Wheat for cattle feed

Is it ok to feed whole wheat to cattle? My friend thinks he has a score on wheat straight from the combine.

I would assume you would want to grind or steam it to get better results out of it.

At least they won Ohio St couldn't win even though they were cheating guess it takes a smart cheater to win(LOL)

I have never done it but I hav heard it helps with fertility.

Sure. Wheat has a crude protein of 12% on average.

Here's a good article about feeding wheat to finish out cattle.
Feeding Wheat to Cattle

yes,if you feed it like say oats or somthing.probably wouldnt want to just turn them in with a unlimited amount of wheat seed.would make far more sense though to plant that seed and turn cattle in on wheat pasture.how much is he getting it for?if its cheap enough and its good haul it right out of granary to coop.sell it and buy feed.seems odd,that someone would sell good wheat as cattle feed.i would look for the snake in the woodpile on that deal.something is not right there,ive bought seed to plant from other farmers,but not to feed.i would like to paul harvey it,find out the rest of the story,almost has to be old seed that no good for anything else

Seems to me as the wheat will ball up in their stomachs and cause some serious problems. You better check up on it first with a vet or nutritionist.

Have no idea how this answer to the Ohio State
thread ended up here.

Hi Dave, I would wonder what is wrong with the wheat in question--as I think the wheat prices are pretty good right now, and I would also think that the farmer would want to sell all he could. Is your friend going to pay market price for the wheat?

I have talked to several local farmers, who have said that this year's crop isn't too bad, although the cold, wet Spring probably brought down yields some. The harvest season has been really good, with very little rain to mess things up. Most wheat has been harvested.

Some years ago, we had lots of rain in late July and August, which delayed harvesting. Some farmers had trouble with the wheat sprouting in the head. Sprouted wheat ruins it for conventional use, and wheat with that problem had to be sold as feed grain, at a much lower price.

A neighbor tried to raise wheat last year on some ground that had been in CRP for a long time. I watched their progress, plowing it all up and getting it ready to plant. It was nice to see the field back in production again, and the crop looked like they would get a real good yield from it. After it was combined I talked to them, and learned that the crop had rust problems, and something that should have been done to prevent that was not done. They were disappointed, as the crop was not going to be worth nearly as much as they thought it would be. I notice that this year they didn't even plant the ground, just did some summer fallowing. Maybe next year...and maybe that could be what is going on with the wheat your friend is getting.

There are farmers around that still fool around with some cattle, and I suspect that they probably make their own feed, to supplement hay and pasture. I bet they use some wheat, as well as oats and barley, since those are the grains that I see growing in our county. They also might add peas or lentils that are around.

I think I would grind the grain if I was going to try to make my own feed. Years ago, we had a bunch of whole oats that we tried to feed our cattle. They ate the oats just fine, but a lot of them went right through, and were visible whole in their manure. That kind of puzzled me, since cows chew their cud a lot, and I would have thought the grains would get smashed pretty well that way, but I guess not. I doubt that they got much food value from those whole oats.

I wish I had a definite answer. I would guess that almost all wheat produced is used in some way, if not for human consumption, for feed for some kind of critters. I think I would try it and see how it works out. Like anything else that is different, I would feed it very sparingly with plenty of grass or hay. Good luck!

David, it is too much to go into here, but go to www dot search dot com and type in "feeding wheat to cattle". You will get hundreds of hits which will explain the pitfalls, benefits, and limitations of feeding wheat to cattle. Tom

Just like some have stated about wondering what is wrong with the wheat. Be aware that there is a toxin called vomitoxin which is a mold produced by fusarium fungus that infects grains such as wheat. In high enough doses it can cause weight loss, infertility, abortion, and hoof issues in cattle at anything higher than 10 ppm.

Thanks for the replies; they help a lot.

David I had a wheat test plot 1 year, sold the harvest to a farmer. The local vet told him to blend it with shelled corn, he then ran it all through a grinder mixer. Worked well for him.