Got the steer info.

[I luv herfrds]

Got the info on the 4-H steer.
Hot cut 665
KPH 1.00 (?)
Ribeye 10.1
MAT A (?)
Dark N (?)
Marbling 3.30
Back Fat 0.3
Select minus
DP 53.85 (?)
Yield 2.74
%cut 50.43
cwt 1.52 (?)
som N (?)

OK both myself and the vets daughter had no idea what some of this means. That is why there are the (?) next some of them.

If anybody can explain it in easy to understand terms I would appreciate it. I plan to pass the info onto the vets daughter. She is disappointed that she doesn't know what alot of it means and that they are not teaching them what the grading numbers and such mean.

 

[I luv herfrds]

This is a ribeye steak out of that steer. Yes it was very good. :nod:

 

[herefordchick]

KPH - Kidney Pelvic Heart fat - 1.0 is very low.

Mat A - Maturity - A is normal grade on young steers indicates 9-30 months of age

Dark N - N indicates it was not a dark cutter

DP - Dressing Percentage - hot carcass weight divided by live weight - again 53.85 is very low - was this a dairy beef? A good holstein normally would dress considerably better.


here is a link that may interest you to learn a little more about how beef is graded: http://meat.tamu.edu/beefgrading.html

Glad you enjoyed your steak - it does not look bad, but steers with those stats would not make you much money. Was this animal sent to slaughter early for a reason? The KPH being that low would indicate that he needed a whole lot more feed to hit his potential but the BF of .3 sounds like he saw a reasonable amount of feed. Small ribeye and low DP would make me guess he was very light muscled as well. I don't mean to be critical but sounds like you are trying to learn.

 

[*Cowgirl*]

Excellent site hc. Thanks for posting!

 

[JHH]

KPH - Kidney Pelvic Heart fat - 1.0 is very low.

Mat A - Maturity - A is normal grade on young steers indicates 9-30 months of age

Dark N - N indicates it was not a dark cutter

DP - Dressing Percentage - hot carcass weight divided by live weight - again 53.85 is very low - was this a dairy beef? A good holstein normally would dress considerably better.


here is a link that may interest you to learn a little more about how beef is graded: http://meat.tamu.edu/beefgrading.html

Glad you enjoyed your steak - it does not look bad, but steers with those stats would not make you much money. Was this animal sent to slaughter early for a reason? The KPH being that low would indicate that he needed a whole lot more feed to hit his potential but the BF of .3 sounds like he saw a reasonable amount of feed. Small ribeye and low DP would make me guess he was very light muscled as well. I don't mean to be critical but sounds like you are trying to learn.

Could have just been a small not finished steer maybe?

 

[Brandonm22]

Could have just been a small not finished steer maybe?

Maybe I am misreading this; but it posted a hot carcass weight of 665 lbs. IF the dressing percentage was only 53.85% then by my math I get a 1235 lb live weight. The .3 back fat shows he did get SOME groceries. I am not a huge ribeye person; but a 10.1" ribeye on a 1235 lb steer is unforgivable. I HOPE this was a dairy steer.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Nope.

Here he is at the 4-H show. They had run out of feed for their steers.

 

[Brandonm22]

How long after that pic was he harvested???

 

[I luv herfrds]

I think about 2 or 3 days.

 

[I luv herfrds]

We are grateful for the info. She is wondering about a different feeding program. This is what she was feeding him. Corn, barley, pellets, mince cubes, grass hay and mineral.
Any suggestions on a different feeding program? I don't know the ratio.

Since that was our steer she bought it will get us going in the right direction.

 

[Brandonm22]

Yea, he was still too green. Do you have a real liveweight? My 1235 pound extrapulation number doesn't "look" right. I suspect his REA would still have been lacking even if he were 200 lbs heavier.

 

[I luv herfrds]

That number is right Brandonm22. That is his finished weight.

