Weight Gain

OK I've posted this before but I reallyy want to know what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, and what I could do better.

I have two steers, both fall of 2015 calves. They were bought, had a rough start they have been our daughters 4H projects. We had alot of family issue when these calves were born and alot of our time was spent at hospitals and the cows took the back burner so we no where our fault was.

When we got started last summer June 15 to be exact the steers weighed 554 and 447. As of June they have been wormed and fed regularly.

They have been on feed for 212 days and I averaged thier daily gain to be 2.57 for the bigger steer and 2.6 for the smaller steer. We had them weighed yesterday before feeding them for the evening they we 1090 and 1030.

I see people say they are getting steers to gain 3lbs+ per day. Is 2.5 - 2.6 too low? We don't use hormones I don't plan to start. I just want suggestions on what we could do better or differently. We aren't worried about these too cause they are just going in the freezer after the state show in February, but for future calves what can we do to be better?

The steers are eating 3% of Thier body weight and clean it up well. I feed them together, they aren't hogfish or push each other away they both eat together peacefully.

Just so everyone knows the ration they are being fed the last 4 tons of feed we bought was the following mixture:

3328.84lbs of Rolled Corn

1253.02lbs of Soybean Hull Pellets

1253.02lbs of Corn Gluten

1190.36lbs cottonseed hulls

626.51lbs of 48% Soybean Meal

417.67lbs of Whole Oats

208.84lbs Liquid Molasses

62lbs of Calcium

4lbs trace minerals

4lbs bioflex minerals

4 lbs vitamins A, D and E

2lbs of Bovatec 91gr

Do they have stemmy, first cutting hay available whenever they want it? Roughage is important part of the diet also.

  Just from a very quick look at the ration, my opinion would be that there is not enough net energy available per mouthful of feed that they take. I would want a very minimum of 60% corn in the finishing ration. A lot of the ingredients that are included are mostly bulk / filler. JMO very quick look. Have you had an analysis ran on the feed?

CAB said:

  Just from a very quick look at the ration, my opinion would be that there is not enough net energy available per mouthful of feed that they take. I would want a very minimum of 60% corn in the finishing ration. A lot of the ingredients that are included are mostly bulk / filler. JMO very quick look. Have you had an analysis ran on the feed?

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I agree with this as well. Looks like your corn and gluten are 57% of ration. To help them get the finish they need and be finished for the locker, you need to get the energy up. Energy is corn, barley, oil, fat.

Thanks  for responding, what are some suggestions in amounts?

Both steers are currently getting 16lbs twice a day and they have a large round bale at all times.

So if I were to add extra corn, barley, etc to thier ration they currently have what amounts/pounds should I add to get the said energy up?

At their current weights, you have 2120# total and should be eating 64#total per day or 32# per head. Thats 3% of their body weight, and could be eating more. If your gluten is wet more if its dry DDGs, maybe a little less. I read your last post as they are getting 32# total combined or 16 per head. You need to bring their intakes up, and you could add 2-3 pounds of corn or rolled barley. I like the rolled barley late for a smoother fat cover.

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Pudenz Family Show Cattle

  According to his last post the cattle are eating exactly 32lbs per head per day. That's enough intake, but IMO not enough energy per intake per day. As I reread his last post, I may be wrong about the total amount of feed that is being fed. Clarification is needed on that please.

  Could someone find the link to AAOK's ration? I thought it would be under the Hall of Fame, but I can't seem to find it. I would appreciate if you would put a link up to it for GrowerShower. If it were me, that is where I would start.

http://www.steerplanet.com/asklund-acres-aaok-feeding-program/

Its kind of hard to find, you have go to the home page and click on one of the items in the toolbar, then its almost like you get a new toolbar and its under "tools"

Just a thought on his ration, do you think he should add a protein pellet of some kind? My 1000lb recipe calls for 50lbs of  38% "all stock" pellet.

Some good info here,  but if you're looking to maximize your ADG,  you need to limit hay intake.

  Totally agree with OFS about limiting hay intake, if fact you don't really need to feed any hay people just do. There is more than enough roughage built into these rations to keep the rumen healthy. If you want to feed hay IMO 2lbs per head per is God's plenty meaning actually weigh out 2 lbs of hay so that you know what that looks like.
  Yes IMO the protein content of the ration may be lacking just a bit but is easily remedied by just added adequate amounts of SBM. There are many ways to address the animals needs for mineral and micro nutrients. That will be on a personal preference basis. Good luck.
  Thanks Go Green for the link. I would love to see that link easier to find for myself and others.

I was less concerned with the protein content because of the 48% SBM, but usually with distillers, you need a balancer. All of this is simply shooting from the hip and looking at it on paper. It needs to be run thru a ration building program and balanced accordingly.

I understand the different opinions regarding how much heat is in the ration.  Maybe there could be a little more energy in there, but I don't think it is really too far off. 
41% rolled corn
24% Soybean Meal and Hulls
Maybe not perfect on the fat and heat, but not too bad.

My first question after looking at the ration is how are these steers bred?  Are they big bellied stout steers, or are they narrow based shallow bellied ones? 

Something isn't right and my first instinct is that it is the cattle.  From 500 to 1,000 pounds should be easy to get to 3.0/day...if the cattle are the type that will take it.

Thanks you guys, I'm a girl by the way  (lol)  all good no harm no fowl  ;D.

I'm so appreciative of all of your feedback on this. By no means are we experts but we have knowledge with cattle just wanting to dial in on what we could do better.

They are just pasture steers. Angus cross. We have Angus based genetics but nothing special. They are my boyfriend's cattle. I've worked at a large cattle ranch (three trees ranch) and showed cattle myself. It's been over ten years since I've shown and when my boyfriend's daughter showed interest in it I figured I would work with what I have. She's 9 and this is her first year so we aren't wanting to go all out and spend money on a club calf until we know she's gonna wanna stick with this for the long haul. We have 4 more shows left in the season. The steers aren't horrible but they definitely aren't a $20,000 club calf either and we aren't looking to compete that high of level either. I'm having to teach both of them as we go on the very basics and onward.

I asked opinion on feed cause they use it on their whole herd not just the show calves that's why I was asking what we could add and what amounts.

As for the amount of feed the steers are eating is 16 pounds apiece, so 32lbs twice a day or 64lbs a day.

Also ment to say that we live in Georgia, we by our feed from Godfrey's. We talked with them bout a universal feed, but the main use being the show calves and the feed mix I posted was the last 4 tons we had shipped if that helps you out any.

I would post pictures but I have the darnest time getting my pictures off my phone to not be too big for download.....Anyone got suggestions for this? If so I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I usually have to crop my pictures down a time or two to get them under the 2mb limit . Also, I commend you on helping the youngsters getting started with their projects.  (thumbsup)

Thank you