would like to raise 2 steer for beef..

[brettdachickenfarmer]

Thanx Jim, I have decided to go with a Holstein or Holstein cross with a swiss, that seems to be a good breed that has adapted well with the local climates. I have a place to finish them lined up, now I would like some input on feed, I have people telling me that show feed is the best bet and others telling me all I need is some good "half n half" of rolled corn and barley, the latter being the cheapest, I am not gonna show these steers I am just gonna finish them off and sell one to offset the costs, so the rolled corn and barley should suffice correct? Also alph-alpha hay is good quality around here so that is what I will use for the hay. The local concensus is to finish this breed to around 1300 lbs. I would like to get the feed and hay lined up before purchasing the steers but some say to wait, I have the funds to purchase enough feed to finish them off but I am wondering if I should buy in increments and watch prices and buy when it is on sale or low. Any input on this is welcome. As for hay that will be the way to go, the last cut is usually mid september depending on when it starts cooling off. Thanx to all for the suggestions and information.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Save your money - just feed them WHOLE SHELLED CORN. Well, lets back-tract. How much will they weigh? How old?
If they are extremely young/small, they will need whole shell corn with a protein pellet added to bring the protein level up. If they are 200# calves - they will need about a 16%-18% protein ration. If they are 500#, they will need about 14%, and you would decrease the amount of protein until they are around 750#. By that time, they should be consuming 20-25# shell corn/hd/day and they won't need additional protein. Of course, they also need good grass hay & a good water source and free-choice mineral.
You need to start them out with about 1% of their body weight in grain. After 1 week, you can start upping them slowly til you reach 3% of their body weight.
Corn is about a 9% protein. You can ask the feed store/mill how much of their protein pellet to add to the shell corn to have that % protein for their weights.
You will have a lot of people tell you that you "have" to crack/ flake / roll/ ground / corn. YOU DO NOT! Research has proven cattle will perform just as well on straight shell corn.
I show cattle, and my show string gets shell corn + protein pellets. My husband used to be a nutritionist for a feed mill. We've played with lots of fancy feeds over the years. Whole shell corn is under-rated. You can check out our web site & see that we raise our cattle out pretty well.
We don't finish steers any more, but I am a beef state advisor for the NY Junior Beef Assn. and I work with lots of kids feeding out steers.
So you decided to get Holsteins. Any special reason why you didn't choose to get a beef animal. You realize that they will never get as much red meat on them as a beef breed? At least a Brown Swiss is meatier than a Holstein. Hopefully, you are not going to venture buying month old calves. If so, good luck. You might need it. That can be a hard way to go without experience.

 

[novaman]

So you decided to get Holsteins. Any special reason why you didn't choose to get a beef animal. You realize that they will never get as much red meat on them as a beef breed? At least a Brown Swiss is meatier than a Holstein. Hopefully, you are not going to venture buying month old calves. If so, good luck. You might need it. That can be a hard way to go without experience.

Holsteins make very good eating. I have several people with a small place that buy a couple bull calves from me every year. Run them in a situation much like Brett is talking. I have gotten nothing but positive feedback from all my customers. Your comment on red meat makes me a bit curious.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I am not saying that they won't be good eating. Just get more "bang for the buck" with beef calves. They will put on more red meat - MUSCLE. It's simple - beef cattle are raised to produce BEEF - dairy cattle are raised to produce MILK. Dairy cattle are not heavily muscled as beef cattle. When you have dairy cattle available at home, then you might as well finish out a dairy steer with your home grown feed. But, if you are going out & buying one, you might as well finish out a beef calve. Yes, the dairy calf will cost less. That's because it is WORTH LESS because it will not gain as much MUSCLE with a pound of feed as a beef calf will.

 

[novaman]

That's because it is WORTH LESS because it will not gain as much MUSCLE with a pound of feed as a beef calf will.

I guess I didn't realize we were going to bring bashing into this thread. What you say is worthless must be worth something to someone. Holstein steers make up a good percentage of animals on feed in feedlots throughout the country. If they were so worthless why would anyone waste their time and money on such a critter? Do you have any idea what the feed conversions for Holsteins or was your comment about gaining muscle from a pound of feed just your biased opinion?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

That's because it is WORTH LESS because it will not gain as much MUSCLE with a pound of feed as a beef calf will.

I guess I didn't realize we were going to bring bashing into this thread. What you say is worthless must be worth something to someone. Holstein steers make up a good percentage of animals on feed in feedlots throughout the country. If they were so worthless why would anyone waste their time and money on such a critter? Do you have any idea what the feed conversions for Holsteins or was your comment about gaining muscle from a pound of feed just your biased opinion?

Woah - hold back. I was not bashing anything or anyone. You MISREAD my statement. I said they were WORTH LESS not WORTHLESS - very different meaning.
And yes, Cornell feeds out many holsteins as well as many other research centers and there is no way a holstein puts on RED MEAT like a beef animal. That does not mean they are not good eating or good in a feedlot. Just means the feedlots pay LESS for them because they make LESS profit on them - they are WORTH LESS than a beef calf.

 

[options]

Jeanne

History has proven that a properly fed holstein will put on as much if not more red meat than beef breeds. It will not however put on as much fat. I do love fat on my beef, some people do not, however if you want pounds of red meat it is there, you want extra pounds of fat it is not there.

Also the profit margin from holsteins is currently lower than beef breeds as a result of feed prices, (prices driven higher by greed rather than need) it has nothing to do with the amount of red meat on the carcass.

 

[hillsdown]

Don't forget the slaughter houses that were fined due to sloppy work, they let those long Holstein carcass's touch the floor and were shut down and fined so in return they discounted Holsteins or did not take them at all. I think this really has more to do with the bias and price deduction than being a dairy breed . As far as fat the free martin heifer I finished 2 years ago was anything but lean I guess she was a very easy keeper and there was a lot of fat on her probably more than a herf. being finished.
I think when people see Holstein they think just a dairy breed, but it is far from that, dairy has some of the most complex breeding around; they are the masters of AI and utilizing multiple sires per herd and are on the cutting edge of breeding technology ...Something to think about and how you can get a really good milking cow (100+pounds a day) yet a steer out of her that utilizes feed and gains weight.

Enough , good luck with your steers and happy eating you will not be disappointed... :cowboy:

 

[ga. prime]

About walmart. I don't have anything against anybody buying their groceries for the best price they can find. That's what I do. But the walmart beef is some strange stuff. I don't know what kind of process they use on it but It's not good.