Grass + Grain

[Stocker Steve]

What would be a "good" measure of grain while continuing on grass to finish the beef?

Depends on how starchy the grain is and your genetics and your class and how finished you want them:
For high starch there has been a lot of studies where efficiency drops off over 0.3% BW/day. So based on this a 500# calf should not get more than 1.5#/day.
For low/no starch by products you can feed more w/o rumen problems.

 

[Jessica06]

What would be a "good" measure of grain while continuing on grass to finish the beef?

Depends on how starchy the grain is and your genetics and your class and how finished you want them:
For high starch there has been a lot of studies where efficiency drops off over 0.3% BW/day. So based on this a 500# calf should not get more than 1.5#/day.
For low/no starch by products you can feed more w/o rumen problems.

DDG has all of the starch taken out, which makes it particularly good to use with forage. Keeps the rumen pH pretty constant. Got to watch sulfur, though, feeding at higher rates.

 

[TexasBred]

Maybe I oversimplify it in my mind, but I thought if your mix resulted in "adequate" in the status column then your mix was OK.

Oh you won't kill anything nor even do a huge amount of harm but there is a big difference in "adequate" and "balanced". I haven't messed with it in a long time so will go take another look. ;-)

I have not seen "balanced" appear, no matter what combination I used.

Hd you wont see it ...only adequate and inadequate. To be truly balanced you'll have dozens of various nutrients to "balance" besidrs the common protein fat and fiber . So much mpre to it than just changing numbers and hoping.