Steer pics, opinions?

[shortybreeder]

Hi, I am new to posting pictures, so I hope this works! We had our weigh-in yesterday, and I was very happy with the weights we got! The baldy is A.I. sired by Simple Math, out of a 1/2 hereford 1/2 holstein cow. He weighed 900 pounds, born either March 17 or March 27, can't really remember which. I have a full brother due on February 21st. The shorthorn is A.I. sired by Homedale Creole 135, out of a registered shorthorn Homedale Blizzard 820 daughter. Born on July 12th, only 6.5 months old and weighed in at 650 pounds! Was only with mom until October. Have another full sibling due either late June or early July, it's written down on the calendar in the house somewhere. Here is the link to the photos I took an hour ago with my ipod (sorry for the low quality, I couldn't see what I was taking a picture of because of the sun).

http://s849.photobucket.com/user/shorty ... 4%20steers

 

[glacierridge]

I can't see the steers!!

 

[shortybreeder]

Sorry, the ipod takes really small pictures... I think if you click on the images it makes them a little bit bigger

 

[VCC]

So from what I gather from your post these are your steer projects, I would start pouring the feed to them.
The shorthorn is a little tight in the heart girth, at least looks that way from the picture, he has some potential but it looks like you are going to have to push him. He is clean necked and it appears that he stand fairly square, some pictures he looks better than others, I would like to a little more depth and width in the calf, but he does look green so that can change with feed and time.
The baldy, he looks like he will be larger framed, he might make a decent county fair steer for you if you can get him to grow out and not up. He has a little more leather up front then I like, and needs some width to him.
I would get them on full feed right as soon as possible; if they are currently on feed I would work them up to 24 on the baldy and 20 on the Shorthorn, a feed around 14% protein and 4-5% fat. I would get then on a quality coarse hay , oat, tri or something like that, it will help put some gut on them.

I would start combing them and working the hair as well, it looks like it may be tough to rinse right now but if you could at least get one good washing in and get them clean so you can start working them it will help. Work hard stay on top of their feed intake and you should have a good time raising them. Just remember the more time you spend working with the now, the easier time you will have at the fair.

Good luck

 

[shortybreeder]

Thanks VCC! Right now I have them both eating 20 lbs per day of AgPartner's Beef Show Grower (min. 13% protein, not sure on fat %) with nice free choice hay. I guess I should have stated above that my county fair is August 5-10 (beef show on the 6th), and state fair (my planned terminal) is the 22nd-31st of August (3 shows, 2 encampments).

The Shorthorn has a Compudose implant, but it still has a couple weeks left of the 100 day period. The Baldy I am experimenting with, he has never been implanted but wasn't cut until 7/8 months of age.

I don't plan on implanting the baldy because after the fair I am going to try direct-marketing his beef. Also, I never really was counting on doing well with him because he is holstein-influenced and would end up going up against $40,000 commercial show steers from Iowa. I just decided to raise him because I need a steer to practicing clipping on, and I want to try marketing the end-product directly to consumers.

What implant should we try after the Compudose expires in the shorthorn? When should we start looking at a finisher? My nutritionist told me at weigh-in to just keeping pushing them at 2.5% of their weight in grower, but I'm not sure when we need to switch to a finisher.

 

[VCC]

I would just add 1 pound of stabilizeid rice bran to their feed, will increase the fat for them and at around 1000 to 1100 I would change the Black and at around 900 on the Shorthorn to the finisher. I think the shorthorn will need more fat in his diet early to get that soft finished look for you.

 

[shortybreeder]

Is stabilized rice bran something I can pick up at a regular feed store? Or is it a type of food by-product that I would need to source out from a manufacturer? What weight should I target as a finished weight for my baldy? Next to the holsteins he looks really short, but from what I gathered at the weigh-in he is probably a larger framed beef steer (I am quite new to the beef industry).

 

[VCC]

Most feed stores carry Stabilized Rice Bran, it is a horse supplement, Natural Grow is one of the brand names, there are others. As far as weight that really depends on the calf, that is one reason we push them on feed to get them to finish at a reasonable weight, 1250-1400 is a good range, some calves will go higher some lower, We feed 2 pounds of stabilized rice bran a day for the last 90 days, but will start earlier with one pound when we think a calf needs the extra to grow.
Since the baldy is for meat and not show, push him and as soon as the ribs are covered the brisket is full and he has some fat around his tail head, get him processed he should be tasty.

 

[shortybreeder]

Alright, thanks for the help! I'll post pictures of my show heifers sometime in the next month or so (it needs to warm up a little bit so I can pull them out and wash them).