Preconditioning adg ?

[Texas PaPaw]

Just purchased 625# bull calves. Will work them making steers in the process. They will be on grass, supplemented with a free choice corn gluten/soy hull blend. Have never done the full feed program on this size before. How much adg should I expect over the first 45 days?

Thanks for your input.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Here on similar feed:

1lb maybe 1.5 if they start on feed real well.

The first 7 days they are just making up what they lost and have a negative ADG
Next week they manage to get to zero ADG
By 45 days they are doing around 2lbs a day-- but the first two weeks knock the ADG way back.

You won't see a big jump in the ADG till you get over 90 days.

 

[TexasBred]

Like Jabo said, the stress from penning, hauling, and then castration is going to knock them back pretty good. Free choice pelleted feed you can expect calves this size to eat 15-18 lbs. per head per day so the gain will eventually get up to 3 lbs. per day I'd think. Averaged over the 45 days beginning from today I'd hope for 2 lbs.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Thanks for your replies. Just talked to a guy that has been doing this awhile using the same feed. Says he get 1.5-2# adg over 30-45 days.
Bought calves on tues & thurs this week and on fri they ate 10#/hd + free choice hay. They will be processed on Monday so that will probably cut them back some, but at least they're they have learned the basics.

Anyone else have experience in this situation.

Thanks again

 

[Howdyjabo]

10 lbs is pretty good-- make sure they are actually eating enough hay to go with it.
Don't want to have them filling up on just the feed.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

10 lbs is pretty good-- make sure they are actually eating enough hay to go with it.
Don't want to have them filling up on just the feed.

Karen

Have been quite pleased with their eating. They have taken to the bunk really well.

This morning they were moved to a grass trap with lots of grass. They've really been chowing down on the grass but see them at the feed bunk also. Due to the amount of grass, I only fed about 8.5 # feed/hd in the trap today. Will be interesting to see how much they've eaten in the morning.

Thanks for your input. You always have valuable comments.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Seems like getting ten started on feed is alot easier than getting 75 started. Even with the same amount of bunk space- they seem to keep each other stirred up(can't eat good till they relax). I have thought about making 8 little itty bitty pens and splitting them up for 10 days

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Seems like getting ten started on feed is alot easier than getting 75 started. Even with the same amount of bunk space- they seem to keep each other stirred up(can't eat good till they relax). I have thought about making 8 little itty bitty pens and splitting them up for 10 days

Yes, I agree smaller groups seem to start easier with less health issues. Having multiple small groups/pens make sense to me. IMO-a small group fighting out their pecking order should be less stressful (and accomplished quicker) than with a larger group. Let us know if you go that route and how it works. FWIW- a man I know used 8 hi-tensile wires to economically subdivide some of his larger pens. He made every other wire hot and it works very well. Also, the calves are hot wire trained in a few of days. Additional gates and water tanks were the major cost.

As I'm an old one man band, buying a handful each week is what works for me from several aspects. The smaller groups make it easier to observe all of the calves during this critical period. Sure easier to spot one individual not feeling well in a group of 15-20 than 70+ hd. Keeping each weeks purchases as separate groups for 3-4 weeks seems to work really well. When I'm convinced they're healthy, they go into the main herd until a load is ready to ship.