finishing steers ?

[tncattle]

A friend of mine has 5 steers and one heifer (black Angus) he wants to take all the way to slaughter and sell to local customers direct. They were all born in early Jan. 09 and he is trying to figure out if he could get them to around 100o lbs. by late Nov. or late Dec.? Is this possible if they were fed all they wanted for the last 120 days or do they need to be weaned earlier and put on feed earlier?

 

[tncattle]

shameless bump

 

[kscowboy]

most will try to hit 1150+ lbs @ 15 months of age for optimum carcass and tenderness. Some seem to butcher a bit lighter and claim tenderness is better , I think this goal is not attainable myself .

 

[mnmtranching]

A lot depends on the type of cattle. purebred Angus? Leave them on their mothers until their 7 months old. Get them used to grain before you wean them. After weaning put them on a few pounds of 15 percent protein grain and full good quality fine hay. Water, mineral and salt. Gradually work up to full grain always keeping the hay available.
Good Angus cattle will easily make the 1000 pound weight at a year old.

 

[ChrisB]

In addition to what MNMT said, I find that I get better results by feeding poorer quality hay or even cornstalks once they are on full grain.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I would suggest that if he is wanting them to weigh 1000lbs or more at 10-11 months he will need to leave them on the cow and creep feed the calves now to obtain that goal

I am not saying this is gonna be profitable but that is probably the best way to reach his goal

I wean when my calves are 5-6 weights then puth them on feed and grass for about 90 days then I will put my culls in the feeder lot and kepp them on 7- 8 lbs of grain a day for about 45 day then start increasing til they are on full feed and they finish at 1300-1400lbs at 15 months