Trouble Getting a Charolais-X Steer Finished

[chambero]

We are in the home stretch with our Texas major steers.  I've got one with a problem I really haven't had to deal with before.

We have a Yellowjacket steer out of a Cunia grandaughter that is just a moose of a calf.  We haven't had time to show much this year, but he's a good one (recently won Reserve Overall at good sized (approx 75 hd) prospect show a month ago that had some real competition in it.  He's targeted for San Antonio (mid Feb).  He weighs 1405 right now.  I don't want to get him much over 1450 (too hard to pull down to the low-mid 1300s from any heavier).

He's the heaviest muscled calf we've ever had.  He only has one problem - the rascal won't finish out.  Everything we are pouring down his throat is going to muscle and not fat.  Since August, he's been on a diet of about 24 pounds of a "hot" grower (3.5 % fat), 12 pounds cracked corn, plus Final Cover and Golden Flow fat supplements.  We have neither implanted this calf or fed him Optaflexx.  

Thinking about replacing some of the corn with oats and whole cottonseed to see if he'll react better to that.  Also going to switch him from the Final Cover to Purina's Power Fuel.

Not going to bother with cooking corn.  He's eating and digesting the cracked corn just fine.

Any other ideas I'm not thinking about?

[vc]

What percentage of protein is he getting? Try putting some Stabilized Rice Bran in his feed, it  helped us put a nice even finish on our steer last year.

[Joe Boy]

I sure like your steer and hope you can get him to finish.  All you are trying we have done before.... no suggestions here.  Best wishes.

[Jill]

Agree with Joe Boy on this one, cooking the corn won't help you it will just pack on more pounds.

[chambero]

Yea, he hasn't been lacking on the "performance" side at all. 

[worthabit]

I would suggest potatoes but there are probably not many grown around you.

[chambero]

How and how many potatoes do you feed?

[worthabit]

Potatoes are full of starch (carbohydrates) and really help to put on the fat. They are however, 80% water so they can loosen them up pretty good and when you are trying to keep them clean can be a pain. They are a mainstay of the feedlots here as they are a major cash crop and culls are readily available. Waste from the french fry plants is also used.

I will find out the max feed rate tomorrow, but you could start at about 20% dry matter basis and see how they like it.

We chop ours up before we feed them to eliminate the chance of bloat.

If culls are available when we are doing our bunker silage, we will actually ensile them. They come out almost baked and the cattle will dig through the rest of the ration to get at them. 

[Steer4Caddy]

Every steer has a natural growth curve no matter what he's fed.  Yours should be reaching the end and entering the fattening phase.  I would stop doing all the extras and focus on one quality finisher product (we use Honor Show Chow's Finishing Touch) and Power Fuel.  Don't forget that intake is the number one factor.  You could feed straight lard but if they eat 5 lbs a day it doesn't matter.  You can do to much.  Feeding at total diet in excess of 6% fat is detrimental and will tend to get cattle off of feed.

good luck.

[hunter1]

we had the problem with our steer last year and we used Magic as our fat supplement and it worked fast and great...

[worthabit]

Chambero, I pm'd you.