Feed Yard

[weelow]

Concerning feed yards hoping some of you would help me answer these questions. There are a lot of breeds and thats why i want an average estimate to any breed.

What features in the head will i be looking for? for the tall ones the long ones? ones with big heads?
What kind of weight will i be looking forward to buy and start the feed process? 400 pounders?
What is the peak weight to start selling? 800 pounders or more?
How long will it take to get that kind of weight?
What kind of food should i feed them? and in what percentage?
How many pounds a day should the average head eat?
How much should the head gain per day?
How many times per day to feed them? and at what time of the day to be exact?

I'd really appreciate the help

 

[IluvABbeef]

Concerning feed yards hoping some of you would help me answer these questions. There are a lot of breeds and thats why i want an average estimate to any breed.

Feed yards: are you talking backgrounding or feedlots? (from the questions below it sounds like backgrounding... :? )

What features in the head will i be looking for? for the tall ones the long ones? ones with big heads?
Why would you want to look at features in the head??? It's the rest of the body you should be concerned about: healthy, shiny coats, alertness, pricked ears, no snotty nose...."features in the head" is something that I have NEVER heard before...unless I'm missing something...or are you talking about "head" as in "number of head" as in "number of cattle"?? If not then you REALLY lost me.....

What kind of weight will i be looking forward to buy and start the feed process? 400 pounders?
500 to 600 pounders are a good start, typically calves that are just taken fresh off their mommas.

What is the peak weight to start selling? 800 pounders or more?
Yep...We try and aim for 900 to 1000 lbs.

How long will it take to get that kind of weight?
From the time we bought the weaners (fall), it took us about 10 to 12 months to get them to that size. Also length of time they're there depends on the rate of gain and the type of feed you feed them; we fed them hay (grass and alfalfa mix) and silage (barley) during the winter (that's 5 months about), and threw them out on pasture for the rest of the time, with no supplemental feeding (except for the salt block).

What kind of food should i feed them? and in what percentage?
That depends on what's available in your area. You might want to feed them just hay and then later put them out on grass, or do what I just talked about, or just have a high energy diet of silage, corn gluten, soy meal, etc. and make them grow faster so you can have them around for a lesser time. But usually keeping to a diet where they don't put on fat so quick and instead a feed ration like that is the best to have them growing and getting adequate muscle.

How many pounds a day should the average head eat?
I'd say 2 to 3 lbs/day, depending. 1.5 is the lowest I'd go, IMO.

How much should the head gain per day?
Again, we're not talkin head weight here. :shock: :???: :???: :???: But again, it feels like I'm missing something, like are you asking how much should the HERD gain per day??? Or what??

How many times per day to feed them? and at what time of the day to be exact?
If their fed ad libitum (or free choice), depends how much feed you put out for them. For instance, for hay fed ad libitum, if you put out 3 big round bales out for, oh, say 40 head, they'd eat on it for a few days. Silage, on the other hand, feed enough so that the feed bunks don't overflow. They gain, so once you start with the little 500 pounders they may only need three or four bucket (tractor-loader bucket that is)-fulls per day (of course depending on the size of the loader bucket...bigger bucket = more feed), then in a couple months you'd be feeding more. Time of day? We usually feed between mid afternoon and evening, before the sun goes down. Depends on your preferences though, some people feed in the afternoon, others in the morning, etc.

I'd really appreciate the help

No problem.

 

[Sir Loin]

Weelow,
:welcome:
Re:

What features in the head will i be looking for?

That all depends if you are male or female!!
And what you have to do!

And ya wonder why they always voted me "class clown"!! :lol2: :lol2:

Welcome aboard my friend.
SL

 

[weelow]

by head i meant 1 bull, correct me if i m wrong....
If its 1 year old its called a yearling?
you see all i want is to get them boosted up to the highest weight possible during the shortest time possible.

so for each weaner or yearling i want to make an estimate to figure out how much i need to feed a single head per day.
so i can figure an estimate of the total weight gain in 4 months for example... This way i can estimate the cost of the nutrients and figure out if it will profit me and how much profit i get and how many i will need to buy in order to get the desired profit gain.

