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Health & Nutrition
Protein or Energy
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<blockquote data-quote="Jeanne - Simme Valley" data-source="post: 1839967" data-attributes="member: 968"><p>Again, depends on their consistency of their manure. Protein is generally the most expensive "feed' for cattle. I don't believe in "backgrounding" calves, but then again, I have calves that are big. "Generally" people "background" calves because they are too small to go on a feedlot. People take a small weaned calf and let it age to a yearling to reach a decent weight for a feedlot.</p><p>IMHO - total waste of time. But, if you have small weaned calves, this might be an option. If you fed them properly for <strong>growth</strong>, you would have a much better product to sell. </p><p></p><p>You can feed a slightly higher amount of protein and lower energy if your goal is to GROW frame on your cattle vs trying to get them to an end goal faster.</p><p>If you KNOW the % protein of your feed, you want about a 14% ration (hay and grain) for small calves 450-700#. Slowly decreasing the protein as they grow. When they are around 800-850#, they only need around 12.5%. Finishing, they only need around 10.5 - 11.5%. The amount of energy (corn) will determine how FAST they reach these weights.</p><p></p><p>My replacement heifers are around 650-700# at weaning. You should start cattle off with no more than 1% of their BW in grain. I don't need to worry about that because I start them off at 5#/hd/day and keep them on that amount up to breeding age. Their hay is generally 15-16% - full fed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jeanne - Simme Valley, post: 1839967, member: 968"] Again, depends on their consistency of their manure. Protein is generally the most expensive "feed' for cattle. I don't believe in "backgrounding" calves, but then again, I have calves that are big. "Generally" people "background" calves because they are too small to go on a feedlot. People take a small weaned calf and let it age to a yearling to reach a decent weight for a feedlot. IMHO - total waste of time. But, if you have small weaned calves, this might be an option. If you fed them properly for [B]growth[/B], you would have a much better product to sell. You can feed a slightly higher amount of protein and lower energy if your goal is to GROW frame on your cattle vs trying to get them to an end goal faster. If you KNOW the % protein of your feed, you want about a 14% ration (hay and grain) for small calves 450-700#. Slowly decreasing the protein as they grow. When they are around 800-850#, they only need around 12.5%. Finishing, they only need around 10.5 - 11.5%. The amount of energy (corn) will determine how FAST they reach these weights. My replacement heifers are around 650-700# at weaning. You should start cattle off with no more than 1% of their BW in grain. I don't need to worry about that because I start them off at 5#/hd/day and keep them on that amount up to breeding age. Their hay is generally 15-16% - full fed. [/QUOTE]
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