LostFarmer
Well-known member
I was helping my sons, 10 and 12 with their record books. We were setting up and Excel sheet and entering all the data from weigh ins and the feed quantities. I was surprised to see how the calves did. One baldy steer is out of a simangus cow and a hereford herd bull. Nothing fancy in his pedigree. In fact his mother is an ugly frame 7 hump backed whale of a cow. He is not a pretty calf and honestly has some structural flaws but he is home bred and was what we had left. The better calves were already sold and this one as a 5/25/09 calf was still available. He has gained 3.15 lbs/day and is a little over 3 lbs per day of age. Feed conversion was 7.5 on the grain and the hay was not factored into the ration. As a feeder steer, he has done all we could ask of him.
The other calf is out of a herd bull a friend raised from an OCC Anchor angus cow and a Dream On son. The calf's mother is a little angus cross cow. We bought this calf and he is obviously a much better built show steer. He gained 2.81 lbs/day and has been held up a little here at the end to not get too big on show feed, oats and beet pulp. This calf has been 1 lb/day for the last 6 weeks. We are now pouring the coal to him to bring on the bloom these last 3 weeks. His conversions are not quite as good as can be expected where he was slowed up but are still just a little over 8.
It has been fun to work out the numbers and feed cattle. The kids were having fun playing with the numbers and trying to project where a calf would be or could have been. Fair weigh in is in a little over 3 weeks, at that time there will be a winner given a blue ribbon or a buckle. I sincerely hope it is one of my sons or better yet one win market and one win showmanship. They have done all the feeding, all the rinsing, brushing and blowing, all the stall mucking as well. They broke the calves to lead and to the brush. I have been the muscle a few times but it is mostly 2 little boys enjoying cattle and each other while dad watches. So while a buckle a ribbon and maybe a check are given to the winners of the ring it pales in comparison to the buckle given in the winner of life.
We aren't raising steers we are raising boys.
O0
The other calf is out of a herd bull a friend raised from an OCC Anchor angus cow and a Dream On son. The calf's mother is a little angus cross cow. We bought this calf and he is obviously a much better built show steer. He gained 2.81 lbs/day and has been held up a little here at the end to not get too big on show feed, oats and beet pulp. This calf has been 1 lb/day for the last 6 weeks. We are now pouring the coal to him to bring on the bloom these last 3 weeks. His conversions are not quite as good as can be expected where he was slowed up but are still just a little over 8.
It has been fun to work out the numbers and feed cattle. The kids were having fun playing with the numbers and trying to project where a calf would be or could have been. Fair weigh in is in a little over 3 weeks, at that time there will be a winner given a blue ribbon or a buckle. I sincerely hope it is one of my sons or better yet one win market and one win showmanship. They have done all the feeding, all the rinsing, brushing and blowing, all the stall mucking as well. They broke the calves to lead and to the brush. I have been the muscle a few times but it is mostly 2 little boys enjoying cattle and each other while dad watches. So while a buckle a ribbon and maybe a check are given to the winners of the ring it pales in comparison to the buckle given in the winner of life.
We aren't raising steers we are raising boys.
O0
