Hope they are ready by butcher date…

[ksmit454]

You know how it's been… processors booked out for months. Makes it difficult to shoot for the right date for optimal hanging weight. Goal is approx 1300 live weight. I got on the books for Sept 14th for these 4 steers. They have just been on pasture and a good loose mineral. Should I start them on free choice hay and begin graining? Usually I do the last 90 days grain but I'm not sure these guys will be ready by September so I'm trying to weigh out my options. Either start now with heavy hay and introduce grain, or follow like I usually do and grain the last 90 days. If I started now they would be getting grain for approx 150 days. Thoughts?

 

[GoWyo]

What do they weigh now? If only 900# they will need to gain over 3#/day to get there.

 

[ksmit454]

What do they weigh now? If only 900# they will need to gain over 3#/day to get there.

I really do not know. I don't have a good way to weigh them honestly. I am taking another "steer" who is actually a bull to the sale next Wednesday and he's around the size of these guys, but a bit smaller. That would give me a ballpark of what these guys weigh. Is 3# per day growth achievable or not?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

3# is achievable - yes. If they weigh around 900# and you have 150 days to make 1300, they will need a little over 2.5#/hd/day. Easily achievable.
How will these compare to your "normal" steers for age/weight/timing?

 

[GoWyo]

Oops. I left out a month. 2.5# per day is doable. Gradually ramp them up on corn or grain mix to about 20# and only feed about 10-12# grass hay and they should get there no problem. Clean up what grain they don't finish in 30 minutes.

 

[ksmit454]

3# is achievable - yes. If they weigh around 900# and you have 150 days to make 1300, they will need a little over 2.5#/hd/day. Easily achievable.
How will these compare to your "normal" steers for age/weight/timing?

Well my first round of steers were 18 months old, hanging weights were 858 and 798. They were finished almost exactly how I wanted them to be. The butcher was really happy with them too. Unfortunately, these steers that I bought, I'm just guessing on age… the gentleman I bought them from said they were from the spring crop of 2021. So by September they would be around 18-20 months. I have only had cattle for a few years now and I'm just getting into breeding my own to raise and process which will be nice because I'll know exact birth dates and I think that makes the end weight much more achievable. At 2.5# gain per day, how many lbs of grain should I work up to per head per day?

 

[ksmit454]

Oops. I left out a month. 2.5# per day is doable. Gradually ramp them up on corn or grain mix to about 20# and only feed about 10-12# grass hay and they should get there no problem. Clean up what grain they don't finish in 30 minutes.

Great thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for. This is up to 20# grain and 10-12# hay per day, correct?

 

[GoWyo]

Yes. Start with 3-4# grain per day if they haven't had any at all and work up very gradually over three weeks or so to get to 10-12# per day and then increase by a pound per day per week to their full finishing ration. Feed morning and evening at same time every day so they stay consistent on timing and clean up leftover grain after 30 minutes so one doesn't over eat and go off feed.

 

[ksmit454]

Yes. Start with 3-4# grain per day if they haven't had any at all and work up very gradually over three weeks or so to get to 10-12# per day and then increase by a pound per day per week to their full finishing ration. Feed morning and evening at same time every day so they stay consistent on timing and clean up leftover grain after 30 minutes so one doesn't over eat and go off feed.

Excellent. Thank you very much for that information!

 

[Jacob]

Yes start feeding now. I would give them a good worming too. Just something I do when I start feeding grain. Goyo had great advice start slow and work them up. They need to be eating around 2.5% of body weight in my opinion. These calves need to eat to get to 1300 by September.

 

[Travlr]

You know how it's been… processors booked out for months. Makes it difficult to shoot for the right date for optimal hanging weight. Goal is approx 1300 live weight. I got on the books for Sept 14th for these 4 steers. They have just been on pasture and a good loose mineral. Should I start them on free choice hay and begin graining? Usually I do the last 90 days grain but I'm not sure these guys will be ready by September so I'm trying to weigh out my options. Either start now with heavy hay and introduce grain, or follow like I usually do and grain the last 90 days. If I started now they would be getting grain for approx 150 days. Thoughts?

