New to having cows. We have 4 on ~100 acres
50% pasture 50% woods

Good ponds and fencing.

Looking for supplement suggestions and any technology ideas to monitor.

Currently using producer pride tubs, cubes on weekends, and game cameras.

A game camera will not tell you if fence is down. Best way to check on cows is physically check on them/fence line and like others have posted have good neighbors/friends that will let you know if they notice anything.

Check out gps monitoring- couple brands out there have collars for cows. Shock collars to keep cows in an area and tied to your phone to control

This 1000%

Have any recommendations on brands for five or less cows? Tried doing a search but seems most of them are marketing towards large operations. Obviously where the money is.

We learned this the hard way, though we didn't mind the free bull service . Lucky he didn't even mess up the fence much

Ags_2002 said:

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New to having cows. We have 4 on ~100 acres
50% pasture 50% woods

Good ponds and fencing.

Looking for supplement suggestions and any technology ideas to monitor.

Currently using producer pride tubs, cubes on weekends, and game cameras.

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I'd ditch the Producer's Pride tubs and go to crystalyx or a similar tub. Yes, there will be some sticker shock, but they are a cooked tub (meaning low moisture). So when you put out a 200 lb tub you are putting out around 190 lbs of feed. With a chemically hardened tub like what you are feeding you are putting out less than 140 lbs of feed typically. Get a mineral tub and a protein tub and you will be fine.

krosch11 said:

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...though we didn't mind the free bull service . Lucky he didn't even mess up the fence much

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This is exactly what my Grandpa did for years. He never owned a bull. He would always move his small herd of 20 or so cows to the pasture around his house when he wanted to have them bred. His neighbor has a brown swiss bull that was happy to jump the fence and service the cows. After he harvested his 2nd crop rice, he would move the herd to graze the stubble through the winter. He always had a calf crop in the spring.

There is good information above. I recommend the 30% PF (positive feed) protein tubs with IGR. Keep loose mineral available to them all year long. Keep it dry under the barn or shed.

Buy a tactacam to place on your salt or mineral. The cows will come to salt and mineral regularly if not everyday. You'll be able to at least count them and make sure they're still there. Also you'll be able to identify when you've got extra cows because the neighbors decided to join yours because you actually have grass, speaking from experience.

I put tactacam's on water troughs or mineral on all of my places. I can identify when I have issues with water quickly. Also verify if my cows are there when my neighbor calls to see if the cows on his place are mine or not. Cameras have saved me more than their cost in time and fuel. They're not a replacement for checking cows but they damn sure supplement it nicely.