I m an accountant

 

[JMichal]

Concerning feed yards hoping some of you would help me answer these questions. There are a lot of breeds and thats why i want an average estimate to any breed.

How many pounds a day should the average head eat?
I'd say 2 to 3 lbs/day, depending. 1.5 is the lowest I'd go, IMO.

WHAAAAT? :help: :help:

 

[IluvABbeef]

Concerning feed yards hoping some of you would help me answer these questions. There are a lot of breeds and thats why i want an average estimate to any breed.

How many pounds a day should the average head eat?
I'd say 2 to 3 lbs/day, depending. 1.5 is the lowest I'd go, IMO.

WHAAAAT? :help: :help:

Oh darn it I see it now....I guess I kinda misread. Whoops! I thought he meant average % gain....

 

[JMichal]

The average cow would eat about 30 lbs/day. Depends on what you are feeding. 25 lbs of hay. If it's good hay thats it. If it's poor it may need supplement.
For finishing I feed 2% of body weight of a grain mixture (1000lbs = 20 lbs). And free choice hay. Water is most important. They won't eat if they don't have water.

 

[IluvABbeef]

by head i meant 1 bull, correct me if i m wrong....
If its 1 year old its called a yearling?
you see all i want is to get them boosted up to the highest weight possible during the shortest time possible.

so for each weaner or yearling i want to make an estimate to figure out how much i need to feed a single head per day.
so i can figure an estimate of the total weight gain in 4 months for example... This way i can estimate the cost of the nutrients and figure out if it will profit me and how much profit i get and how many i will need to buy in order to get the desired profit gain.

I m an accountant

IMHO, don't go with bulls. You get them up to a yearling (yes you are correct), they'd be nothing but (taking a page out of Alice's book) T R O U B L E causing you S T R E S S. Steers are better to go for.

Sounds like a plan you have there...what you get depends on what you feed them. So if your wanting to feed them, like you say, a ration that makes them gain weight quickly would be a high energy/high protein ration, like corn or barley mixed with molasses, soymeal, or corn gluten, then you'll get a high rate of gain in a short period of time.

Feed costs are through the roof right now. Cattle prices are down. More animals you want to feed means more expenses to feed them. You'd have to have a large-enough operation to break-even with the prices as they are now.

I'm not good with the math part of things, so I hope someone on here can cover that for you.

 

[Sir Loin]

Weelow,
Re:

so for each weaner or yearling

:clap: :lol2: :lol2:
I wouldn't touch that one with a 10 foot pole. I'm already on thin ice with the boss man as it is!
But I do love your humor!
SL

 

[weelow]

A lot of things I say will make you laugh, i m just a big noob with a lot to learn... So keep it coming

 

[dun]

When we background calves they have free choice hay/pasture and about 1 to 1 1/2% of their weight each day in grain or grain type supplement. For finishing older calves we boost it to around 2%. The grain is split into 2 feedings a day.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

First you have to decide if you are backgrounding or finishing calves. Then, go to your local feed mill, tell them what you plan on doing. They will layout a feed program - cost, average daily gain expected, etc.

 

[weelow]

Bottom line is...
If I have a building that can take 30 cows and i got 2 acres of land and i want to make some money,
I could start off by backgrounding:
->I would have to buy some kind of tool to weight them every 5 days to see which of them eats and which dont and filter them out (don't know whats that tool called)
->Start of with a good vet and plan out a health program with regular visits (say every 15 days), he will need a head squeeze
->I could buy 5 yearlings weighting an estimate of 500 pounds
->Buy hay storage for the whole period that I am going to keep them (4 months supply thats like 1 big roll of hay for each cow a month, meaning i will need 5 x 4 = 20 rolls of hay
->They will eat grain 3 times a day thats like
1.5% of their weight during the first 30 days which is 7.5 pound of grain pushing the cow up to 2 pounds a day that makes it 560 pounds in 1 month
2% of their weight after 30 days which is 11.5 pounds a day pushing the cow up to 635 pounds by the end of the second month
2.5% of their weight after 60 days thats like 15.5 pounds a day pushing it up to 719 pounds by the end of the third month
2.5% after 90 days thats 15.5 pounds of grain pushing it up to 761 pounds
3% of their weight after 105 days 22.5 pounds pushing it up to 850 pounds after 4 months (120 days)

