First Time Finishing

[cumminspuller]

I dropped off my first 3 steers at the processor yesterday morning. We've been back grounding calves for a few years but never have finished one. These were calves we raised out of some plain commercial Hereford and Angus cows. I get a lot more out of this page than I contribute. I read a lot of posts and tried to take advice from those on here who have done this a lot more and a lot longer than me. The plan was to put these in a small lot and feed them free choice 1st cutting fescue/orchard grass hay and grain for 120 days. Between the time I needed to get them up and haul them back to my house to finish and when the weather would allow me to they ended up being on feed/hay for 105 days. We had a lot of 90*+ and a few weeks of 95*+ days in June and July. That was unusual for us. Normally its not that hot until late July/August. For the first 68 days they stayed on the same 13% feed that I background everything on. Over the next 7 days I moved them to a finishing feed. I'm not 100% sure on the protein level but it is around 50-60% cracked shelled corn. The last 30 days they were on 100% finishing feed. When I penned them up they averaged 866#/hd. By day 66 of being penned up they averaged 1,073#/hd. I knew I had one that was noticeably bigger than the other two. That held through the whole time.

No tag black - live weight 1,220# - hanging weight - 728#
#26 baldie - live weight 1,140# - hanging weight - 665#
#28 blondie - live weight 1,060# - hanging weight - 660#

The picture of all 3 was taken on August 7.
The second picture was taken on August 22.
I failed to get a picture yesterday. I thought about it when I got them in the trailer but wasn't going to unload them to get one.

The me the black steer did not look done. The other two were a decent bit closer.

I'm by no means saying all of this is right or wrong but its what I did. Maybe it will help someone else. We are planning on killing 4 more the end of January.

 

[wbvs58]

Well done.

Ken

 

[Stickney94]

I'd agree with Ken and say you did just fine. Hot weather doesn't equate to great gains for my finishing animals either.

How old were these when they were processed?

 

[Son of Butch]

Well done.

Ken

Not me... medium rare please

 

[SBMF 2015]

Good job.
I had a young producer ask me today at what size we get the most gain. I told him it was when the temps got in to the forties. High temps like this summer kill gains. If I had to bet, your next set will weigh more when their butchered.

 

[sstterry]

My question is, what did the carcass look like and how marbled were the steaks?

 

[Son of Butch]

I like blackie, looks like he has more muscling in the rear than blondie and has the frame to easily carry another 60-80 lbs - 4 weeks more of feeding
Baldie has very nice front end width, but judging by apparent spring of rib carried more gut fill weight.

 

[SBMF 2015]

I like blackie, looks like he has more muscling in the rear than blondie and has the frame to easily carry another 60-80 lbs - 4 weeks more of feeding
Baldie has very nice front end width, but judging by apparent spring of rib carried more gut fill weight.

The baldie was the lowest yielding of the 3.

 

[cumminspuller]

My question is, what did the carcass look like and how marbled were the steaks?

I can't answer that at the moment. I haven't seen them.

 

[cumminspuller]

I'd agree with Ken and say you did just fine. Hot weather doesn't equate to great gains for my finishing animals either.

How old were these when they were processed?

I've got to get my calendar out and see but I believe these were 16-17 months

 

[cumminspuller]

I like blackie, looks like he has more muscling in the rear than blondie and has the frame to easily carry another 60-80 lbs - 4 weeks more of feeding
Baldie has very nice front end width, but judging by apparent spring of rib carried more gut fill weight.

I don't know what was up with the black one. When I penned them up he seemed to be more bullish and wanted all the feed. but yet he didn't fill out as good as the other seemed to on the outside. They all could have stood to be fed longer but I didn't have that option with the processor. I got this date in May and it was pretty much take it or wait until November at that time. They are pretty much booked through January now.

 

[cumminspuller]

Thank you all for the kind words.

 

[Son of Butch]

The plan was to feed them free choice 1st cutting fescue/orchard grass hay and grain for 120 days.... they ended up being on feed/hay for 105 days. For the first 68 days they stayed on the same 13% feed that I background everything on. Over the next 7 days I moved them to a finishing feed.... it was around 50-60% cracked shelled corn. The last 30 days they were on 100% finishing feed.
We are planning on killing 4 more the end of January.

I'm sure they will all be delicious.
To fine tune your feed out I'd bump time on feed to 18 weeks+ (126 days)
steers with more frame like blackie 140 days (20 weeks) I know corn is expensive, but I think they all would've benefited from another 3 weeks on feed with 7 wks 35 days on finishing ration. I'd bump the 50-60% corn to 2/3 aka 66% as a side note if manure is loose = too much protein, manure that stacks too low in protein.

just my free advice and you get what you pay for
p.s.
roughly 21 weeks 147 days to next slaughter date

 

[dfm]

Like your calf ages, I usually have a calf processed at 16.5 months to 18 months. Younger cattle in the spring fed hard during the winter, older fed during the summer. We really fight the heat in SW OK during the summer. Expect the cattle to hang just above or below 800lb hanging weight. Depending upon the kill date I will have the cattle on feed minimum 180 days. I use my finish ration or one the feed dealer nutritionist has come up with for me depending upon which is cheaper at that particular time.