Grain/Grass finished.
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SBMF 2015
Well-known member
Grass is free, cash corn was up to $6.72/bu. The last hfr I fed out ate 45bu.
Corn makes fat, and fat makes flavor.
Corn makes fat, and fat makes flavor.
ohiosteve
Well-known member
You will go crazy trying to find the answer as to which is better. There are so many variables. What works great for someone could be a disaster for someone else.
Little Joe
Well-known member
I generally do a combo, good grass and about 1-1.5% bw in grain. You have to be careful with grain on grass as corn is high in starch and will cause problems digesting the grass. Dr Shane Gadberry at the U of A came up with my ration for feeding while on grass, it is 50% corn 25% ddg 25% corn gluten pellets with 50 lbs of feed grade lime per ton. The ddg and gluten gets your protein level up but cuts the starch down. Never had a problem with feeding it to cattle on grass. I'm feeding a little different to the set I've got on feed now due to several circumstances, they're getting fed in a lot because on of them won't stay in a fence, I'm feeding them a ration that I'm buying from a feedlot that is Rice bran, ddg, and hominy-16% protein, 9% fat. They've done pretty well on it.
Lannie
Well-known member
We do grass, but the reason is I have some kind of intolerance to corn, and I don't even have to eat it. Fat from a corn fed animal does the same thing (joint pain), just to a lesser degree. I've heard lots of stories about grass fed being "gamy" tasting or tough, but that hasn't been the case for us. Our first steer was melt-in-your-mouth tender and had plenty of fat and marbling, which I could eat without pain. If I get a steak or burger from the store, from a corn-fed beef, I always have aches and pains for a day or two, so mostly we eat lean beef (I have to trim ALL the fat off and burger? I just endure the aches), or chicken when we don't have our own beef in the freezer. Most people don't have this problem, I guess, and it's just a matter of taste, but I just wanted to say that grass fed (or finished) can be wonderful, too. We're getting our second steer back from the butcher next week, and I can't wait to be able to eat beef again without pain.
I think (and this is just my opinion, so don't jump all over me, I could be wrong) that feeding corn dilutes the "beef" flavor somehow. I remember the first bite of our homegrown beef like it was yesterday. The taste almost made me dizzy! It tasted like I'd infused it with extra beef flavoring. It tasted like BEEF. It was the most wonderful steak I'd ever eaten. To be fair, I've never had grain-fed homegrown beef, just beef from the store, so I could be all wrong, but that's what I think, and why all the beef we raise will be grass fed. They seem to get plenty fat on grass and hay, but ours don't travel all day out on "the range," so maybe that's why. We only have 15 acres, so they're not athletes, that's for sure.
I think (and this is just my opinion, so don't jump all over me, I could be wrong) that feeding corn dilutes the "beef" flavor somehow. I remember the first bite of our homegrown beef like it was yesterday. The taste almost made me dizzy! It tasted like I'd infused it with extra beef flavoring. It tasted like BEEF. It was the most wonderful steak I'd ever eaten. To be fair, I've never had grain-fed homegrown beef, just beef from the store, so I could be all wrong, but that's what I think, and why all the beef we raise will be grass fed. They seem to get plenty fat on grass and hay, but ours don't travel all day out on "the range," so maybe that's why. We only have 15 acres, so they're not athletes, that's for sure.
M.Magis
Well-known member
Like mentioned, cost is too variable to say one way or another. But I wouldn't say grass is "free". It costs money to keep an animal, especially through winter. Even with $7 corn, at 50 bushels thats $350 to finish. If you keep a steer around longer, hoping that it finishes on grass and hay (because not all do), is it saving you any money?
What is the purpose of the lime and do you get any "off-taste" from the gluton?
Little Joe
Well-known member
The lime provides calcium, Dr Gadberry said that the ration didn't provide enough calcium. Never had a problem with the gluten but if you think about it, a steer will eat 3-4% bw, if only 1.5% is coming from grain and only 25% of that is gluten it's really not a lot of gluten in the diet.
Nothing wrong with a good grass finished beef. It's the finished part that gets most of the grass fed crowd. I considered doing the grass fed thing but the reality of it is I would have one time slit a year I could truely finish a beef on grass here with what I have to work with.
In the bearded butchers video he says that fescue will cause the meat to have I think he said a bad taste ? Are there any other grasses that will cause that.
Should you let your beef your finishing graze pasture that has certain types of grasses and weeds, fescue, butter cups etc... or keep it off pasture like that to avoid possibly ranting the flavor of the meat ?
Should you let your beef your finishing graze pasture that has certain types of grasses and weeds, fescue, butter cups etc... or keep it off pasture like that to avoid possibly ranting the flavor of the meat ?
When you say your ration is 50 % corn, 25 % ddg, 25 % corn gluten pellets, 50 lbs of feed grade lime per ton.
When you buy your feed, am I right to say the above ingredients are the amount and what goes into one ton of that mix ? Then you feed that mix out to the animals you are finishing at 1-1/2 % body weight per animal, per feeding I am guessing once a day.
And what does ddg stand for ?
kenny thomas
Well-known member
I think that if they eat buttercup there will be a bigger problem than the taste. Buttercup is poison to them.
I see cattle grazing in fields with butter cups all of the time. Not sure if cows will eat them ? Or if they are finding some grass in the fields that are growing butter cups ?
I never heard of anyone losing cows because of butter cups. Not saying your wrong. Just that I see cattle grazing in fields of butter cups daily and have never heard of any dieing from it. Heard that butter cups are bitter ?
Your right butter cups can kill cattle. But because butter cups cause blisters and gastrointestinal problems cattle tend to avoid them. But if they eat enough of them. It causes convulsions and in severe cases will kill them. I guess if the cows couldn't find other grass in the field and only had butter cups to eat. They would eat them because they be starving.
Little Joe
Well-known member
I have that ration mixed at Farmers, not sure if they have one in your area but several in the state, I just call them ahead of time and they mix what I want and put it in a bulk bag. I typically start off feeding once a day but the last 60 days or so as the pounds of feed gets higher I'll feed twice a day. You can get by feeding once a day. DDG is dried distillers grain. It's what's left of the corn after everything is removed for ethanol.
But what you quoted was the recipe to the mix you have them mix ?
Little Joe
Well-known member
Yes.
bigbluegrass
Well-known member
My previous butcher told me that wild onions (which come on strong here in Feb and March) will give the meat an awful taste. He recommended keeping anything to be finished in the early spring off pasture. I have taken a few beef to the butcher in May that were on grass all spring and didn't have any that tasted awful. Maybe the onions had time to flush out.
I hadn't heard of fescue being a problem. I am sure all of the beef I have eaten in the last 10 years has consumed a good deal of fescue. I didn't notice any bad taste. I don't believe I have any pasture that is 100% fescue, but I doubt I have any that are less than 50% fescue. I think our home raised meat tastes pretty good.
I read clover and ryegrass were preferable forages to finish on. Supposed to give the meat a good flavor. I have both of those in most of my pastures, but I don't have any pastures that are exclusively clover and ryegrass.
Hey Steve, long time no see, how ya been? I recently bought a new bull from our mutual friend is southern Kentucky.
The pasture i have the steer that I am going to butcher this fall belonged to a dairy farmer before i bought it. It is about 50 % fescue with the other 50% in dallas,crab,bermuda grass. And i drilled winter wheat in it last October. So i hope fescue doesn't taint the flavor of the meat.
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