this means i would need to pay for the following supplies and buying in bulk is always cheaper...
1st month ( 4 Rolls of Hay, 1125 pounds of grain)
2nd month (4 Rolls of Hay, 1725 pounds of grain)
3rd month (4 Rolls of Hay, 2325 pounds of grain)
4th month (4 Rolls of Hay, 2849 pounds of grain (1162 first 15 days + 1687 in the ending 15 days)

Total rolls of hay 20 and 8025 pounds of grain...

These are estimates i came upon and i want to make sure they are correct... I m an accountant and the way i see it If i have these estimates i can substitute them with the cost and figure out how much my cost would be and how to finance it and stuff

Waiting for your help

 

[dun]

I'm no good with figures but I did notice one thing that seems out of wack. A weanling should be a minimum of 500 lbs, a yearling substantially more. So that kind of puts the rest of the numbers out of wack also.

 

[Dave]

Having a good vet and health plan are important but having the vet out every 15 days is more than a bit excessive. Discuss a health plan with the vet but only have him actually out to the farm as needed to treat animals.

 

[IluvABbeef]

Bottom line is...
If I have a building that can take 30 cows and i got 2 acres of land and i want to make some money,
I could start off by backgrounding:
->I would have to buy some kind of tool to weight them every 5 days to see which of them eats and which dont and filter them out (don't know whats that tool called)
->Start of with a good vet and plan out a health program with regular visits (say every 15 days), he will need a head squeeze
->I could buy 5 yearlings weighting an estimate of 500 pounds
->Buy hay storage for the whole period that I am going to keep them (4 months supply thats like 1 big roll of hay for each cow a month, meaning i will need 5 x 4 = 20 rolls of hay
->They will eat grain 3 times a day thats like
1.5% of their weight during the first 30 days which is 7.5 pound of grain pushing the cow up to 2 pounds a day that makes it 560 pounds in 1 month
2% of their weight after 30 days which is 11.5 pounds a day pushing the cow up to 635 pounds by the end of the second month
2.5% of their weight after 60 days thats like 15.5 pounds a day pushing it up to 719 pounds by the end of the third month
2.5% after 90 days thats 15.5 pounds of grain pushing it up to 761 pounds
3% of their weight after 105 days 22.5 pounds pushing it up to 850 pounds after 4 months (120 days)

this means i would need to pay for the following supplies and buying in bulk is always cheaper...
1st month ( 4 Rolls of Hay, 1125 pounds of grain)
2nd month (4 Rolls of Hay, 1725 pounds of grain)
3rd month (4 Rolls of Hay, 2325 pounds of grain)
4th month (4 Rolls of Hay, 2849 pounds of grain (1162 first 15 days + 1687 in the ending 15 days)

Total rolls of hay 20 and 8025 pounds of grain...

These are estimates i came upon and i want to make sure they are correct... I m an accountant and the way i see it If i have these estimates i can substitute them with the cost and figure out how much my cost would be and how to finance it and stuff

Waiting for your help

number one: what dun and Dave said.

number two: why feed grain three times a day when you already have the estimated amount to feed in a day anyway? And what kind of grain are you going to feed them? (Keep in mind the type of grain you feed depends on the different amounts or percentage of energy and protein available in that grain, which will give you a [slightly] different rate of gain.)

Number three, 20 rolls of hay (the big round bales) probably won't last your projected number of months; depending on the weight of each bale and the forage quality. 5 weaners on one bale will last about a month, but as they grow it will last a little shorter each time. Especially if it's the real good quality hay; a group of 20+ calves on one bale they will gobble it up overnight. But you don't have 20 calves...or I should say don't WANT 20 calves...