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Feed conversion efficiency is an exremely important economic trait. Feed is the single biggest cost after purchasing stock when feeding cattle and therfore has the most potential for increasing margins. There are significant variations in FCR between both breeds and individuals within breeds...

Brewers grains are an exellent feed, 22% protein 11.5 ME. You will need to clamp and cover it if you are storing large quantities as it will get hot and mouldy very quickly. I wouldn't store more than I could feed in two weeks.

The calfs requirement for protein will also depend on the energy concentration of the ration. At higher energy levels, more protein will be required. Without knowing how potent the concentrate you are feeding is it is difficult to say but my instinct is that you are feeding insufficient protein...

My definition of full feed would be to work them up to having feed available 24/7. 9lb twice per day would not be far off. By that stage they would be safe on full feed. They will still need access to hay/straw though. I prefer straw as they will eat more corn than if hay is offered. For every...

Full feed, I believe, is the same as free choice, we call it ad-libitum over here. It all they can eat. You should still offer some long fibre such as hay or straw to aid digestion though. I get steers onto full feed starting with two small feeds of about 1kg of corn at both ends of the day. I...

The old feed will probably be mostly stemmy material, long chop fibre and maybe sour forage. The cows will have sorted through it pretty well and eaten all the goodies. Depending on how long its been hanging around it may be ok to feed. I have fed pushed out feed over winter to dry cows in the...

Is the question to me? I use a beef finishing mineral which is mixed with the corn.

Dont feed corn but I do feed cracked wheat and barley. I would guess the main benefits would be increased palatability and less dust. Feed value per unit of dry matter will be the same as for dry corn.

I ensile corn whilst still green and the corn is at the "soft cheese" stage. If its too dry the whole clamp can get hot and spoil. You can seal the clamp with molasses to aid fermentation. It is essential to exclude oxygen from the clamp. Have you thought about combining it and esiling just the...

At about 550 kg liveweight I will introduce steers to feed bringing them onto full corn over a month or so. Free choice wheat straw is provided for roughage. Feed is rolled barley or wheat balanced to 13% protein with rape or soya meal. Mineral is mixed with the feed.

How does it do this without knowing individual intakes? or is feed efficiecy different from feed conversion ratio? For example bull A consumes 8kg of feed per day and gains 1.4kg liveweight. Bull B consumes 8.5kg of feed per day but also gains 1.4kg liveweight. Bull A clearly has a better FCR...

Sounds expensive and complicated to me. Is this a creep feed or for weaned calves?

I think Mike is trying to work out an average FCR for the group rather than per individual animal. Is this correct Mike? This was the only real drawbak of doing it this way that I could see.

Does your calf have access to plenty of fresh water? He wont eat corn unless he has water to drink. Also dont overfeed. I start calfs off on a double handfull of 16% protein coarse mix and dont feed any more till its cleaned the bucket. If you fill it right up you wont be able to see how much it...

By feed efficiency I take it you mean feed conversion ratio or pounds of gain per unit of energy? Should be fairly easy to calculate knowing the weight of the ration fed and asuming you intend to regularly weigh the bulls. Only drawback seems to be you will get an average FCR for the group, not...

I would wean when he is eating about 5 pound of corn per day, then feed ad lib till about four months, then restricted to 2-3 pounds with good grazing.

Thanks for the link caustic

Caustic,I am begining to understand completely your point of view regarding british and continental breeds. I have just been looking at some of the bulls on sementank.com and those animals are unrecognisable from the breeds I know, particularly the simmentals and its not just the colour. That...

This link was all I could find frankie. http://www.kt.iger.bbsrc.ac.uk/FACT%20s ... s/kt38.pdf The British grading system is based on the EUROP grid with E being the highest yeilding carcases and P the poorest. ThinK belgian blue through to holstein and you get the idea. Fat cover is scored...

Thanks for your post Frankie, the points you make I think are right, the UK carcase grading systen is based on yeild grades and fat cover, giving no weighting to marbling. This is something which discriminates against breeds like angus and there are calls for a move toward a system much more...