best feed for steer

[onecowfarms1]

hello i have a 580# steer that i just picked up at the sale barn ,and plan to resales with in the next couple of weeks at a diffrent sale what is the best feed that i can feed him till than for added gain in weight ? thanks in advance

 

[Dusty Roads]

Sorry onecow but there is not much that you can do with a calf in a couple of weeks. You will need three months or more to put any marketable weight on. Different people feed diferent, I use a sweet feed with corn, molassas, protien, and lots of good stuff.
Good luck
D.R.

 

[SouthFla]

Hope you're not planning on making any profit.

If he hasn't been on grain previously, you won't even have time to get him up to speed on the amount of grain he'd be able to handle in the short time you want to keep him.

In other words, you have to start grain at about 1 pound per day and build him up to 2% to 2.25% of his body weight in grain fed over a 2 to 3 week time span.

If you give too much too soon he'll bloat.

Good luck.

 

[auctionboy]

"Hope you're not planning on making any profit." It can be profitable from time to time to buy and sell livestock in a matter of weeks at different auctions.

 

[CattleHand]

"Hope you're not planning on making any profit." It can be profitable from time to time to buy and sell livestock in a matter of weeks at different auctions.

yea cause of the swing of the markets and the prices at different locations

 

[Aero]

unless this is a one time deal, biosecurity issues make this a possible nightmare if done with any frequency.

 

[BC]

unless this is a one time deal, biosecurity issues make this a possible nightmare if done with any frequency.

I don't quite get this statement. There are cattle bought and straightened out and then resold all the time. It is called backgrounding or preconditioning.

 

[auctionboy]

unless this is a one time deal, biosecurity issues make this a possible nightmare if done with any frequency.

It seems like after a big sale at the local auction someone buys something they didn't want and it ends up back there the next week. It happens everywhere all the time.

 

[msscamp]

unless this is a one time deal, biosecurity issues make this a possible nightmare if done with any frequency.

I don't quite get this statement. There are cattle bought and straightened out and then resold all the time. It is called backgrounding or preconditioning.

That is true, but backgrounding/preconditioning is usually done over a few to many months (depending on the area, time of year and demand, and price fluctuations) - not weeks. When you buy a calf and feed him for a couple of weeks, all you have usually accomplished is allowing him the time to settle into a new place, and gain back the weight he lost during the stress of being hauled, ran through the salebarn, and finding himself in new, unfamiliar surroundings. If you're unlucky enough that he also got sick, it will take longer to gain back the weight he lost because he also stopped eating for a period of time.

 

[BC]

unless this is a one time deal, biosecurity issues make this a possible nightmare if done with any frequency.

I don't quite get this statement. There are cattle bought and straightened out and then resold all the time. It is called backgrounding or preconditioning.

That is true, but backgrounding/preconditioning is usually done over a few to many months (depending on the area, time of year and demand, and price fluctuations) - not weeks. When you buy a calf and feed him for a couple of weeks, all you have usually accomplished is allowing him the time to settle into a new place, and gain back the weight he lost during the stress of being hauled, ran through the salebarn, and finding himself in new, unfamiliar surroundings. If you're unlucky enough that he also got sick, it will take longer to gain back the weight he lost because he also stopped eating for a period of time.

To me, 45 to 60 days is a couple of weeks. To others it is a moth and a half to 2 months. I guess it is like how a former president said - it depends on your definition of "Is".

 

[dun]

To me, 45 to 60 days is a couple of weeks. To others it is a moth and a half to 2 months. I guess it is like how a former president said - it depends on your definition of "Is".

By the definition taught me many years ago, a couple is 2.

 

[Aero]

To me, 45 to 60 days is a couple of weeks. To others it is a moth and a half to 2 months. I guess it is like how a former president said - it depends on your definition of "Is".

By the definition taught me many years ago, a couple is 2.

i agree with you dun. Merriam-Webster has a little bit different definition.

4: an indefinite small number : few <a couple of days ago>

 

[dun]

To me, 45 to 60 days is a couple of weeks. To others it is a moth and a half to 2 months. I guess it is like how a former president said - it depends on your definition of "Is".

By the definition taught me many years ago, a couple is 2.

i agree with you dun. Merriam-Webster has a little bit different definition.

4: an indefinite small number : few <a couple of days ago>

To me more then a couple is several if no definite number is given. But I'm old, from a period when things were more definite.

 

[msscamp]

I don't quite get this statement. There are cattle bought and straightened out and then resold all the time. It is called backgrounding or preconditioning.

That is true, but backgrounding/preconditioning is usually done over a few to many months (depending on the area, time of year and demand, and price fluctuations) - not weeks. When you buy a calf and feed him for a couple of weeks, all you have usually accomplished is allowing him the time to settle into a new place, and gain back the weight he lost during the stress of being hauled, ran through the salebarn, and finding himself in new, unfamiliar surroundings. If you're unlucky enough that he also got sick, it will take longer to gain back the weight he lost because he also stopped eating for a period of time.

To me, 45 to 60 days is a couple of weeks. To others it is a moth and a half to 2 months. I guess it is like how a former president said - it depends on your definition of "Is".

Whatever you think. I guess I'm a little more aware of time than you are. 45 - 60 days is 1 1/2 to 2 months to me, but if a 'couple of weeks' works for you, so be it.

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

unless this is a one time deal, biosecurity issues make this a possible nightmare if done with any frequency.

I don't quite get this statement. There are cattle bought and straightened out and then resold all the time. It is called backgrounding or preconditioning.

not in two weeks !!!!! just enough time for shipping fever to set in .

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

To me, 45 to 60 days is a couple of weeks. To others it is a moth and a half to 2 months. I guess it is like how a former president said - it depends on your definition of "Is".

By the definition taught me many years ago, a couple is 2.

and 60 days is a "couple" of MONTHS. :mrgreen: