a wide range of metabolic roles in the beef cow body from vital biological reactions to milk production in the udder to stimulation of healthy follicles and the fertilization process.

All essential post-partum TLC nutrient requirements should be achieved with practical diets comprised of a foundation of home-grown/good quality forage; often augmented with energy concentrates (re: grain or high-energy grain byproducts) as well as with added high protein feedstuffs. Similar late-gestation beef rations should be aimed at maintaining current cowherd BCS, producing milk and a successful return to active reproduction.

Although there are literarily hundreds of post-calving diets that could be fed until grass starts to sprout, above are half-dozen TLC examples:

These typical post-partum beef cow diets show supplementation of dietary energy or protein is necessary when the respective nutrient demands of the lactating cows are not met by feeding forages, alone (re: minerals/vitamins supplied by commercial 2:1 cattle mineral). And avoid feeding low-quality forages in any beef diet that fails to meet all post-calving requirements.

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