I am by no means..

[Dixieangus]

An expert on feed and on what needs what, and with feed prices out of the roof here i am going to take a different approach. Buy some calves from a man that buys and sell (have done quit a bit of business with him) and feed them for about 60-90 days. I will be feeding good quality hay, protein tubs, and a little csm and maybe a little bit of another kind of feed. What weight should i get to fit this nutritional bracket? I was thinking some thin 3-4 wts myself

 

[Dixieangus]

oh come on i know some of you can help me....ANY opinions or input.. thanks

 

[Jogeephus]

I think a realistic average to shoot for on the group would be about 2.2-2.5 lbs/day. As it cools off you should pick up more weight too.

 

[Dixieangus]

Thanks jo, but i was talking about the average weight of calves to get that will do good on this feeding.

 

[dun]

I would look at 5-6 weights, they are better conditioned to gain on forage and grain then smaller calves.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I would look at 5-6 weights, they are better conditioned to gain on forage and grain then smaller calves.

Dun nailed it for beef steers, heifers could be a little lighter. It would be hard to get over 2#/day w/o that "another kind of feed".

I have run 3-4 wts on second cutting upland hay and lots of wet cake or sugar beets. Hard to average over 1.75#/day on this ration and light cattle.

 

[Jogeephus]

I agree. Based on figures I have collected on creep verus non creep fed calves of this size I found little difference in the gain between these two when one group was given free choice creep, good hay and good grazing and the other just good grazing and good hay. However when I compared my costs between the two it was obvious the feed route wasn't the way to go for me. But when the calves got bigger like suggested, the feed made a tremendous difference.

 

[Dixieangus]

I agree. Based on figures I have collected on creep verus non creep fed calves of this size I found little difference in the gain between these two when one group was given free choice creep, good hay and good grazing and the other just good grazing and good hay. However when I compared my costs between the two it was obvious the feed route wasn't the way to go for me. But when the calves got bigger like suggested, the feed made a tremendous difference.

so your saying little ones?

 

[TexasBred]

Dixie whatever you decide to do don't start of with a "hit and miss" feeding program. Instead of this plus that plus something else, select one good feed to compliment the hay and feed it and in an amount to give you gain. Select a high quality feed with a high energy content and they will gain weight. Tubs, etc. are really designed to compliment low quality grazing and hay but primarily for maintenance not gain.

 

[Lane]

TB is right about the feed. I buy 3 wt. calves and feed up to 8wt. Those light
calves take a while to get going and you will not see a lot of gain in 30 days.
For short term feeding look at 4 wt. bulls right now. In my area they are about
15-20 cents back from steers, and if you know how to castrate they will go
forward in price just by doing that. It will only take a few weeks for them to
straighten out and you will make money even without great gain.


Lane