Putting hay/grain fed steers on green pasture?

[SmalltimeOkie]

Can I take yearling steers that have been raised their whole lives in a dirt pen with hay and some feed and put them out on a pasture? I heard somewhere that doing so can cause some digestive issues?

 

[kenny thomas]

The bacteria in the stomach will have to change for them to adapt. Normally they will loose a lot of weight.

 

[SmalltimeOkie]

The bacteria in the stomach will have to change for them to adapt. Normally they will loose a lot of weight.

So I should wean them onto green grass/pasture? How long should I take to wean them off?

 

[kenny thomas]

You can turn them out and they will adapt. If they have been on mostly hay it wont take as long as it would if they were on heavy feed.

 

[kenny thomas]

Are these bottle calves? No matter what they are worming them a few days before turnout will keep them clean.

 

[SmalltimeOkie]

Are these bottle calves? No matter what they are worming them a few days before turnout will keep them clean.

They're yearling jersey x steers.

 

[kenny thomas]

They're yearling jersey x steers.

Ok, good beef. They will adapt.

 

[farmerjan]

Make sure they are full up on hay.... so they will not gorge themselves right off... hay will keep the gut microbes working, the green grass will cause some loose manure but not so b ad if they are full up first. Might want to give just a little grain for a few days/week, to help the gut microbes keep working as they transition.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

The breed will have some effect, no doubt. Their individual pedigree will also have an effect. I've talked to many producers. The story I get back, and conclusion I can draw, is that it depends on the animal. Some animals will convert easily when you try/do this. Some animals will have difficulty to varying degrees, and some animals won't convert. From what I've heard, its easier to go the opposite direction, but that doesn't help you. Watch each and every animal you are trying this with independently, and treat them as such.

 

[Lucky_P]

Are these bottle calves? No matter what they are worming them a few days before turnout will keep them clean.

KT, if these calves have, as STO says, been in a dirt lot with no access to grazing, for the entirety of their lives, they likely won't have any significant worm burden... most all of the GI nematode parasites are ingested as infective larvae swimming up the forage in the rain/dew film of moisture on the grass. No grazing = no worms. Deworming 4-6 weeks or so after turnout might be helpful, though, if they're going out onto pasture that's had cattle on it within the last year or two.

 

[kenny thomas]

KT, if these calves have, as STO says, been in a dirt lot with no access to grazing, for the entirety of their lives, they likely won't have any significant worm burden... most all of the GI nematode parasites are ingested as infective larvae swimming up the forage in the rain/dew film of moisture on the grass. No grazing = no worms. Deworming 4-6 weeks or so after turnout might be helpful, though, if they're going out onto pasture that's had cattle on it within the last year or two.

You are totally correct. Brain fart on my part. Guess im accustomed to worming every calf before i turn it out.

 

[SmalltimeOkie]

KT, if these calves have, as STO says, been in a dirt lot with no access to grazing, for the entirety of their lives, they likely won't have any significant worm burden... most all of the GI nematode parasites are ingested as infective larvae swimming up the forage in the rain/dew film of moisture on the grass. No grazing = no worms. Deworming 4-6 weeks or so after turnout might be helpful, though, if they're going out onto pasture that's had cattle on it within the last year or two.

I have wormed everything as I turn it out with an injectable Ivermectin just because it's easy to catch em as I let them out of the trailer into the isolation pen. I kinda figure Ivermectin is cheap and I've never heard of it hurting anything or anyone.

 

[SmalltimeOkie]

Make sure they are full up on hay.... so they will not gorge themselves right off... hay will keep the gut microbes working, the green grass will cause some loose manure but not so b ad if they are full up first. Might want to give just a little grain for a few days/week, to help the gut microbes keep working as they transition.

So might serve them well to be weaned off the grain and onto the grass. I thought it might help that it's been hot here for a couple weeks with very little/no rain so the grasses are starting to dry out. Not lush, green, new forage so the forage would be more like what they've been eating?