 

[JHH]

Yea, he was still too green. Do you have a real liveweight? My 1235 pound extrapulation number doesn't "look" right. I suspect his REA would still have been lacking even if he were 200 lbs heavier.

I didnt even do the math, I just figured he was small and not finished. I didnt read the whole thing.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Now her next big question was when should they start graining their steers? Talked with both the daughter and mom and they both think that they didn't start soon enough. They don't want a ton of fat on them.
Start right at weaning or at a later time?

 

[Tom Underwood]

Do you know the steer’s pedigree? I think the posters are right that the steer could have used more finishing even though he weighed 1235. Additionally, his ribeye is too small. Four and five years ago, some of the kids that showed my polled Hereford steers had weights of 1500-1600 when the steers were sixteen months old at the 4-H show. Their ribeye’s were 12-13 inches, comparably poor given the relative size and finish. I’m certainly not proud of those results, but I have learned from them and improved. I suspect that with more feed, your steer would have weighed closer to 1500 and graded closer to choice.

Did you and your daughter pick out the steer from a group? Did you lean towards a larger one? I let 4-H kids pick from all of my steers, and some people coming to pick out a steer for showing tend to pick the larger steers. If they’re all the same age, larger at weaning typically means a heavier milking dam and possibly more frame. Conformation, depth and muscling are more important to me at weaning age. I also tend to rely a bit on experience regarding the performance of prior animals with similar pedigrees.

If the judges in your neighborhood are like the ones in mine, they’d prefer a 1200-1350 lb finished steer that grades choice+ and has a ribeye in excess of 1 per 100 lbs.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Tom the steer belonged to our vet's daughter. She bought him from our ranch. We gave her first choice. So she got to pick out of our entire crop of calves which one she wanted. We cut off the top 6 she wanted to look at, put them together and got out of her way and let her choose.
There was a couple of steers that I thought were better then this one, but she didn't want him finished too quickly.

The 4-H judge liked this steer, except he thought he could have been fed more for a better finish and more muscle on the hind quarters.

 

[Brandonm22]

I like his profile. He was a big stoudt calf. I don't like his lack of muscling. You might want to look at REA EPDs. We really OUGHT to be able to get 12.5 inches of ribeye area on the typical 1250 lb steer, especially on a show steer. Introducing an ultrasound program might help you select more for this trait. More grain particularly higher protein in his ration would have helped the steer express more muscle A LITTLE.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Great idea Brandomn22. will have to talk to our vet about doing that this weaning time.

 

[VCC]

The steer does not look finished to me, side profile looks fine for confirmation, I would have liked to seen his width.

Here is what we do for our show steers.

Selection - We always start out at the feet and work our way up when selecting a steer for showing. Feet point forward, legs are correct, not strait, joints are free moving, animal tracks well and has plenty of width in the lower quarter. Shoulder blends well, neck should come into the shoulders smoothly and be clean (avoid allot of leather), no dip behind the shoulders. A strait top line. Hips and top need to have plenty of width and blend together smoothly. Body should look pear shaped from a top view with plenty of muscle.

Feed - feed a blended feed that is high in protein in the beginning, as the animal increases in maturity the fat content should increase and the protein content should decrease. It is easiest to feed a show feed but can be more expensive, they usually come with a starter feed and a grower/ finisher feed that meets all the nutritional needs .Start the animal out on feed as soon as you can, about 3 pounds twice a day adding about a half a pound every 2or 3 days, slowly working them up to 2-3% percent of their body weight. Make sure they are cleaning up the feed in about a half hour or so before you increase their feed. It usually takes a couple weeks to get a green calf onto full feed. If they slow down their intake of feed back off on the grain and wait for them to catch up. Do not give them too much grain to fast you can burn them up fast.

Fat balls should be forming at tail head, brisket should be full and rips should be smooth to the touch when the animal is finished.

Make sure they have plenty of clean water and good grass hay, free choice.