wintering steer calves

[tncattle]

I've been running 5-7 wt. weaned steer calves from Spring to Late Summer or early Fall. They eat grass obviously and all is well with the usual cattle problems here and there.

If I wanted to run steers or heifers through the winter what is needed besides hay & mineral for decent gain? I would prefer not to feed them grain as I can't see how it would work when I put the pencil to it. With decent hay could I expect 1.5 lb. daily gain?
Just thinking about different options, any other ideas are welcome.

 

[Susie David]

With good feed you can get more gain than that, I'd expect 2 -3 on 18-20% alfalfa. We winter steers simply because we sell alot of freezer beef and have customers that expect spring beef and a constant supply during the summer. For us some animals are just not ready to slaughter when the calendar says they are so we need to have steers ready. We grain here when the temps get down below 10 degrees just to keep them from using body condition to stay warm and we have the herd trained to come to the grain bucket (to darn old to chase cows anymore) give them a couple of pounds every week or so.
High quality hay is worth the money if you don't hay yourself, we get ours from a neighbor at a good price. The tricky part is knowing just how much will last the winter, I'd rather have left over hay in May than run out in April...we have short growing season compared to other parts of the country. Regards, dave Mc

 

[Rancher]

Wow I would think 2.5lb or more if hay is good quality. Up here, slightly north of Canada, we have super short growing season (95days) so do the calving in spring, wean in mid-oct & winter over on hay. Then on good pasture of brome/timothy fert. w/60-40-20+10s at 225lb acr. Steers & heifers weigh around 1200lb by butchering in mid oct. Never grain until 20 below zero & never barned until 35 below

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

You should post those pics you sent me tncattle. Nice looking steers.