Dairy steer farm.

[Petercoates87]

Guess this might be the spot for this. So where I'm from beef cattle like don't exist there is very few actually n who has them are not willing to sell. Lucky for me a got a couple. But the demand from my customers for local beef is higher than my supply. I'm expanding my barn next year and was thinking bout buying some dairy steers that I can get locally. Just wondering how the guys on here do it? What do ya feed them to possibly fatten them.

 

[dun]

Holsteins will marble but it takes a little longer. They are also excellent eating, just cost more to get to market stage.

 

[Supa Dexta]

What can you get locally for waste feeds? grains, bread, veggies, donuts, anything really. Newfoundland doesn't have an abundance of good forage so you'd have to have something cheap and available.

 

[Petercoates87]

Spua dexta breed is pretty easy to get bread but there's a guy here that got like a monopoly on taking it from the bakeries. So often it's like a buck or 2 for a regular size garbage full. Then there's the brewer grain but again same guy got the monopoly on that too. No idea of the cost. So sometimes I wonder if buying that is even worth it. I buy a dry cow feed for my beef cows when not milking and that keeps them nice and fat actually plus hay. Been thinking bout crushed grains I know I can buy corn n oats maybe barley.
Dun what do you mean by a little longer to marble? If I go this route I plan on just keeping them a year or so no more than 18 months.

 

[dun]

18 months isn;t make for the best meat on a Holstein.2 to 2 1/2 years is better. To finish them that young I would think you would really have to hammer the grain to them

 

[farmerjan]

The big thing with dairy steers, they have to grow the bone/frame in order to put on weight/meat. If you had a feed lot you might get them finished out in 18-20 months but would have to really feed them like a feed lot does. Most dairy beef will marble and finish in the 20-26 month range. An immature animal will not marble throughout the meat. And even if you would want to keep them that long, and it doesn't seem like that is your plan, they are going to eat twice what your beef animals will.

 

[Son of Butch]

feedlots on high grain rations get holsteins finished by 16 months of age

Holsteins need 10% more energy just for maintenance. To feed out holsteins in less than 18 months you need lots of CORN.
They tolerate high corn rations better than beef steers, but they will consume 20-30% more corn than beef steers to
finish. 1% of body weight 200-800 lbs 2-8 lbs of corn per day after 1,000 lbs 2% body weight 20-28 lbs of corn per day

Holsteins are grain tanks compare to beef steers. Beef steers can handle open feed lots twice as well as holsteins.
Holsteins need a 3 sided building for protection from the wind and weather. They have thin hides compared to beef cattle, so mud, cold and wetness will absolutely hamper performance if not protected.
With a barn on a small scale you should do just fine producing a quality animal in under 18 months with holsteins, as long as you have access to plenty of corn

 

[Petercoates87]

Ic. The small butchers around here r buying nothing but dairy steers. Getting them to bout 1000lbs n the slaughtering them. I'm just thinking bout it. It's the only way I can raise some beef here. So my plan was to raise them up n market them. As I get heifers from my beef cows I'll keep them til I have the barn full n no longer take on the dairy steers. Idk what the going price is anywhere else on here they r bout a month for usually bout 150 each.

 

[ky colonel]

so at a 1000 lbs would it be better to just make burger out of them?

 

[ChrisB]

feedlots on high grain rations get holsteins finished by 16 months of age

Holsteins need 10% more energy just for maintenance. To feed out holsteins in less than 18 months you need lots of CORN.
They tolerate high corn rations better than beef steers, but they will consume 20-30% more corn than beef steers to
finish. 1% of body weight 200-800 lbs 2-8 lbs of corn per day after 1,000 lbs 2% body weight 20-28 lbs of corn per day

Holsteins are grain tanks compare to beef steers. Beef steers can handle open feed lots twice as well as holsteins.
Holsteins need a 3 sided building for protection from the wind and weather. They have thin hides compared to beef cattle, so mud, cold and wetness will absolutely hamper performance if not protected.
With a barn on a small scale you should do just fine producing a quality animal in under 18 months with holsteins, as long as you have access to plenty of corn

Nailed it. Holstein beef is very good and tender is raised right. Little to no roughage, feed shelled corn and pellets from weaning is the easiest.

 

[Son of Butch]

so at a 1000 lbs would it be better to just make burger out of them?

No, not really because at 1,000 lbs they are all frame without enough meat on their bones to be profitable.
The profitable move is to sell them as feeders at 750-800 lbs to someone who has the resources/feedlot to finish them correctly. The first 800 lbs are the easiest lbs to put on holsteins. After about 900 lbs their feed efficiency growth drops dramatically without the proper high energy ration and are a bear for beginners to finish in a timely manner.