Ok, we have established the fact that these critters aregoing to be for home grown beef, makes things alot easier...........
You want easy cheap (er) beef without alot of input costs I assume?
Don't worry bout the horns.You are keeping them, you are eating the meat not the horns....horn removal is simply for market animals. So less work for you, less stress for them.
Snip or band the nuts asap, get it over with. Use a good vaccine such as covexin-8 to prevent problems with the banding etc. This vaccine is cheap, and also helps prevent the most common diseases that effect cattle.
Are these your only cattle now? No other contact with others? then don't bother with the worry or expense of other vaccines. unless you have some really virolent bug going around that is transmitted via insects etc. By the time that they are old enough to really begin active immunity you will be about to beef them anyway, at least six months old before a good immunity can be established..
Otherwise at this young age, go for an internasel vaccines that gives rapid protection again many respritory issues. Stay away from any MLV's as they can in fact infect young calves with a psydo-illness not unlike what you are trying to actually prevent.
Here is my take on all the different feeds...................you are going to EAT them..you are NOT raising them as replacement heifers, or brood cattle, show animals, etc.....don't go overboard on expensive feeds and minerals...a good calf starter and good milk are a must for ANY calf operation, but after that, a decent 12-13 % protien calf grower is fine, and if you want to save some bucks and get good growth along with energy for this cold time of year, suppliment the feed with corn, this is the feed of choice for feed lots to fatten animals fast......and based upon your geographic area....corn may or may not be cheaper then premixed feed.
Another idea, again based upon your location is the availablity of distillers grains, a cheaper feed yet.
Now here is the thing...if these calves do NOT share the pasture with any other animals your job is that much easier. you hardly have to worry about the vaccines, and worming besides the ONE time worming i would do just prior to allowing them out in open pasture not shared with other animals. Again, you are beefing them, so what few parasites they may pick up won't become an issue and begin to 'load' them until well past beefing age.
. At this young age, you can basicly creep feed (free choice)them, meaning that if you chose to, you can allow them all the grain they want to eat............younger calves, unlike older cattle will not load up to the point of health problems........doing this allows you to do several things...............they grow faster, allows you to also add free choice hay or other roughages which is a must.
And you can use a much cheaper concentrate that way. If you think that they are eating to much, or want to limit the grain intake you can do so by feeding a limiter, or salting it down a bit..........Purina has a formula for such a program. Don't worry about protien tubs etc if you are feeding grain.....just another expense not needed.
As far as mineral programs...........yes i believe in them, and GOOD mineral programs are expensive, and essentil for established long time breeding herds.........but in your case.......a bag of red TM salt will get you through on these two BEEFS at less then 8 bucks for the bag.
Now, another important thing..........what ever you do...make all feed changes gradually......even the changes of brands and types of grains............. prevents intestional disorders or upsets. If you can fed corn the cheapest then do so........just not so much that they bloat.
Main thing here is to get the least expensive gains for your time efforts, and money. Don't buy into all the bells and whistles for raising meat. Once you have established the fact that you are a mini feed lot so to speak act that way! Keep the expense of all inputs in mind as you prepare these guys for your table.
So, first thing is don't be confused here...........most of what is sold in the feed stores and what is discussed in these forums are all about producing herds of reproducing cattle, LONG TERM investments so to speak...not raising a couple of steers for the freezer at home..............and many of us will tell you , if they are willing to admit....most of the beef in OUR freezers are our FAILURES......the animals that didn't make it market for one reason or the other.
So go into the remainder of the few months these guys have before they go onto your table with economy in mind, don't worry about all the fancy acrutements that can go into raising livestock....it's just not needed in this case.
and as always...Good Luck!
And hey guys.................another 'highjacked' thread debating horn length? for shame......lol :lol: ;-) :cboy:
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