average daily gain of a steer calf and a heifer calf???

[mermill2]

What is the average daily gain of a steer calf and a heifer calf on grass pasture with no supplemental feeds?

 

[PaMike]

I have Holstein steers on a rotationaly grazed setup. No suplimental feed and I got average 1.5#/day gain. Summer will be less, and fall will be more.

 

[mermill2]

I forgot to add something to that subject, The weight gain would be on angus cattle. Thank you for your reply Pa Mike.

 

[john250]

I forgot to add something to that subject, The weight gain would be on angus cattle. Thank you for your reply Pa Mike.

Weaned? Nursing?

 

[mermill2]

The calf was born on March 6 and is still nursing,

 

[tytower]

I'd say my calves are born at about 15Kilos ( 30 lb) and by 12 months weigh about 250 Kilos for a bull and 200 for a heifer. (500 lb and 400lb)

So at 365 days average = .64Kilos/day for a bull and .51Kilos/day (1.1lb and 1 lb)

But this is an average ,obviously they will put on less when small and more when bigger

 

[mnmtranching]

mermill2, I think in good BA cattle,on good grass pasture and nursing will gain close to 3 lbs a day for steers and about 2.75 lbs for heifers. 205 day old steers should average about 700 and heafers 25 to 50 pounds less.

mnmt

 

[randiliana]

mermill2, I think in good BA cattle,on good grass pasture and nursing will gain close to 3 lbs a day for steers and about 2.75 lbs for heifers. 205 day old steers should average about 700 and heafers 25 to 50 pounds less.

mnmt

Only our absolutely exceptional calves ever seem to get to the 3 lbs/day. Our average would be about 2.6 for the steers and 2.5 on the heifers.

 

[ENNOT]

I agree with randiliana. I weaned off 5 steer calves to take to a club calf sale, purebred to 1/2 Angus, born in March & April, and those calves gained 2.4 to 2.7 ADG.

Those calves were roughly 115 to 140 days old, and I figured that was as good as you could ask for. The funny thing was that there were two from first calf heifers, and they had gained the best.

 

[Susie David]

We average 2.5 year around...without pushing them DMc

 

[Stocker Steve]

They can gain between 0.5 and 2.0 pounds per day on forage ONLY. Average managment usually results in 1.5 to 1.8 pounds per day for steers, with heifers are about 10% less. It is hard to make any profit at less than 1.5 because the fixed costs just eat you up. Green 5 to 6 wt continential cross steer calves on grass / legume mix do the best for me.

If you supplement enough they can do 2.5 to 3.5 pounds per day. It is pretty easy to increase production by supplementing but you really need a sharp pencil!

 

[redfornow]

Around 2.5 here some less some more.
But the goal is 2.5, more and the profits get better.
Doesnt happen for me often but there are years when you can get er done.
MD

 

[dun]

We weighed calves yesterday:
Steers avg age 4.857 months, avg wt 511.7, ADG 2.70. High ADG 3.22, low ADG 2.05
Heifers avg age 5 months, avg wt 522.5, ADG 2.72. High ADG 3.22, low ADG 2.16
Overall avg age 4.933 months, avg wt 517.5, ADG 2.71.

No supplement for calves or cows. Parched pasture, droughty or semi droughty most of the time.
We won;t be weaning for another week or so but won;t be weighing them again till the end of September

dun

 

[mermill2]

Thanks to you all for your replies.