Heifer Feed Question

I have a question about feeding breeding heifers.  What % of their body weight should you be feeding and what should the ration look like.  End goal is to be competitive in the show ring and have a heifer that will settle and not be morbidly obese at the end.   

Many things in the last few weeks have been brought up about feed. Aaoks ration or a form or it is a good all around feed. We feed something similar to it and we only feed heifers. When feeding heifers you are trying to grow and fill out but not finish them like a steer. We start out feeding mainly the feed. The amount varies by each calf and how they are doing. Then try to get them started on the fill products. Depending on what they need. The older they get some of the feed will be taken away and more fill added. This also depends on the age and size of the heifer. Alot of feeding a heifer is watching them and monitoring their condition and knowing if they need feed added or cut back.

Thanks for the response.  I have read AAOK's feed mix and it sounds really good it just didn't specifically address heifers that I could recall.  We feed a bagged feed and I kinda know some of the real basics, but just didn't know if there was a certain percentage that people started them on just as a guide in the beginning.  I know you kinda have to watch and adjust as needed as you go along.  I also did a search in the old topics and it didn't really give me what I was looking for. 

Your starting point also depends on what your calf has been fed when you get it. The heifer we bought this last year had been weaned on a silage based ration. We dont have silage so it was like starting over to transition between the two. It was just a gradual process then we built her up from there. Im sure some people have more of a scientific approach but over time you will find what works for you.

AAOK said:

BTW: Our ration was developed to feed our Maine-Anjou Show Heifers in the 1990s.  Those calves were quite a bit larger than Most Show Calves today.

As a general rule, your calves (Heifers & Steers) should be consuming 3% of their body weight daily for about the first year.  Some harder keepers may need 4%.  However, you should be monitoring the progression of each calf daily, and may need to add or subtract a few pounds to maintain peak condition.   A great Feed Program will make a good calf much better. Notice I said Feed Program. The Program is much more important than the feed.

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AAOK, thank you.  I was hoping you would chime in.  We are diligent with our feed schedule and care and I know that plays a huge roll in outcome.  Thanks again for the info.