Supplementing the supplement

[Alan]

I know this is on the wrong page, I'm just hoping for more input from folks. I'm currently raising a clean up bull. He's about 11 months and is on pretty good free choice hay, minerals and he gets about 12 to 15 lbs a day of "cattle developer". It's 3.5% fat, 12% protein I can't remember the fiber but it's a lower fiber content. I had a friend tell me I should add some corn or oats to the feed (the feed is a pelleted feed). I was a little surprised when I went to the feed store to find out that rolled corn is 2% fat and 9% protein, while whole oats is 4% fat and 10% protein. I'm under the impression corn is the common grain to feed to help with development. Oh sorry BTW, I'm trying to add a bit more growth to him before he goes out with the cows around the first of July.

Corn, oats, no additives just increase the cattle developer? Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Alan

 

[novaman]

If he isn't growing with 12-15 pounds of your pelleted feed I wouldn't be keeping him for breeding purposes. Just as a note, oats is typically 12-13% protein.

 

[Alan]

If he isn't growing with 12-15 pounds of your pelleted feed I wouldn't be keeping him for breeding purposes. Just as a note, oats is typically 12-13% protein.

Sorry, I know it's tough to verbally describe a complete picture via text on the Internet. He is actually doing very well .... No I'm not going to post a pic, for you Hereford folks he is a Rib Eye son out of a Call 100 daughter. I would guess his weight between 900 and 1000 as of now. He is deep and wide, well muscled and for full disclosure he has no eye pigment ..... But I'm keeping him for my cleanup bull for a couple of years at least. So back to the question, he has good weight, I would like to see more fat in his brisket area, to my poor eye that's how I tell body fat in a animal with a bcs of 7 or so. On the oats being 12 to 13 % could very well be, I was going off my very poor, old memory.

No offense Nova, as I said I know it's nearly impossible to give folks a complete picture of a question through text. Thanks for the reply.

Alan

 

[KNERSIE]

There is another component to nutrition, namely energy. Corn is higher than oats and more pallatible than oats also. I wouldn;t add anything to the feed, a young growing bull of that age should not deposit fat in his brisket if he has adequate growth potential.

 

[TexasBred]

Alan personally I wouldn't supplement the supplement. The feed should be adequate and since it's low fiber it should contain adequate energy since he's not burning a lot of calories now anyway. You're still wanting to grow him rather than finish him so I wouldn't add corn for certain. I might consider some oats but right now oats are extremely expensive down in this area.

 

[bigbull338]

keep him on his currant feed mix.but i would increase his feed to 20 or 25lbs a day.if i have a bull in the pen i like for him to eat 20 to 25lbs feed a day.

 

[TexasBred]

keep him on his currant feed mix.but i would increase his feed to 20 or 25lbs a day.if i have a bull in the pen i like for him to eat 20 to 25lbs feed a day.

Not wanting to fatten him BB....the feed is adequate.

 

[bigbull338]

well TB id only do that if i had them in the pen for awhile.my 2 herd bulls was raised on pasture an hay.an 1 of the 2 got 25lbs a day for 2 or 3wks,an that was it.

 

[KNERSIE]

well TB id only do that if i had them in the pen for awhile.my 2 herd bulls was raised on pasture an hay.an 1 of the 2 got 25lbs a day for 2 or 3wks,an that was it.

So what good did that do?

 

[SRBeef]

If he isn't growing with 12-15 pounds of your pelleted feed I wouldn't be keeping him for breeding purposes. Just as a note, oats is typically 12-13% protein.

Sorry, I know it's tough to verbally describe a complete picture via text on the Internet. He is actually doing very well .... No I'm not going to post a pic, for you Hereford folks he is a Rib Eye son out of a Call 100 daughter. I would guess his weight between 900 and 1000 as of now. He is deep and wide, well muscled and for full disclosure he has no eye pigment ..... But I'm keeping him for my cleanup bull for a couple of years at least. So back to the question, he has good weight, I would like to see more fat in his brisket area, to my poor eye that's how I tell body fat in a animal with a bcs of 7 or so. On the oats being 12 to 13 % could very well be, I was going off my very poor, old memory.

No offense Nova, as I said I know it's nearly impossible to give folks a complete picture of a question through text. Thanks for the reply.

Alan

Two things:

1) Why not show a picture of him? I'd love to see a Ribeye retained bull.

2) Rather than brisket, I look at the rib cover. I do not want to see any ribs which means he is BCS 5 or higher. No ribs showing and a smooth area from pins to hooks is my definition of what I want my cattle to look like, especially a bull this time of year. fwiw. I think a full brisket is quite a bit higher than 5?

Jim

 

[bigbull338]

well TB id only do that if i had them in the pen for awhile.my 2 herd bulls was raised on pasture an hay.an 1 of the 2 got 25lbs a day for 2 or 3wks,an that was it.

So what good did that do?

it got them used to eating feed.an now they along with the other beefmaster cows are 1st to go into the pens.i think weve only had to grain our cows for 6wks or less this winter.an we still have a few that wont eat feed at all.both are mature bulls now,an im pretty sure they will go 1500lbs or more each.

 

[Alan]

Thanks for the reply Jim, as I mention earlier the young bull has a BCS of 7 (by my eye). He has good cover over his ribs and a good full top line with little to no hip bone showing. Although because his brisket looks so thin I thought he could hold a little more fat ..... I guess I felt like I could add more gas to get more out of him. I think I'll just bump his regular supplement some.

Thanks for all the "right on the target" responses and thanks again Jim, I always enjoy looking at your pics. I just stopped posting pics along time ago for various reasons, I'm consentraiting on learning from other posts these days.

Alan