Implants

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Give me some thoughts on implanting steers. I have been told it increases gain but have never done this before. Never really believed in steroids but am getting to the point were money is more important to me.



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This is almost as controversial as when to to castrate. In our marketing program we are advised to implant at weaning. We don't ad our rte of gain was in the same ball park as others in our cattle type that did. I know it adds, but unless you are going to keep them for the longterm, 90 days or so, I don't think it does all that much for you.

dun

> Give me some thoughts on
> implanting steers. I have been
> told it increases gain but have
> never done this before. Never
> really believed in steroids but am
> getting to the point were money is
> more important to me.
 
implanting can definitely increase gain. we implant at a couple of months of age (only the steers), at the same time we give the first blackleg vaccinations. the results can definitely be seen at weaning. any show steers will be implanted again, except those for carcass shows. implants will increase yield but research has shown that implanted steers don't grade as well. others are welcome to agree or disagree.....
 
> implanting can definitely increase
> gain. we implant at a couple of
> months of age (only the steers),
> at the same time we give the first
> blackleg vaccinations. the results
> can definitely be seen at weaning.
> any show steers will be implanted
> again, except those for carcass
> shows. implants will increase
> yield but research has shown that
> implanted steers don't grade as
> well. others are welcome to agree
> or disagree.....

Ever implant heifers. I hear you can as long as they are young, not weaned. I do have some animals I am thinking of keeping for cows.

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i started implanting after my son had a steer in the fair and they implanted him every 90 days and it made a difference. i implant all steers at birth and at weaning. i only implant heifers that are freezer bound. someone might want them for breeding. i like the dirrerence in the gain of the steers.
> while we do not implant heifers,
> synovex H is approved for use on
> them.



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> Give me some thoughts on
> implanting steers. I have been
> told it increases gain but have
> never done this before. Never
> really believed in steroids but am
> getting to the point were money is
> more important to me.

We used implants on 4-H market steers when our sons were still in the 4-H program. Our animals were not treated and fed as commercial cattle. They were fed and pampered to be competetive and successful at our county fair. One would quickly lose their shirt if they treated all their cattle like these were treated. While we did see some possible gain using steroids, one thing we found on the animals we butchered for our personal use was that in approximately 50% of the steers, there was extreme liver damage. Don't know for sure if it was from the steroids, additives in the feed, or from something else, but found this interesting enough that I would not consider using steroids on heifers that I planned to keep. I would be interested to know if anyone else has seen anything similar to this.
 
but am
> getting to the point were money is
> more important to me.

If that is the case, then keep your money instead of giving it to the drug companies. Better for you, better for the animals, better for the consumers.
 
if you choose not to implant because of personal ethical beliefs, fine, but the cost of an implant is far less than the gain you will get. i read a research article (& this was not an implant ad) just last week that found that implanted steers weighed 30-40 lbs heavier at weaning than non-implanted steers. at .90+/lb if you have any number of steers at all, that can add up quick.
 
if i did, i would have gone out & bought a herd of longhorns last week after reading the "breeds board"

we've used implants for many years and have seen the difference.
 
> we've used implants for many years
> and have seen the difference.

Maybe if you just got better genetics, you wouldn't need drugs.
 
we only use implants on our crossbred steers. no registered animals or crossbred heifers. we have weaned 7 month old 750+ lb registered polled hereford bulls & 700+ lb heifers(no creep).....i think our genetics are fine!!
 
we
> have weaned 7 month old 750+ lb
> registered polled hereford bulls
> & 700+ lb heifers(no
> creep).....i think our genetics
> are fine!!

Sounds like your feed bucket is working pretty good also.
 
as i said, NO CREEP and we DO NOT feed the cows. they get mineral year-round and hay in the winter and that is all. we do fertilize and weed spray (which you may not approve of either, but i don't care to argue about) so we have very good pastures and grass. we do feed the bulls and heifer calves (AFTER WEANING) although most of our bull calves are sold before they're 18 mos old so we don't have to feed them very long. we usually wean in the fall and retain about 25 registered heifers and they are fed 100 lbs every other day until spring. if you call that a big feed bucket, i guess we do have one.

to use or not to use implants is a personal decision & you can weigh your ethical beliefs vs the weight gain & make a decision based on that. we will continue to use them.
 
"Better for you, better for the animals, better for the consumers."

Where did you get this information? I can't seem to find any evidence that implants are harmful in anyway. Do a little research and see exactly what an implant does instead of listening to the scare tactics of certain radical groups. An egg for example has about 200 times the amount of estradial as an equivalent serving of beef. One bottle of beer has more estrogen than a whole beef implanted with an estrogen based hormone. If the FDA finds that implants are unhealthy or dangerous I would be the first one to quit using them.

Implants are well worth the time and money spent.
 
> Implants are well worth the time
> and money spent.

You sound like a drug company rep. Yes, if you belive that drugs are the answer, then maybe you can add a little 24D to you salad, but please don't add it to mine.
 
But there is research that shows agressive implanting can affect the quality of the beef. If cattle are implanted at a time they are not able to get high quality nutrition, they will not marble. But as long as they have plenty of high quality feed, they put down the marbling as their genetics allow. I see that the EU is going to the WTO again about implanted beef, even though they have NEVER been able to show it's harmful.

> "Better for you, better for
> the animals, better for the
> consumers."

> Where did you get this
> information? I can't seem to find
> any evidence that implants are
> harmful in anyway. Do a little
> research and see exactly what an
> implant does instead of listening
> to the scare tactics of certain
> radical groups. An egg for example
> has about 200 times the amount of
> estradial as an equivalent serving
> of beef. One bottle of beer has
> more estrogen than a whole beef
> implanted with an estrogen based
> hormone. If the FDA finds that
> implants are unhealthy or
> dangerous I would be the first one
> to quit using them.

> Implants are well worth the time
> and money spent.
 
> But there is research that shows
> agressive implanting can affect
> the quality of the beef. If cattle
> are implanted at a time they are
> not able to get high quality
> nutrition, they will not marble.
> But as long as they have plenty of
> high quality feed, they put down
> the marbling as their genetics
> allow. I see that the EU is going
> to the WTO again about implanted
> beef, even though they have NEVER
> been able to show it's harmful.

Preception is Reality.

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From what I understand that is true. If your cattle typically don't marble as well as you would like, and you are determined to sell on a grid, you probably are not going to see any positives to implanting.

Also, if anyone decides against implanting I respect their choice. If implants were banned it wouldn't bother me one bit. If they are healthy and the guy down the road is making another $25/hd by implanting, why wouldn't I do it? I just get tired of hearing how "natural" or "organic" foods are so much healthier, and to my knowledge there is no scientific proof to back it up.
 

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