Feeding out Brahman x

[Little Joe]

Anyone ever fed an out a half Brahman steer? I’ve got one that came off of a cow that was a 3-n-1 deal and this steer was what she was short bred with when I bought her. He’s about 15 months old right now and with the group that I’m starting on full feed, he’s more framey than them and less fleshy. I’ve never fed out anything more than about 1/4 Brahman. If he’s not going to finish good I’d rather turn him out now and leave on grass until fall and sell him as burger instead of eating time and money running feed through him for an inferior product.

 

[Little Joe]

I can't believe in 24 hours that I haven't received at least an opinion on this.

 

[bird dog]

IMO you will be disappointed in the gains and the end product. Some are better than others but there is a reason they sell at a large discount at the sale barn.

 

[Brute 23]

I guess I missed this one. When you are asking if it will feed out good to you mean from a financial standpoint or will it taste good?

We have been eating half Brahman or more meat my entire life. Many times they were not fed out. We recently started feeding them some although it is not a hard core regiment like some people use.

As a whole, there is nothing wrong with Brahman meat. In fact, I think if I blind folded people and said this bite will cost you $X and this one will cost $X they would not taste the difference to justify the price. We had a full blood Brahman cow get messed up in the rear legs. My friends took her and fed here for a while before they butchered her. They said the meat was great. Those tight Bohemians made a comment about buying young Brahman bulls on the cheap at the ab to feed out after selling their black calves.

With all that said, its more about your specific animal than the breed. There are some very stringy looking Brahman cattle and then there are some meat wagons. A lot of these comments are about cost to finish more than quality of meat.

 

[Warren Allison]

Anyone ever fed an out a half Brahman steer?

What kind is his other half?

 

[Little Joe]

What kind is his other half?

Angus

 

[Little Joe]

I guess I missed this one. When you are asking if it will feed out good to you mean from a financial standpoint or will it taste good?

We have been eating half Brahman or more meat my entire life. Many times they were not fed out. We recently started feeding them some although it is not a hard core regiment like some people use.

As a whole, there is nothing wrong with Brahman meat. In fact, I think if I blind folded people and said this bite will cost you $X and this one will cost $X they would not taste the difference to justify the price. We had a full blood Brahman cow get messed up in the rear legs. My friends took her and fed here for a while before they butchered her. They said the meat was great. Those tight Bohemians made a comment about buying young Brahman bulls on the cheap at the ab to feed out after selling their black calves.

With all that said, its more about your specific animal than the breed. There are some very stringy looking Brahman cattle and then there are some meat wagons. A lot of these comments are about cost to finish more than quality of meat.

What age are ya'll butchering yours?

 

[Brute 23]

What age are ya'll butchering yours?

It varies a little. They are at least a year old, probably more like year and a half. These are just the ones we butcher for our family.

 

[SBMF 2015]

No first hand experience but my guess is that with the extra frame you can feed him harder and longer and close to the same product. Corn is cheap pour it him!

 

[regolith]

half angus on just about anything will bulk out acceptably... the less desirable breeds like Jersey, Highland... I would presume holstein, longhorn or maybe Brahman; will only add flavour and marbling to the finished product.
But don't listen to me I'm only repeating what I've heard/read people say about crosses they've tried.
My own meat buyer he says if you've got Jerseys cross them to Angus they almost certainly won't get penalised for yellow fat at that point (which tastes great, but the customer don't like it yellow).
One thing from my own experience. If you're selecting steers to grow on out of a group of dairy calves, just select the strongest thickest calves they won't disappoint you if taken direct to meat - they might get docked at a salebarn for being the wrong colour, but they'll match the ones that are the right colour for growth rates if you pick out the strongest ones at birth, and cut your losses on the long skinny ones at weaning or before. I've watched a few of those that I wasn't quick enough to sell when they were young, and they invariably take longer and look ill-thrifty as they grow so I kind of trust being able to pick 'em on their appearance in the first few days, as well as what I know of their parents.

 

[BC]

I love this statement. "Those tight Bohemians made a comment about buying young Brahman bulls on the cheap at the ab to feed out after selling their black calves."