Calves quick to feed are quicker to market.

The economics of creep feeding beef calves wax and wane with the relationship of feed costs and calf prices, but the practice pays better now than at most times in the past.

“Given the current cattle market, producers may find that creep feeding is more profitable than in the past few years,” said David Lalman, extension beef cattle specialist, Oklahoma State University. “The value of added weight gain is exceptionally high from a historical standpoint.”

“When cattle prices are relatively high, the incremental value of weight gain is high,” said Mike John, manager of MFA Health Track. “Creep feeding pays any time it costs less to put a pound of gain on a calf than that pound is worth.”

“Delayed growing doesn’t work as well in the current market,” said Dr. Jim White, MFA ruminant nutritionist. “It takes too long to get an animal to finished weight. You need to look at weight per day of age.”

However, a heavy grain ration is not a good option for free-choice creep rations, White added. Calves may get too fleshy and heifers can deposit fat in their udders, which can lower their future milk production.

“Also, there’s a danger of letting the feeder go empty, then sticking the calves if they over-eat when you refill the feeder,” White continued. “It’s best to start calves on a sweet, palatable feed, such as MFA Cattle Charge, until they are eating about 1 percent of body weight. And I like to have feed in the creep feeder when we pull it into place.”

Calves’ natural curiosity will prompt them to investigate the newly placed feeder.

As to equipment, creep feeding can be done in any number of facilities that allow calves access to the feed but exclude adult animals. It may be as simple as encircling an existing self feeder with a hot wire, placed high enough so that calves can walk under the wire but cows cannot.

Small, skid-mounted creep feeders are available, priced at $500 and up. But these have limited capacity and mobility. For a truly portable (wheel mounted) creep feeder that can follow the herd as it rotates among different pastures expect to pay much more. Many MFA Agri Services Centers rent creep feeders.

For example, MFA Agri Services Center at Jefferson City, Mo., carries a portable creep feeder, complete with cow-excluding gates and rents it for a per day charge. If the cowman decides he’d rather own the feeder than rent, the Agri Services Center applies the rent that has been paid to the purchase price.

“I like a creep feeder with cow-excluding gates that are relatively tall and narrow, rather than one with shorter, wider gates,” said Jim White. “The feeder should have working adjustable gates or doors to limit the feed flow into the trough. I like to keep these adjusted to where a third or a half of the trough is showing rather than open them wider. And I carry a 3-inch putty knife in the truck to scrape down crusted feed if the ration gets wet.”

“It’s a good idea to bed the creep area with straw or dry hay,” said Eldon Cole, University of Missouri livestock specialist. “The bedding attracts the calves and, in wet weather, keeps them out of the muddier areas frequented by the cows.”

Locating the creep feeding area deserves some thought, too, Cole added. If possible, he recommends placing the feeder near the loafing area of the cows, on a well-drained site. But, in many cases, the location of the creep feeder will be a compromise between what is ideal for the calves and what is accessible to the feed truck.

The main idea of creep feeding calves is to supplement, rather than replace, the nutrients calves are getting from milk and forage. When forage quality is poor or quantity is limited, this idea works especially well.

“By contrast, when cattle have abundant access to quality forage,” said Lalman, “creep feed tends to replace rather than supplement the forage.”

For years, Mike John has creep fed calves from the fall-calving herd he manages in Randolph County, Mo.

“We start creep feeding when the oldest calves are about 60 days old,” John said. “At 60 days of age, a calf isn’t eating much feed—and doesn’t until he is about 90 days old. But we want feed to be available to them as soon as they will start eating.

“We start calves on Cattle Charge until they are eating about 1 percent of their body weight, then switch them to TrendSetter SLR with grain,” John continued. “At weaning, we go back to Cattle Charge and pull the creep feeders into weaning pens. Calves are accustomed to eating from the feeders and they continue eating. It takes a lot of the stress out of the weaning process.”

As Jim White said, once calves are consuming feed equal to 1 percent of their body weight or more, feed should be limited. A ration such as TrendSetter SLR blended with grain can be adjusted for desired consumption.

In addition to earning more money, creep feeding takes pressure off cows and has a positive impact on body condition and subsequent rebreeding.

There are other collateral benefits: “Research shows that creep feeding can improve beef quality grade when calves go straight to the feedlot after weaning,” said Lalman.

Jim White agrees. “And creep-fed calves traditionally shrink less than non-fed calves if you sell them at weaning,” he added. “And they have less sickness and death loss. Once an animal gets sick, his profitability is compromised and he rarely grades as well.”

Creep feeding may help calves qualify for more marketing options, too.

“The Japanese may soon be accepting U.S. beef, but only from animals verified to be 21 months of age or younger,” said Mike John. “That makes weight per day of age important. Those extra pounds creep feeding puts on a calf before weaning increases his weight per day of age.”

Computing the value of added weight gain

As with all agricultural accounting, the bottom line isnŐt always simple to figure.

Say your 500-pound calves are priced at $1.20 per pound. If you add another 50 pounds to them by creep feeding, the calves will bring $1.16 per pound. So, what is the extra 50 pounds of gain worth?

500 lb. calf @ $1.20 = $600.00

550 lb. calf @ $1.16 = $638.00

Difference in value = $ 38.00

This makes the added 50 pounds of weight gain worth $0.76 per pound, not $1.16 per pound. The reason? The heavier calf brought $0.04 less for each of the initial 500 pounds.

But the extra 50 pounds of gain should require less than $30 worth of feed, which makes creep feeding a paying proposition in this example.