 

[farmerjan]

Anything we bring "home" gets a week in the "barn lot" . All the hay they can eat... a little grain in the feed bunk so after 2-3 days, you go call and they know they are going to get a "treat".... vaccinated with blackleg right off...banded if necessary..... watched for a week... easier to pick up any pneumonia, snotty noses, anything like that....then they get a killed virus vaccine... usually triangle 5 for steers, or 10 for females... worming if needed....ear tags for id, and turned out. The thing is for them to go out with a full belly....

If the grass is not green lush then they should transition much easier with less problems.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Anything we bring "home" gets a week in the "barn lot" . All the hay they can eat... a little grain in the feed bunk so after 2-3 days, you go call and they know they are going to get a "treat".... vaccinated with blackleg right off...banded if necessary..... watched for a week... easier to pick up any pneumonia, snotty noses, anything like that....then they get a killed virus vaccine... usually triangle 5 for steers, or 10 for females... worming if needed....ear tags for id, and turned out. The thing is for them to go out with a full belly....

If the grass is not green lush then they should transition much easier with less problems.

I like the "if needed" approach to worming better than automatic. There isin't anything 'wrong' with automatic, but that is on parallel with how the sheep industry has so much of a problem with worms resistant - an even completely unaffected - by wormers. I'm not saying don't do it, but think about it and don't take it fir granted. Creating resistance to ivermectin might result in the next wormer costing 10-15x the price of ivermectin, if there even is a next wormer.

 

[SmalltimeOkie]

I like the "if needed" approach to worming better than automatic. There isin't anything 'wrong' with automatic, but that is on parallel with how the sheep industry has so much of a problem with worms resistant - an even completely unaffected - by wormers. I'm not saying don't do it, but think about it and don't take it fir granted. Creating resistance to ivermectin might result in the next wormer costing 10-15x the price of ivermectin, if there even is a next wormer.

Only reason I have done it automatically is that all of my cattle are new to me, so I've been worming, tagging, banding/castrating, and vaccinating (At least with tetanus) everything as I get it before it goes out with my little herd. I don't plan to automatically worm or vaccinate the herd once I get it established and really figure out wth I'm doing. This was more just my process for now until I can get my herd established without a bunch of new additions.

My thought process was that if I hit everything with a good anti-parasite medication before it gets turned out. It would reduce the potential parasite load on my pasture. I'm not super familiar with all of the parasites that affect cattle or how they spread, but kinda figured better safe than sorry.

 

[Lucky_P]

I have wormed everything as I turn it out with an injectable Ivermectin just because it's easy to catch em as I let them out of the trailer into the isolation pen. I kinda figure Ivermectin is cheap and I've never heard of it hurting anything or anyone.

No, it won't 'hurt' anything, per se - if adminstered at appropriate dosage - but if the calves don't have any worms - and if they've been in a dirt lot on hay and feed, with no grazing, they won't have any - it's a waste of the drug and the $$ you paid for it.
If this is a reasonable representation of those calves, you'd be better off deworming 6-8 wks after they go out on pasture and pick up some worms.

@Mark Reynolds makes a good point about deworming when not needed, or on animals that don't need to be dewormed - it moves us closer to having populations of worms that are resistant to the dewormers we have. And, when resistance is selected for, it's for an entire class of anthelminthics - if you select for a population of worms on your premises that are resistant to ivermectin... they are also resistant to doramectin(DectoMax) and moxidectin (Cydectin). Resistance to one of the benzimidazoles(Safeguard/Panacur, Valbazen, Synanthic) confers resistance to all members of that class.
And... evidence suggests that once you've selected for populations of worms resistant to the avermectin & benzimidazoles, that resistance is... forever. That said, resistance to the imidazole class, like Tramisol/Levamisole appears to wane and disappear, if you don't use that class of drugs for at least 10 years.

I'm unaware of any 'new' dewormers anywhere on the horizon, in development or in the approval chain. What we have now is probably what we're going to have. We need to use them wisely.

 

[Rancher]

Spot on Lucky