Help putting on weight on a show steer please!!

Hi! I need help putting weight on a steer. He is 600 lbs now and I need get him to 1100+ by show in last week of July. We recently switched him to 12% sweet flaked  feed and are thinking about adding some flaked corn. someone suggested cottonseed hulls and beet pulp. he is a 75% Herford cross. He needs to gain 3lbs a day. New to the showing world. any help would be awesome!

12% sweet flaked feed doesn't tell us anything about the energy level of the feed.  You first need to find this out.  Ask your rep what the TDN% is?

at 600lbs-  to really push him, you could feed 9lbs of crimped/chopped corn and 9lbs of a finisher every day divided in two feeding.  So 9 total lbs of feed in the morning (half corn half feed) and the same in the evening. 

at 700lbs - he needs at least 21lbs (700 * 3%) total per day.  I would not give him ANY hay until after he eats 3% of his bodyweight in grain first each day.


Too often people waste their hard earned money on bs supplements when the real issue is that the energy level of the feed is too low! 

I'm not an expert and these people on here really know their stuff but I would suggest going to a finisher ration, worm every 30 days, use a gel probiotic every week and sure champ supplement. You may want to consider an implant but I know next to nothing about them and we don't use one.

My steer has a rate of gain of 4 pounds. We give him 2 scoops of Purina show chow. A small pale of high moisture corn, and pellets. What is help for is they love corn so when they stop eating put a hand full of corn then they will start eating there rest of there feed. He eats by his self so that may be a problem to. That what we do hope it helps.

-XBAR- said:

Too often people waste their hard earned money on bs supplements when the real issue is that the energy level of the feed is too low!

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We have gotten a little tired of spending so much money on show feed too. We decided to do a throwback ration this year.  We are feeding ground ear corn, a protein pellet, and hay.  No sweetener, no precon, no hulls, no liquidt fat, nothing else.  We have always been above average feeders, but this ration is unbelievable! 

They love it, and clean it all up includding the husks.  Purre energy..

Get on ONE feed program, there are fifty million miracles that get pushed and prodded that may work could work might work. Get a rather coarse feed, not real heavy, that the calf eats. Feed it, walk through the pen and look at the droppings, to firm,  feed a little more and/or add a little more fat( corn, barley, or such). Too loose,  cut back on the amount fed.  Challenge the calf to eat a little more every day, keeping an eye on the droppings. Make your changes a little at a time, but don't get off the program you start, just tweak it some.
You will have a better chance of getting where you want to go this way than a complete overhaul every two weeks.

Cotton seed hull and beet pulp will do nothing to help your steer gain weight. Zero !!!