Feeding Calves

[SimmAngus]

Speaking of feeding one out has anyone ever given a beer a day to one being fed out. I ate a steak off of one that had been fed that way. At the end it was just plain corn and 1 beer per day in the corn. Also that cow only had room to stand up and lay down. I don't plain on going that far but I am considering the beer a day thing. Anyone had any experiences with that.

A few years back we had a steer that would open his mouth and let you pour a beer down. He was a PB Simmental and frankly the tenderest tastyest animal we have ever put in our freezer. Just don't have the time to do that every day, so never followed through. The Kobe beef is fed Beer every day.

 

[Susie David]

Brandon...alot of the time raising a calf to finish is about how much time you want spend and how much $$ you are willing to put into the feed bunk. We feed good quality alfalfa when off pasture and the calves eat what the mamas eat. Not to say that if we have a cow that is noticeably being pulled down we don't add some grain to their diets. We maintain 2.5#/day gain year round without pushing them hard. Feed a couple pounds of grain in the evenings to hold muster...a bit more when the temps drop into single digits. We finish on cracked corn and alfalfa. Don't like making expensive manure. Works for us.
DMc

 

[dph]

Rod I agree with your point, there is an old addage: "You can feed the calf cheaper than you can feed the cow to feed the calf."