The way I see it you've got four steers with differing genetics and can't depend on the group to perform consistently over the term of the time involved. I'm assuming that your usual program has given you success in the past, and I think it's reasonable to assume any steers in the past varied from 1300 pounds. You don't have a scale so you're guessing at weights anyway. These animals will also vary. If you start feeding them now will they weigh substantially over 1300 pounds by processing time? Does it matter? Are these animals substantially different from former animals? Does it matter if they weigh 1200 or 1400? Personally... if you've been happy before with what you got I wouldn't change the program.

 

[ksmit454]

Yes start feeding now. I would give them a good worming too. Just something I do when I start feeding grain. Goyo had great advice start slow and work them up. They need to be eating around 2.5% of body weight in my opinion. These calves need to eat to get to 1300 by September.

Great thank you! They were dewormer when I gave them their vaccines in the fall.

 

[ksmit454]

The way I see it you've got four steers with differing genetics and can't depend on the group to perform consistently over the term of the time involved. I'm assuming that your usual program has given you success in the past, and I think it's reasonable to assume any steers in the past varied from 1300 pounds. You don't have a scale so you're guessing at weights anyway. These animals will also vary. If you start feeding them now will they weigh substantially over 1300 pounds by processing time? Does it matter? Are these animals substantially different from former animals? Does it matter if they weigh 1200 or 1400? Personally... if you've been happy before with what you got I wouldn't change the program.

Yes you have good points. My program has been successful in the past but I just find it hard to book months in advance for, like you said, steers that all have different genetics and such. I always want to make sure I'm doing things right so thought I would ask here.

 

[Little Joe]

If I was finishing them and had good grass, I would feed them 5-10 lbs/day of a low starch ration and leave on grass. Increase the amount of feed as they get closer to date, maybe put them up last 60 days and go to all grain and leave out free choice hay. I've fed steers out and left them on grass the entire time and fed 15 lbs/day of a low starch ration and got over 3 lbs/ day gains. I started them at 5 lbs/day ration and slowly increased it until I got to the 15 lbs. If feeding straight corn leaving on grass can be a problem due to the amount of starch. If your grass is not good hay and grain will be your best bet.

 

[ksmit454]

If I was finishing them and had good grass, I would feed them 5-10 lbs/day of a low starch ration and leave on grass. Increase the amount of feed as they get closer to date, maybe put them up last 60 days and go to all grain and leave out free choice hay. I've fed steers out and left them on grass the entire time and fed 15 lbs/day of a low starch ration and got over 3 lbs/ day gains. I started them at 5 lbs/day ration and slowly increased it until I got to the 15 lbs. If feeding straight corn leaving on grass can be a problem due to the amount of starch. If your grass is not good hay and grain will be your best bet.

Excellent, thank you for that input. Right now they have good grass and lots of it. I have started them on grain for about a week now and they are getting 6lb/head/day.

 

[ksmit454]

All is going well with the steers. They are gaining good, and have approx 76 days left until processing day. I have them up to 12lbs per head per day, and pretty much all the free choice hay they want. They clean all the grain up within about 15 minutes. Should I make any changes? Increase feed or finish them out at 12lbs per head per day?

 

[GoWyo]

Keep bumping them up on grain to 20#/day or so and make sure they can eat in within 30 minutes.

 

[ksmit454]

Keep bumping them up on grain to 20#/day or so and make sure they can eat in within 30 minutes.

Thank you, I will do that.

 

[MurraysMutts]

All is going well with the steers. They are gaining good, and have approx 76 days left until processing day. I have them up to 12lbs per head per day, and pretty much all the free choice hay they want. They clean all the grain up within about 15 minutes. Should I make any changes? Increase feed or finish them out at 12lbs per head per day?

Any current pics?
Like me some fat cattle!

 

[Jacob]

Yes they need feed and alot of it. 12 pounds won't get it done. Cattle normally convert 7 pounds of grain to 1 pound of gain. So if you are wanting them to gain 3 pounds a day you will need to be feeding a minimum of 21 pounds. I like to feed around 2.5% of body weight. So a thousand pound steer should be getting 25 pounds of grain per day along with all the hay he wants.