Gains per day?

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poorfarmer

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For those of you backgrounding cattle, what type of gains do you look for per day? I take my weaned calve from about 500 up to about 800lbs before sending them on their way. I was wondering what gains people look for without pushing them to hard.
 
poorfarmer":11f130ck said:
For those of you backgrounding cattle, what type of gains do you look for per day? I take my weaned calve from about 500 up to about 800lbs before sending them on their way. I was wondering what gains people look for without pushing them to hard.

I many days does that usually take you?
 
The reason I ask is I weighed a few of my cattle for the second time the other day and I was at 1.92 lbs a day, I just don't want to be pushing them too hard and end up getting docked for fleshy cattle at the sale barn. I have raised cattle for years but not sure I could pick out fancy or fleshy cattle like I see on some of the sale reports. Any key points for me to look for if I think they might be getting over conditioned and should cut back?
 
I just replied on another post that I averaged 1.32 ADG on steers last summer. They were on Native/Bermuda only. I'll push a little this year but agree I'd be really happy with 2.
 
I averaged a little over 2lbs/day back in the fall after weaning. I was feeding 5lbs per day of a 16% feed mix and all the grass they wanted. Cattle were not docked. Buddy fed the same mix but was closer to 7-8lbs/day and buyers called his fleshy. He did not weigh his so I don't have a gain reference.
 
J&D Cattle":3sk1hkb6 said:
I averaged a little over 2lbs/day back in the fall after weaning.
I was feeding 5 lbs per day of a 16% feed mix
Buddy fed the same mix but was closer to 7-8lbs/day and buyers called his fleshy.
Buddy fed 18 lbs more grain per hd per week than J&D. (7.57 lbs vs 5 lbs daily)
18 lbs = 3 lbs more gain divided by 7 days = 0.43 lbs more gain per day
J&D gained a little over 2 lbs/day
So I'd ball park Buddy was a little over 2.5 lbs/day

I'd say 200 lbs in 90 days (2.222 lbs/day) would be a good target to shoot for, depending on cost of available feeds.
 
Thanks for the responses. I guess time will tell I am think about sending a few of them on their way in the next month. We will see what the buyers have to say:)
 

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