Finishing steers

[sske]

This has been asked numerous times but I'm feeding out 2 baldy steers 750lbs +/- and a heifer 675+/- that will be sold as halves/wholes and a half jersey steer 500+/- that will be kept for myself. Processing is scheduled for early December. Any recommendations for a feeding program? They will be fed free-choice wheat/oat hay in addition to grain. At the moment they are on pasture, wheat hay and a 12% pelleted sweet feed from tractor supply, at roughly 7.5lb/head. Cost wise the 12% pelleted feed or 20% cubes are the most cost effective, but I plan to finish them 100+/- days on COB or straight rolled corn. Does anyone have any opinions on feeding the pelleted feed and possibly adding 20% cubes until it's time to finish them then switching to the COB?
Thank you!

 

[BFE]

@TexasBred is the resident feed guru. Hopefully he will see this and chime in.

Shooting for 2# a day gain will get you to approximately 1300+ For the steers weight in December. You may need to bump your grain to get that gain, at a 7/1 feed/gain ratio. You might find a feed mill to get a ration made that's cheaper and better than the TSC feed.

I know of people feeding show steers that used sweet feed and calf manna to finish steers. That wouldn't be cheap but it works.

If you stick to what you've been doing I might lean towards blending the cob sweet feed and cubes to keep your protein around 12-13% then slowly transition to your finishing feed of corn or cob once you get them where you want to put on the fat. I'm no expert though.

 

[TexasBred]

@TexasBred is the resident feed guru. Hopefully he will see this and chime in.

Shooting for 2# a day gain will get you to approximately 1300+ For the steers weight in December. You may need to bump your grain to get that gain, at a 7/1 feed/gain ratio. You might find a feed mill to get a ration made that's cheaper and better than the TSC feed.

I know of people feeding show steers that used sweet feed and calf manna to finish steers. That wouldn't be cheap but it works.

If you stick to what you've been doing I might lean towards blending the cob sweet feed and cubes to keep your protein around 12-13% then slowly transition to your finishing feed of corn or cob once you get them where you want to put on the fat. I'm no expert though.

When in doubt a good heavy textured horse and mule feed will work

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Got a local feed mill? They'll be possibly be cheaper and can give you some feeding advise for going forward. But either way to be ready by December they need to gain 2.5#/day, or there abouts to reach ~1250#. Don't know if you got grass available, but you could have them out on grass with supplement feed till like September, or till the grass ran out before that. Then feedlot on full feed till slaughter.
You can feed the 12% till about 900-1000, then start adding corn for finishing.

 

[sske]

Thank you, that's a lot along the lines of what I've been thinking my local feed mill is over $800/ton for their steer finisher and $680 for their COB. I got in touch with a local guy that mixes small batches on the side and he has a corn barley and molasses mix or corn/barley/molasses with grape pomace that he's getting $450/ton for. Do you have any experience with finishing on a heavy barley ration? The COB I usually feed is mostly rolled corn with a little oat and barley.

 

[Silver]

The vast majority of cattle in Canada are finished on barley. I wouldn't consider anything else as long as the price was close.

 

[Son of Butch]

Thank you, that's a lot along the lines of what I've been thinking my local feed mill is over $800/ton for their steer finisher and $680 for their COB. I got in touch with a local guy that mixes small batches on the side and he has a corn barley and molasses mix or corn/barley/molasses with grape pomace that he's getting $450/ton for. Do you have any experience with finishing on a heavy barley ration? The COB I usually feed is mostly rolled corn with a little oat and barley.

What is available locally, which state are you in?
Better yet, to avoid having to answer repeatedly, please add location to your profile

 

[Lee VanRoss]

sske> It is more to your advantage to have some idea of the percent of protein to a given unit of volume or weight
as this will enable you to adjust ration and maintain protein percentage on the go.
It is up to you what you share about your location but roughly 200 million computers have access to this forum,
all with your best interest in mind, ya think? Good luck with the steers,,LVR

 

[Silver]

4.6 billion people have internet access. Sharing your general region will not help one of them get into you bank account. Please don't be afraid to share your general whereabouts.

 

[sske]

Just updated my profile, I never realized I hadn't added a location I'm in northern CA. The local guy I found has a small hammer mill and will make me a ground corn/barley ration with whatever percent corn and barley I want and can add molasses and grape pomace to my specs if I want.

 

[sske]

Thank you everyone for your replies. At this point I guess my question is what type of ratios would you use with access to ground corn, ground barley, molasses and grape pomace? Would it be beneficial to see if they will do WSC instead of ground?