Steers eat what?

[Jack-IA]

Ok just found my 2 new steers.They are about 550-600#'s Took a while to find for a buck a pound.seems everyone wanted 1.30-1.50 a pound.
Anyway I am going to feed them to about 1400-1500 pounds each and was wondering if it is best to just give them cracked corn or cracked corn and other grains.
Really have no clue and want to do better this time.
They will not have grass,maybe some hay What all do you folks feed out .Should I just go to the elevator and tell them to mix up a batch of something or what they used to feed steers?
thanks in advance.

 

[Bama]

Going from 550 to 1450 is gonna be expensive with corn or grain alone. You need to look into some good quality hay if they are not getting any grass. If they are coming off grass they at least need some roughage. I would feed them hay until about three months before killing them then go to the grain, slowly adding it until they are on straight grain or corn.

 

[SF]

Why are you feeding them so big? In our area fat cattle that large will get docked. I'd put them on pasture till they get above 800 pounds, then I'd start transitioning them to a grain diet. Start slow and gradually increase the grain till they are eating straight grain for the last 30 to 45 days. Which grain? Depends on what is available and for what price in your area. Here I'd start with rolled barley or rolled oats. Later I'd mix some corn in with the barley. In my area I can't get rolled corn, so I'd feed the corn whole. By slaughter time my mix would be about 50-50.

 

[Jack-IA]

So you do not have to feed them corn till the last 60 days or so?
I figure if they get to 1400-1500 they will be a lot of meat.
So I can just feed tehm hay and or grass till the last 60 days and then pour on the corn.Like I said not real sure of what we are doing.Last two we feed corn from about 500 and up.Tho they did eat 5 or 6 tons of corn.
Just assumed you fed corn and some hay and htat was it.
So you would just bring upto 800 on grass or hay then let loose the corn?
thanks

 

[Bama]

Yeah, just grass and hay until the last couple of months. A word of caution. Don't suddenly put them on straight grain. Start giving them a little at a time. Two pounds or so. then slowly increase until they are on all grain. Which will be about 20 % of their body weight. Once I hit 20 % I normally kill in about a week or two. I try for 1000-1100 pounds. There are several opinions on how to finish. This is just the way I do it.

 

[Jack-IA]

So is the advantage of feeding the corn a faster weight gain? As the last ones we did we just fed corn and worked them up to where they ate what they wanted of it. Do not know if they got to 1200 quicker,but they got there.
Thanks

 

[SF]

So you do not have to feed them corn till the last 60 days or so?

Correct. Hay and pasture till 800 pounds or so, depending upon breed. This is going to be my next question.

I figure if they get to 1400-1500 they will be a lot of meat.

Some breeds may require this much size in order have enough marbling and fat to grade out. Many breeds do not require that much size What breed of steers did you buy? What frame size are they? A Chianina steer may require this much size, a holstein too.

So I can just feed tehm hay and or grass till the last 60 days and then pour on the corn.

That is correct. Be sure you gradually increase the grain. Bama's recommendation is a good one. Start out at about 2 pounds of grain per steer per day. Slowly increase until they are on full feed. I usually start out at about 2 lbs per day per steer for week 1. Week 2 I increase to 3 lbs, by mid week I bump up to 4 lbs. Week 3 I go to about 8 lbs. Week 4 15 pounds, By the end of week 5 they should be on full feed grain. They need to be close to slaughter size at this time. You are only going to be able to feed them straight grain for about 60 days or so.

Like I said not real sure of what we are doing.Last two we feed corn from about 500 and up.Tho they did eat 5 or 6 tons of corn.
Just assumed you fed corn and some hay and htat was it.
So you would just bring upto 800 on grass or hay then let loose the corn?
thanks

If the last two worked out okay, then don't scrap what you did. Just cheaper to grow them on hay and pasture. Good luck, let us know how it turns out.
Greg

 

[SF]

So is the advantage of feeding the corn a faster weight gain? As the last ones we did we just fed corn and worked them up to where they ate what they wanted of it. Do not know if they got to 1200 quicker,but they got there.
Thanks

Not necessarily. Depends on the quality of pasture. Good pasture will put the weight on growing steers in a hurry. Remeber these are ruminant animals. They are designed to grow and live off of grasses, not grain. JMO

 

[Jack-IA]

Thanks again.
They are holsteiins.They are already at full feed.I have another separate fenced area where I can put them on grass,so maybe I will put them there and see .

 

[SF]

Holsteins are certainly going to need to get big to get them fat.

 

[Carlos D.]

A buck a pound for holstiens --need anymore?

 

[ChrisB]

For holsteins, I would limit their roughage intake to 1-2 pounds a day and ramp them up over a couple weeks to where they get all the corn they want. There are a lot of feed companies that have dairy steer feed programs. Most of the time it just involves a pelleted protein/mineral that you mix with the corn.

If you get holsteins to big before you push the corn to them it is very hard to get a good finish on them. You can get them to 1400 lbs at about 14 months of age if you push the corn from the start. Otherwise it seems holsteins will take 2 years or more if feed like most beef breeds.

 

[BIGMUD]

Been lurking for a long time, and this topic finaly got me to register. I raise jersery steers from bottle to butcher, and I am always looking for more cost effective ways to raise them. And I am wondering would this method work on dairy steers also. I have always been told grain is the way to go???

Great forum, I haved learned a lot

 

[ChrisB]

Bigmud,

Not sure of which way you are referring to. But when we used to raise holsteins it was all pretty much whole shelled corn and protein pellets from weaning on. Actually we didn't give them any roughage until the last couple groups we fed out. I'm guessing Doboy is in your area, they have a no-roughage program for dairy steers. Hubbard has a low-roughage program for dairy steers as I'm sure most large feed companies do.

 

[milkmaid]

Wow - what area are you in? that's where I need to ship my holstein steers. :lol: 300-400 pound-ers here are fetching 1.12/lb and a little under at the auction. And their price goes down as the weight goes up - for us. I've gotten more for mine private-treaty, but if I could get $1/lb at 600lbs I'd be really pleased!

I like a mix of barley, corn, and cottonseed as a base ration for all my animals - show steer, nurse cow, calves, etc - and then depending on what I'm feeding I may add something to that. Show steer gets some Purina Show Chow in addition to everything else, the 450lb holstein calves are getting Purina Growena...you get the picture.

 

[Cheyenne]

You have to remember that in Iowa all beef is presumed to be "corn" fed. If one says they are grazing and feeding hay only one gets some very funny looks. I'm suprised people that don't feed grain aren't run out of Iowa. lol

We are feeding a custom mix (our landlord is an animal nutristionist and grinds it for us.) and a flake or two of hay a day. With this program I am getting and ADG of 2.5-3.0 lbs on my holstein heifers and 6.5-7.0 on my Charlois bull calf. At the rate he is going I might have beef by christmas, yippppeeeee!!!

Since we started with the 4-H projects and raising our own meat I have had quite a few requests for off farm beef and pork. If that keeps up I am going to have to quit my day job. But I am sure that if I said I didn't feed any grain, that would put a few people off.

I am going to try both ways when we get our next beef for our freezer just to see if there is a difference in marbling and flavor. I am curious to see what the out comes are. Has anyone else fed out two differently and tasted a difference?