help! Still have question about feeding for butchering

[fishermanswoman]

Hey everyone thanks for the info. Now my next question is we have penned them and we have been feeding them like i said almost 50lbs of wet cob{ for all three steers of coarse) per day and plus free feed alfalfa. Is it to much protein for the purpose of butchering...the cost seems to great if we were going to feed them for so long like the replies say but we want to be as cost effective but with tender marbled meat...do we switch to a little mixture of hay/alfalfa ? We are in oregon and its rain/sun/snow/cloudy/freezing/ whatever it decides to do thats oregon but we love it here... So ,anyways is it switch to hay mixture and cut a little protein time or do as the reply stated 50% gluten and 50% cracked for marbling.. and if so is it still basically starting them very young {which seems very expensive} and finishing them like I was told in the last reply?
Thanks again for everyones input... Im so glad there are people like you all to answer questions that a silly farm girl like me has..speaking of silly questions.. What is creep feed ? I know silly me..but we are from oregon ha ha

 

[bigbull338]

Hey everyone thanks for the info. Now my next question is we have penned them and we have been feeding them like i said almost 50lbs of wet cob{ for all three steers of coarse) per day and plus free feed alfalfa. Is it to much protein for the purpose of butchering...the cost seems to great if we were going to feed them for so long like the replies say but we want to be as cost effective but with tender marbled meat...do we switch to a little mixture of hay/alfalfa ? We are in oregon and its rain/sun/snow/cloudy/freezing/ whatever it decides to do thats oregon but we love it here... So ,anyways is it switch to hay mixture and cut a little protein time or do as the reply stated 50% gluten and 50% cracked for marbling.. and if so is it still basically starting them very young {which seems very expensive} and finishing them like I was told in the last reply?
Thanks again for everyones input... Im so glad there are people like you all to answer questions that a silly farm girl like me has..speaking of silly questions.. What is creep feed ? I know silly me..but we are from oregon ha ha

if you cut back on the feed mix.add more hay to their feedings.the heavy feeding an protine makes them gain more weight.an yes it is costly to raise your own beef for the freezer.creep feed is a feed that you start the calves on thats sucking their mommas.start them on creepfeed when calves are about 4 months old.helps get calves used to eating feed.an not pull momma down so bad.

 

[SCRUBS620]

Hey everyone thanks for the info. Now my next question is we have penned them and we have been feeding them like i said almost 50lbs of wet cob{ for all three steers of coarse) per day and plus free feed alfalfa. Is it to much protein for the purpose of butchering...the cost seems to great if we were going to feed them for so long like the replies say but we want to be as cost effective but with tender marbled meat...do we switch to a little mixture of hay/alfalfa ? We are in oregon and its rain/sun/snow/cloudy/freezing/ whatever it decides to do thats oregon but we love it here... So ,anyways is it switch to hay mixture and cut a little protein time or do as the reply stated 50% gluten and 50% cracked for marbling.. and if so is it still basically starting them very young {which seems very expensive} and finishing them like I was told in the last reply?
Thanks again for everyones input... Im so glad there are people like you all to answer questions that a silly farm girl like me has..speaking of silly questions.. What is creep feed ? I know silly me..but we are from oregon ha ha

if you cut back on the feed mix.add more hay to their feedings.the heavy feeding an protine makes them gain more weight.an yes it is costly to raise your own beef for the freezer.creep feed is a feed that you start the calves on thats sucking their mommas.start them on creepfeed when calves are about 4 months old.helps get calves used to eating feed.an not pull momma down so bad.

If they are close to slaughter (within 180 days) I would say higher energy/lower protein feed will marble them the best. Protein is for growth of muscle and frame, if they already have the muscle in place they dont need as much. The energy adds fat (marbling). It is the excess energy that is put into the muscle as marbling so make sure they are gaining enough per day (I have always heard they need to gain more than about 2 lbs per day to marble well). This is why grass finished beef can lack marbling if not done properly. The rate of gain from grass is not consistant in permanent pasture situations. The summer and winter slumps prevent a steady rate of gain high enough to promote marbling.

The price advantage comes when you compare the the price per lb of your processed beef to what the inferior beef from the supermarkets would cost. We average about $2.50 per lb processing and all. If you compare this to hamburger at the supermarket its probably about even (much better quality though). The real advantage comes when you look at the other cuts. At supermarkets in our area roasts are about $3.99/lb, steaks are between $3.99 and $5.99, and premium steaks (T-bones, Ribeyes, etc.) are usually between $5.99 all the way up to $9.99. Once you process your own you wont go back to the supermarket easily. Supermarkets are low in the pecking order for the quality of meat that they recieve. The big processors sell all of the really good meat to restuarants.