Usually when intake is depressed, it is either some type of sickness or, more often, the steer is "burned out" from too high of a starch intake, resulting in a depressed pH in the rumen, killing off the "good" bacteria. I've seen this when folks try to get the corn level too high without enough fiber in the diet. Usually, the droppings are very loose before and during this. I can't be sure if this is true in your case, but if the grain content is much over about 45%, with less than about 15% fiber, it may be. If so, back him off to just hay for about 3 days, then gradually bring him back onto full feed over about
7-10 days. Be careful not to overfeed him.....you want his trough to be clean from the previous feeding when you feed him, without letting him get overly hungry.
Mother nature intended for cattle to be forage/fiber consumers, but we have to use more nutrient/grain dense diets for performance. The trick is use a dense enough diet for good gain, but still maintain a healthy rumen and avoid digestive upsets by having just enough fiber to do so.
