feeding grain

Inventry
Gather App
UnlistMe
J

jwhisperj

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Messages
80
City & State/Province
montana
Hello everyone it has been a while.

My question is... I have two six month old Holstein's and was wondering if is ok to take them off of grain until I am ready to butcher the steer? They are on pasture and hay right now and I have been feeding them free choice creep feed and grain. I took it away because I let the horses in to the area where I was feeding the grain so the horses could eat the grass down and the cows never seemed to miss the grain. I was hoping I could grass feed until I wanted to fatten him up, I don't know if Holsteins are different than beef cattle.

Thanks for your time
JWJ
 
Usually calves will miss the free choice grain. You probably have good quality grass. Grain is to expensive to feed anyway. Leave them on the grass until the quality drops or it's gone. They should gain 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per day.
 
They weigh about 300 pounds right now. Very healthy and don't look skinny. Like I said they haven't missed the grain, haven't even looked for it.

Thanks guys
 
300lbs is a bit light to take off grain, but considering feed costs, it's probably not worth it to keep them on feed for another 100 to 200lbs of grain. mnm gave a good suggestion with taking them off grain until the grass runs out... I'd reevaluate the calves later in the summer/fall and see how they look then. If you're not using grain later to finish them out, it may take a bit longer... I've seen some 2+ year old grass fed Holsteins that have just enough fat cover to butcher, compared to, say 16 months with grain.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top