Feeding beef feeder cattle

by **charangusman08** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:43 am

I was wondering how you should feed beef feeders? My dad and I always argue on how to feed them. Do you feed more hay than corn or vise versa? Juat would like to know what you people think is the best way to fatten em up.

by **gonzo** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:09 am

It all depends on weather your gettin'm ready for the freezer or to grow for profit. I have a steer I'm start'n to feed out for slaghter in J une he's gettngrain now but mostly hay . Slowly I'll bring him to 1 % of his body weight of beefgrower and cracked corn .IMYSELF can't afford to keepm on grain they're whole life. mostly grass and hay till the last few months they seem to grow good and I KNOW THEY TASTE GOOD. :mrgreen:

by **charangusman08** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 8:10 am

Well right now they weigh between 700-900 pounds and we feed them 12 lbs corn per day a head average and all the hay they can get.

by **ChrisB** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:04 pm

At about 900 pounds mine are getting all the corn they will eat and poor quality hay. I'm not saying it's the best way, but I like to get them up to 1400 pounds or more in the shortest amount of time I can.

by **TexasBred** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:25 pm

charangusman08 wrote:Well right now they weigh between 700-900 pounds and we feed them 12 lbs corn per day a head average and all the hay they can get.

You're certainly not pushing them as hard as you could but make sure they keep eating hay.

by **HEREFORD ROADHOG** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:51 pm

charangusman08 wrote:Well right now they weigh between 700-900 pounds and we feed them 12 lbs corn per day a head average and all the hay they can get.

You could easily add 6 lb a day more feed per head per day.

by **charangusman08** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:30 pm

My dad is worried they wont get very tall and finish out too light weight. I say we should feed them at least 15 lbs/day avg. and all the hay they can eat. I agree with him they should always get all the hay they can eat, but I think lower quality hay the older they get.

by **Kathie in Thorp** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:37 pm

We only finish a few a year. For about 80 days pre-butcher, we start working them up to 12 lbs. grain/day (2/3 of that is corn; the rest is COB) and all the alfalfa they can eat. We keep them on about an acre of skimpy pasture, so they've got room to move around and exercise. Before we put them on that program, they're out on grass.

by **highalpine** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 12:21 am

I am looking to feed out a couple of angus yearling steers and give them free choice COB mix working up to 2% of body weight/day while on good pasture. What daily weight gain should I expect? I was thinking 2.5/day for 80-90 days, I being optimistic? Does it slow down as they reach finishing weight. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

by **jacobnlynn** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:32 pm

Has anyone here used spent brewers grain to fatten to butcher? Would like some insight. We have our first steer that we bought back in October and he's been on the brewers grain since January 1st. It's free.. so it would be great if that's all we needed for good beef. But if it's not.. we spent a lot of money on him.. will do what it takes for good meat. He's on grass hay and we had some alfalfa for the month of February.. but deer found it and took out the alfalfa in about a week from finding it. Thanks

by **CreekSide** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 8:48 pm

All the hay they want, 15 pounds of grain and we feed it spread out over two feedings a day. But still learning. Have a Coors plant in our area so I would be interested to know if the brewers grain does well.

by **WIBADGER** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:12 am

corn silage is the way to go if you can get your hands on some. save the hay for the cows.

by **Lazy M** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:59 pm

I agree on limiting the hay. You're wanting them to fatten as quick as possible (I'm assuming these are slaughter beefs), and you won't get that if they're filling up partially on hay. Give them about 18 lbs of shelled corn and less than a quarter of a small square bale per day per calf. The hay is only their so they can pass manure.