Feeding out for beef

[Coosh71]

I had a question for everyone... We are thinking about keeping our "feeder beef", a bull til about October/November (10-11 mo tbs old), then banding him. He's a red balancer bull now. We will likely put him on full feed around the first of the year for 45-75 days depending on weight. Reason for keeping him intact til he's almost a year, is just a muscling/gain deal. Does anyone see any issues? Thanks.

 

[Son of Butch]

I had a question for everyone... We are thinking about keeping our "feeder beef", a bull
Reason for keeping him intact til he's almost a year, is just a muscling/gain deal.
Does anyone see any issues? Thanks.

IF it were the 'right way' everyone would be doing it that way.
The reason to keep them a bull as long as possible for feed out is laziness or going to sell him and screw the other guy
let him deal with it. Part of your added gain deal is from heavier bone.
Larger skeleton = larger bones = lower retail yield/take home meat.

p.s.
The younger they are when castrating the less stress on them and usually better for all involved.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

45-75 days of full feed is the biggest issue I can see in that formula. SoB raises valid points, too.
I'd want him on as much corn as he'll eat for at least 100 days, but I'm picky about my freezer beef.

 

[gizmom]

Coosh

I would go ahead and steer him if you have him targeted for freezer beef. The stress of steering them when they are that old negates any positives. We had a friend that never steered them he just fed them out as Bulls and it worked out very well. So my recommendation would be steer now or don't steer at all.

Gizmom

 

[Coosh71]

SoB, never thought about bulls having larger bones vs just heavier muscling. Makes me think. Also I understand the set back with banding later in age. We start them (in the pasture) on a heavier feed regiment for a couple months before we pen them on full feed. We haven't had a bad beef with doing that. I appreciate it y'all.

 

[M & P]

Coosh

I would go ahead and steer him if you have him targeted for freezer beef. The stress of steering them when they are that old negates any positives. We had a friend that never steered them he just fed them out as Bulls and it worked out very well. So my recommendation would be steer now or don't steer at all.

Gizmom

X2

 

[Ky hills]

Coosh

I would go ahead and steer him if you have him targeted for freezer beef. The stress of steering them when they are that old negates any positives. We had a friend that never steered them he just fed them out as Bulls and it worked out very well. So my recommendation would be steer now or don't steer at all.

Gizmom

X2

X3