I have a may 1st, bull (soon to be steer) calf that I am planning on taking to the freezer. Right now he is taking in #18 of a mix of sweet feed, corn, little soy bean meal, #1.5 of cake, and oats, with free choice hay. Should I just switch him over to straight corn gradually, along with the hay, or keep upping the present feed mix? Never raised my own freezer beef, so suggestions appreciated.
calf for freezer beef
- Thread starter Dee
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Rookie
Well-known member
Dee, there be as many opinions on the subject as there be breeds a cattle. I like ta pour the corn to em for 3 months, some folk say take em right off the grass.If ya be havin a holstein, cracked corn will work well cause a stein wont put on alot a external fat. If it be angus , herford, etc, ya may be better off with whole corn cause they say whole marbles the meat better, cracked packs on outside fat. However ya go it be hard ta go wrong raisin ya own. I personally never killed a steer I didn't like :lol: good luck!
george
george
bigbull338
Well-known member
i would leave him on the feedmix you have him on right now.corn marles the meat.so if you want marbling.id feed corn in the mix the last month on feed.scott
greenwillowherefords
Well-known member
We've fed a number of calves over the last few years. It has been my experience that it is difficult to get them to clean up a straight corn ration. They like the sweet feed. I feed a sweet feed with high corn content. 12% protein.
Susie David
Well-known member
Dee....I assume that this is a May of this year calf...barely five months old, probably just weaned. We let our's grow up before finishing them for slaughter. The feed mix you have will produce a very fat, expensive steer.
We feed our little ones about two pounds of cracked corn every day with the mineral mix, in the really cold months we increase to four/five pounds for the added energy...they get alflafa porporinate to their weight to produce 2.5 lbs/day growth. Depending on the steer's weight, breed and growth over the past year we start finishing 120 days before slaughter. We increase the corn gradually to end up during the last three weeks of 15-20# corn and 10-15# alflafa. We get nice marbling without having excessive KPH and back fat.
We process at 1200#+ for the angus and baldies and 1050> for the herefords. DMc
We feed our little ones about two pounds of cracked corn every day with the mineral mix, in the really cold months we increase to four/five pounds for the added energy...they get alflafa porporinate to their weight to produce 2.5 lbs/day growth. Depending on the steer's weight, breed and growth over the past year we start finishing 120 days before slaughter. We increase the corn gradually to end up during the last three weeks of 15-20# corn and 10-15# alflafa. We get nice marbling without having excessive KPH and back fat.
We process at 1200#+ for the angus and baldies and 1050> for the herefords. DMc
greenwillowherefords":3t80fray said:
We've never had a problem with the steers we've finished for freezer beef cleaning up a straight corn ration, unless by 'straight corn ration' you are talking about no other feed except the corn. Our's typically get 3/4's of a 5 gallon bucket/steer of straight ground corn along with ground hay free choice, they slurp it up like it's good and make some very good eating!
rc
Well-known member
My son is head chef at a what he calls "steak and taters" place named Ruth's Chris Steak house. He says the meat is at it's best at around 1100# when it starts to marble. Being as how we can't afford to eat there but like the steaks, I listen to him. We feed ours a mix of sweet feed and hay. There is a feed called Tender Lean that is supposed to really put the weight on but we have not tried it yet. You'll enjoy your meat, especially with the rising cost of everything.
MrBilly
Well-known member
All of the above! :roll:
Now don't forget to dry age the beast for at least 2 weeks to get that great taste and additional tenderness!! Just like at Ruth Chris!
Oh no, did I open another bag of worms?
Billy
Now don't forget to dry age the beast for at least 2 weeks to get that great taste and additional tenderness!! Just like at Ruth Chris!
Oh no, did I open another bag of worms?
Billy
What age are your Herefords at this weight?
we just butchered our first ever Hereford steer, but I'm pretty sure he was a dwarf. Seriously, we bought him at 685 pounds last November, along with our heifer. He was around 1000 pounds at slaughter, with 510 lbs hanging weight after 14 days of hanging. The heifer, on the other hand is way bigger than he was...
We're really peased with the beef though, sold half to my sister, and ended up with a real nice amount of meat. We only gave him grain/corn for 30 days- plenty of marbling still, but I think it would be a little more succulent if we'd done it longer. Still it's delicious!
He's the little guy in my avatar, the heifer is behind the big cow. He never did get any taller.
Susie
I understand this "tenderlean" stuff is supposed to tenderize the meat on the hoof. You can't eat the animal for 30 to 45 days after it is fed tenderlean. Personally I'm a little leary of it. Maybe I just need to know more about it.
greenwillowherefords
Well-known member
msscamp":2eqhymai said:
I do mean that when I feed corn with nothing else with it, the appetite diminishes dramatically. The ration I feed is very high in corn content.
Susie David
Well-known member
Susie...our Herefords are usually eighteen months plus at slaughter...all depends on the animal, we moved one back this fall into the winter line up because he wasn't ready, same age as the other steers, fed the same since weaning but didn't fill out like we wanted.
Sounds like you have a nice freezer full.
Sounds like you have a nice freezer full.
greenwillowherefords":3906c8dq said:
I can see where it would be difficult to get them to clean up a straight corn ration. I've never known anyone who has done this, so I was wondering if you would mind enlightening me on why you would only feed corn? Thanks!
