Ive always raised bottle calves and went from starter to full feed with free choice hay. Now i have access to 80 acres of woods/ pasture mix in addition to the 40 acres of grass pature i take hay off of. I have thought about buying feeders (400-500 Lbs) in the spring and selling them in the fall. What rate of gain can i expect on pasture through the summer? With the price of corn i cant afford to finish cattle anymore. Thanks for your imput.
Rate of gain on grass pasture
- Thread starter LLR
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bigbull338
Well-known member
if you have good grass you should get a gain of 1.5 to 2lbs a day gain.so in 129 days your calves should gain 250lbs.LLR":2wh16fj0 said:
LLR":3owc3zn3 said:
Lots of stocker operations around here. You could expect to get anywhere between 1/2 to 3 lbs per day according to quality of grazing, health, and genetics of the calves.
I know that's not what you was wanting to hear, but there are too many variables to take in to consideration.
Bama
Well-known member
Running them at a heavy stocking rate I figure 1.25. If I beat that its just more folding money than I expected. Don't set your expectations to high and you won't be disapointed.
I would guess that your grass has more kick up in WI than some of these southern places. You aren't going to be able keep as many calves they will nor for as long. Make sure that they aren't deficent anywhere or it will kill your gain.
If you supplement proteien and phosphate you rates of gain can be 3.5lbs + . Don't know what available in the USA or even if phoaphate will do anything for you at all, but I get the gains easily of low quality grass on acidic soil if I supplement as little as 1lb per day with a proteien suplement
tncattle
Well-known member
O.K. finally maybe something that is simple and I might be able to understand.
A Feeder is a steer?
It is around 400-450 pds.?
You can buy it for about how much?
It takes about 100-120 days to sell it at about 200 pds bigger than you bought it. Right?
The big one: about how much more can you sell it for than you bought it?
Bare with me guys I'm learning.
A Feeder is a steer?
It is around 400-450 pds.?
You can buy it for about how much?
It takes about 100-120 days to sell it at about 200 pds bigger than you bought it. Right?
The big one: about how much more can you sell it for than you bought it?
Bare with me guys I'm learning.
A feeder is a weaned calf. Up here i can buy feeders from 450-600lbs. Last week they were around 85-93 cents. I have been thinking about feeders because the rising cost of corn and the fact i have lots of pasture. My imputs should be lower than raising bottle calves ($110 calf,$50milkreplacer, $7 per bag starter, $165 per ton feed ). Not to mention lower mortality. I just had to make sure they would gain enough over a summer to at least be in the black by a little bit. I think the days of buying corn to finish cattle are over 
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