Compensatory Growth

Help Support CattleToday:

Stocker Steve":2v0qv365 said:
dun":2v0qv365 said:
One of the things I never have understood about that growth is if you own them all along, where is the savings in the big picture. They're still going to need about the same amount of feed in the long run. They don;t magically gain better on the same ration as another animal will. It still takes X amount of pounds of feed to gain X amount of weight, the gain is just being delayed. The may gain the weight faster, but they still need to additional groceries to do it.

dun

1) My grain supplements vary greatly in cost. With the more expensive ones (that I do not buy anymore), it would be cheaper to get some of the gain later on grass vs. all of the gain on expensive winter feed.
2) If you own them all along then an "optimzer" might try to hit butcher weight at a seasonal peak.
3) Some studies went to extremes - - stunting animals with very low winter rations or reducing ADG on grass with sloppy fat animals. So feed conversion seems to be effected in these cases.
4) Some folks are thinking "grass is free" so why feed more than cheap hay and snow balls in the winter...
5) Some folks understock during the spring flush so additional consumption or additional animals is good for them.
 
I feel that cattle/calves do better when they have a consistant feed supply to maximize their normal growth curve. Many years ago Dr Dan Fox, Cornell did some research on that. When calves were "held back" on their growth, they NEVER were able to get that curve back. In other words, if they were lacking nutrition, and only were gaining 1.5#, when their contemporaries being fed proper nutrition levels gaining 2.5#. When fed more, the 1.5# group gained more but never had the real growth gain to compete with the 2.5# group.
(fictional figures)
I believe any reduction in their normal growth, will forever effect their performance, until they are fully matured (4-5 years old).
And, Frankie, I totally agree with you on the bull test. I see the same thing time and again. Someone thinks they can "top the test" by holding their bulls back. Yes, they may get high ADG, but their WPDA never reaches full potential, and our test puts just as much weight on ADA as it does WPDA. A good, normally raised, not pushed, not held back, does the best.
 
I bought a Tru Test scale and some 530 to 600# steers in March. I supplemented heavy during a 7 week dry lot period and during the grazing period. Everything but reed canary went brown in the drought so I sold the heavies on 7/13. Spot checks showed:

* 2.9 to 3.4 lbs/day ADG during dry lot backgrounding
* stayed at that rate while we had good grass so I felt OK that I did not starve them during backgrounding
* heaviest steer was a 1,030 pound Charlois cross at 3.8 ADG
* lucked out when the heavy feeder market rebounded :D

Love those Charlois X calves that the black fanatics do not want to buy! Had some Simi X that did almost as well but I had to pay alot more for them since they were the "right color".
 

Latest posts

Top