Stocker Questions

[Lawson Farms]

Can anyone give me pointers about raising stockers thru the summer? I'm just trying to find a way to get some short term monetary gains. I'd like to hear experienced opinions on the following:

what age to buy, (maybe buy the youngest/smallest at a sale barn)
how long to keep them, (90-120 days)
what vac program you use (Ultrabac7, Bovishield Gold, Epirnex)
ADG on just Grass (Fescue) with minerals
Thoughts on supplementing w/ corn silage ration

Any other answers to questions I forgot to ask...

Business Setup: I work off farm full time, we used to milk, sold the milk herd, trying to build up cow/calf herd. I kept/would like to continue to keep (3) of the dairy employees for the cows, hay harvesting, soybean harvest, corn silage harvest, wheat harvest. I'm just trying to make a couple of pastures pay their way until we grow our herd enough to fill everything.

Thanks for the input.

BL

 

[Jogeephus]

Sounds like you have the perfect setup. A friend of mine was considering the same but instead went to raising replacement dairy calves. Its been a while but what we did was try and turn 3 groups of cattle each year. We'd buy 3 weights with a dollar cap on them. Put them in a pen with good grass and good feed and watch them closely and medicate as needed. Used creep feeders to supplement but kept the feed cost to less than $0.72/day. Never had too much trouble other than once had a bad pinkeye problem that was just a royal pain in the butt to turn around. Here the gains during the summer are poor due to the heat and humidity so normally downsized during the summer months. Also learned not to get calves in the month of September. Bad dusty and lots of pneumonia. Maybe different where you are but that's just something I noticed. Good luck with it.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Buy the discount - - usually less than 350#
Sell the premium - - usually less than 550#
Use internasel initially
Find a low cost source of energy.

 

[Lawson Farms]

Steve,
If I sell at less than 550, who feeds the steers from 550 to where the feedlot wants them at 750 to 800?

What are my options to look for cheap energy?

BL

 

[TexasBred]

Steve,
If I sell at less than 550, who feeds the steers from 550 to where the feedlot wants them at 750 to 800?

What are my options to look for cheap energy?

BL

BL you might check on the likes of wheat midds, rice bran, corn gluten feed, distillers grain and soybean hulls. All have been pretty expensive but I priced some rice bran today and it was $190 a ton delivered. Last week was $250. Wheat midds have been dropping in price as well. I haen't priced any soyhulls but since they're high fiber they may still be pretty strong.

 

[greatgerts]

Steve,
If I sell at less than 550, who feeds the steers from 550 to where the feedlot wants them at 750 to 800?

What are my options to look for cheap energy?

BL

BL you might check on the likes of wheat midds, rice bran, corn gluten feed, distillers grain and soybean hulls. All have been pretty expensive but I priced some rice bran today and it was $190 a ton delivered. Last week was $250. Wheat midds have been dropping in price as well. I haen't priced any soyhulls but since they're high fiber they may still be pretty strong.

Man, that is HIGH.

BL, if you have a brewery nearby, check into a commodity company near them. We are lucky to live 45 min south of St. Louis, and get 25 tons of brewer's grain delivered at less than $60/ton. For stockers, I would mix in a little corn, but not much. You could get by with the brewer's grain (we supplement all through winter @ 10lbs/day) and mix in less than 1% body weight in corn.

 

[Lawson Farms]

Great Gerts, How do you store your WBG's? We have a bunker silo that has our corn silage in it, and we have a 6-bay commodity shed that we could store dry commodities in, but I'm not sure about putting wet brewer's grains in it.

BL

 

[jerry27150]

if you buy the poor ones from the sale barn they are poor growers & may not grow good for you either. buying healthy looking ones will pay back more to you. if you still have corn silage just give them grass & silage. they will grow like weeds. i'd keep them til 7-8 hundred, or do like i used to & feed them on out with silage & some soy & corn. used to be a dairy farmer too & i switched to cow/calf.

 

[greatgerts]

Great Gerts, How do you store your WBG's? We have a bunker silo that has our corn silage in it, and we have a 6-bay commodity shed that we could store dry commodities in, but I'm not sure about putting wet brewer's grains in it.

BL

The first year, we had them ship it and put it in those large bags (something like 25ft or so) and one bag held 25 ton. This past spring, we had a bunker built. It is 3 sides, with the sides being about 4.5-5' tall (can't remember exact specs) and around 12' wide. We just cover the grain with a couple of tarps to keep the rain off.