Feed Efficiency

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If you sell feeder cattle and the same feedlot buys your calves two or more years. . . Your getting paid for feedlot efficiency.
How many steers calves will need to be in my big group to have a chance at a feedlot efficiency premium?

How many dollars per hundred should I budget for this premium ?

How much will my cow feed cost go up ?
 
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How many steers calves will need to be in my big group to have a chance at a feedlot efficiency premium?

How many dollars per hundred should I budget for this premium ?

How much will my cow feed cost go up ?
We were a farmer/feeder. I would fight like hell over a group of ten if we had fed that sellers cattle before and been overly happy with their performance.

What ever the top of the spread is for that class of cattle for that day in that sale barn.

Less than you might think.
 
How many steers calves will need to be in my big group to have a chance at a feedlot efficiency premium?
How many dollars per hundred should I budget for this premium ?
How much will my cow feed cost go up ?
Here Steve you do the math: I'll get you started.

IF you buy a Schiefelbein bull - 7,000-7,500 average after you throw out the +20k bulls - They will bid on the feeders sired by their bull. Extra bid is worth about a 5 cent premium. 550 lbs x .05 = 27.50 hd premium so 36 hd = $1000 extra
Plus they will buy back the bull for a nickel over kill price when you're finished with him and give you $100 off the next bull you buy at their sale.

Your cow feed cost might even go down, as they swell with pride if you leave the price tag on him at turnout. :)
 
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Here Steve you do the math: I'll get you started.

IF you buy a Schiefelbein bull - 7,000-7,500 average after you throw out the +20k bulls - They will bid on the feeders sired by their bull. Extra bid is worth about a 5 cent premium. 550 lbs x .05 = 27.50 hd premium so 36 hd = $1000 extra
Plus they will buy back the bull for a nickel over kill price when you're finished with him and give you $100 off the next bull you buy at their sale.

Your cow feed cost might even go down, as they swell with pride if you leave the price tag on him at turnout. :)
Thanks SOB. I love Scheifelbin's tour followed by free fish stick or prime rib dinners. Frank is a St Thomas bud.

I have been buying U$S 4500 to 5000 bulls, so a three year break even on the steer premium only, if a fat bull can cover 80 cows.

I have one hay feeding neighbor who has retained Scheifelbin influenced heifers and had a lot of breed back problems. "Too much power" for his system. Another neighbor feeds a lot of corn silage to expensive powerful cows and seems to avoid the breed back problems.

I think my annual cow feed bill would go up much more than the steer selling price premium. Calving out 80 cows to get 36 steers, with a feed cost increase in $50/cow/year, means I spend $4000 to get back $1000, ignoring the higher bull s cost.

Free dinners can be expensive...
 
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Here they make some big claims about improvements in efficiency with data going back many years to back it up. Some of you will be doubters but I relate it people, we all know that person that can eat anything they want and never gain any weight while others can look at a piece of pie and gain 10 lbs.
 
Yes, I agree feed efficiency is a real thing. Also, appetite is a real thing that makes a difference in their ability to gain well, Appetite has not been tested as far as I know.
There has been study in this area. A quick search i cannot find it but research was done trying to find a gene that turns off a cow's "full" internal sensor, so to speak. Similar to humans how some will continuously eat even tho they are not hungry, and thus gain more weight, quicker.
 
Has anyone bought any bulls that have been through a Bull Test Center? I bought a set of heifers several years ago and they were talking about having several of their registered Simbrah bulls at an efficiency test center in Nacogdoches, TX. Seemed pretty interesting if you are into feed efficiency. The Simbrah Cattle I saw there were really big.
 
Angus Australia has a very good bull benchmark trial that has been running for about 12 years now. Usually about 30 bulls are entered in each cohort and they try to include some overseas bulls such as from the US as a cross reference. Each bull has to provide 100 straws of semen which is used on 100 heifers from co operator herds. Data is collected along the way and the steer progeny enter a feedlot where individual feed intake is recorded along with weight gain and then carcase measurements on slaughter. The data is used to verify EBV's as well as to improve the accuracy of genomic markers. There is a lot of other research that is a spin off of the trial as well. The heifer progeny are followed through to joining and calving as well.

Ken
 
Has anyone bought any bulls that have been through a Bull Test Center? I bought a set of heifers several years ago and they were talking about having several of their registered Simbrah bulls at an efficiency test center in Nacogdoches, TX. Seemed pretty interesting if you are into feed efficiency. The Simbrah Cattle I saw there were really big.
A larger llater maturing animal that continues gaining muscle will do better in the tests then a smaller earlier maturing animal that starts putting on fat sooner.
 

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