dcbehle
Well-known member
My son has an excellent steer project going, but he won't quit growing vertically. He is pushing nearly 1,200 lbs. and his target weight is around 1340 for July 25th. We plan to have him finnished early and shrink him for fair. If we could change one thing on this calf, it would be to drop his rear flank and we are hoping that if we get him fat early the flank will fill in with fat.
However, we are worried that the calf could push into the tall division at our county fair and that makes it difficult to compete for the top prize. Most years the champion has come out of the middle division and some years in the short division.
The calf is a Monopoly x SimmyAngus and when my son purchased him, we were comfortable of projecting him as average in height based on his cannon bone. The calf is being fed 20 lbs./day of a custom feed mix that is 11% protein. The other two calves being fed with him are roughly 150 - 200 lbs lighter and are showing signs of developing finish. We've used this feed for a couple of years and judges have commented that we've had calves finished perfectly at fair time. This calf is the most efficient calf we've ever had at putting on weight. We are getting roughly 1 lb. of gain per 5.7 lbs. of grain fed. We are still at full grass feeding to get as much gut development as possible too. We hate to back off the grass as adding more flank and guts is our biggest priority at this time.
Obviously, genetics is the major factor. However, is there anything we can do to promote more finish and less growth at this juncture? We obviously don't want to burn off hair by adding too much corn.
However, we are worried that the calf could push into the tall division at our county fair and that makes it difficult to compete for the top prize. Most years the champion has come out of the middle division and some years in the short division.
The calf is a Monopoly x SimmyAngus and when my son purchased him, we were comfortable of projecting him as average in height based on his cannon bone. The calf is being fed 20 lbs./day of a custom feed mix that is 11% protein. The other two calves being fed with him are roughly 150 - 200 lbs lighter and are showing signs of developing finish. We've used this feed for a couple of years and judges have commented that we've had calves finished perfectly at fair time. This calf is the most efficient calf we've ever had at putting on weight. We are getting roughly 1 lb. of gain per 5.7 lbs. of grain fed. We are still at full grass feeding to get as much gut development as possible too. We hate to back off the grass as adding more flank and guts is our biggest priority at this time.
Obviously, genetics is the major factor. However, is there anything we can do to promote more finish and less growth at this juncture? We obviously don't want to burn off hair by adding too much corn.
