CattleAnnie
Well-known member
Good day, all. Sure could use some advice from you folks.
I've got a question that maybe should have been in the Show part of this site, but figuring as it's pertaining to feed stuck it here.
The 'AppleDumpling Gang' decided to give Beef 4H a go. We walked through the steers in the fall and they picked their 'projects', got them started on rolled oats, switched them over to rolled barley/oat ration with some Bovatec pellets. They get very little roughage... a few pounds per head.
Now I'm just kind of winging it with the kids, as when I was a kid Dad sold all the calves in the fall except for his replacements, and they never were on the sort of intense grain ration that these wooly boogers are. (Honey and I do the same here. Couple pounds a day of rolled barley for the replacements and free choice hay. We're producers that don't background our steers.)
Here's the problem. Little butthead 4H steers keep going off their feed in the warmer weather we were having. Steers are around the eight weight mark - give or take (should finish at around 1200 lbs or so I'm guessing).
We've tried cutting back the ration, but it's fairly frustrating. When the kidlings switched them onto the barley, the steers had been eating up to 18lbs of the oats a day per animal. Currently getting the 'showburgers' to polish off 8 lbs each of the mixed ration is an achievement. Going on week two of this nonsense.
Help!!
(My kidlings are feeling pretty blue - worrying that their steers won't gain enough to finish and be sold in June)
Thanks for any and all advice. Take care.
I've got a question that maybe should have been in the Show part of this site, but figuring as it's pertaining to feed stuck it here.
The 'AppleDumpling Gang' decided to give Beef 4H a go. We walked through the steers in the fall and they picked their 'projects', got them started on rolled oats, switched them over to rolled barley/oat ration with some Bovatec pellets. They get very little roughage... a few pounds per head.
Now I'm just kind of winging it with the kids, as when I was a kid Dad sold all the calves in the fall except for his replacements, and they never were on the sort of intense grain ration that these wooly boogers are. (Honey and I do the same here. Couple pounds a day of rolled barley for the replacements and free choice hay. We're producers that don't background our steers.)
Here's the problem. Little butthead 4H steers keep going off their feed in the warmer weather we were having. Steers are around the eight weight mark - give or take (should finish at around 1200 lbs or so I'm guessing).
We've tried cutting back the ration, but it's fairly frustrating. When the kidlings switched them onto the barley, the steers had been eating up to 18lbs of the oats a day per animal. Currently getting the 'showburgers' to polish off 8 lbs each of the mixed ration is an achievement. Going on week two of this nonsense.
Help!!
(My kidlings are feeling pretty blue - worrying that their steers won't gain enough to finish and be sold in June)
Thanks for any and all advice. Take care.