Opinions requested.

[Red Bull Breeder]

Might just be me but i don't see any thing in the pictures that says they are or have any Limi in them. Ain't got no butts.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

farmwriter - and I wasn't trying to criticize your animal. Just trying to point out fat or lack of for ganggreen. I totally understand harvesting cattle at the best time for YOUR operation & conditions.
Red Bull - you are so right - that's why I wrote:
"they might not have been able to express their inherited muscling"

 

[farmwriter]

Jeanne - not offended in the least; I took it the way you intended.
But I think it's important for Ganggreen (and all of us) to remember that formulas or recommendations are great guides but not absolutes and figuring out what works for your individual animals and operation is just as important as doing your homework. Too many variables for any one solution to fit all cattle everywhere, you know what I mean?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

That is exactly right.
When cattle are being finished out on a feedlot, they want to see fat around the tailhead, brisket & flank. The tailhead is an easy one to see - fat will deposit on both sides of the tail filling in the hollow area.
And also the brisket. When you view them from the front, at first the skin on the brisket just hangs there. As they start finishing, the skin will fill in with fat, giving them a wider look to their front end between their legs.
In the flank area, as the fat fills in, the flank will drop. If you were able to touch them, at first, the flank will feel just like two pieces of skin, but as they finish, you will feel the fat between the layers of skin. When they are really finished, you will be able to "see" the fat in the flank as they walk. Also, they will have a loose, jiggle kind of look all over when they walk around. This is what a Choice - Prime steer would appear like. If you overfeed them, you will get into the YG 3 & 4 range and that is NOT what the consumer is looking for. There's a fine line between having enough fat & having too much. And each breed/animal lays in fat & marbling differently. You have to get to know your own herd.

 

[mnmtranching]

This is only a guessing game with a single picture, but, I would guess they should have been fed another 90 days. I do NOT see any fat deposits on their tail head, flank, or brisket. They probably do weigh around 800-900# which is way light for their breeds.
A Char/Limo should easily weigh 1200# by 14 months old and the "generic" Limo should be well above that weight. Their weights relative to their age strongly depends on how long you pastured them. Continental cattle (which is what Limo & Char are) are not designed to be backgrounded. They do best weaned off mom & put right on a grain ration. Less modern type British cattle could use the extra time to grow more frame, then put on the feedlots. But, most modern type British & Continentals don't need backgrounding (putting on roughage diet) anymore. I do not expect them to have much marbling (more likely none), based on breed & looks of finish. Limo & Char are not known for their marbling traits.
Obviously, you are not looking for grass fed beef - you are willing to grain them. You would be money ahead to put them right on grain after weaning. You start out on just grass hay (or grass), for a few days. Than you start them on 1% of their body weight in grain. You can also save money buy just feeding whole shell corn, with a little added protein pellet. They should be on about a 14% protein at weaning age, and corn is only 9%. You SLOWLY increase their grain til you get them up to 3% of their body weight/day. As they gain weight, you decrease the amount of protein pellets. By 750#-800# they really will only need whole shell corn.
Hope this helps.

This is a VERY good post and information here. No need to add to it.

 

[GANGGREEN]

I appreciate everyone's input. For what it's worth, I've been on vacation for the last week and haven't been able to visit the board. One point of clarification, I bought those two steers last year as feeders because I was only going to have one of my own animals to finish/slaughter/sell this year and I've described them as they were described to me, as a Limo/Char cross and a "Limo cross" but I have no idea if that's what they really are.

They're gone now and I should have the beef by the end of the week. I'll try to post an update as to how it turned out.