Steer not gaining fast enough

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roper

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Jul 4, 2011
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My Steer is not gaining weight fast enough. He needs to gain 300 lbs in the next 2 months.  One problem I've seen is cracked corn and oats in his manure.  He is not digesting his feed right He is on 70percent corn that is mixed with oats and supplement.  His feed ration is 12% protein.  He is agood eater and is now eating 22 lbs a day.  Should I have him on steamed rolled oats and flaked corn?  Will this help him digest his feed right so he will gain more weight?  Any help with this matter will be greatly appreciated.
 

OH Breeder

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Several things you can do to make his grain more palatable. But you need to implant him if you want to improve your gains that quick. I have had goodluck with Ralgrow. Others like Revlar etc. There are quiet a few threads on here about implants.
 

nkotb

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300 lbs in 60 days equates to 5#/day.  Not impossible, but we are heading into some of the hotter months of the year.
 

roper

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The feed ration for 450 lbs is  260lbs cracked corn, 60 lbs whole oats, 60 lbssteam rolled barley, 35 lbs of 34% Baby beef supplement, 30 lbs of wet molasses, 25 lbs cotton seed hulls, 8 lbs of yeast, and 2 lbs of cattle vita pack.  He is eating 22 lbs a day, but his manure is already loose.  It just seems like he is not digesting all his feed cause there is too much corn and oats in his manure.  Any suggestions will be appreciated.
 

Justin69.o

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high protein and lots of corn and alfalfa. Thats what i do and i just finished an angus steer in 11 months
 

creativecattle

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The VitaFerm Sure Champ pellets should help stimulate that rumen, and allow him to digest his feed more effectively.
 

CAB

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With the particular diet that this calf is eating, he needs no hay. The whole oats and cotton seed hulls will provide enough roughage to keep his stomach scratched. You may want to add some Sodium bicarbonate to be on the safe side to guard against acidosis. A calf on full feed is going to be a little "loose" stooled & you are always going to see grain in a calf's droppings no matter what. You can increase the amount that you are feeding him extremely slowly. By that I mean no more than one lb of feed increase per head per week and I would do that in 1/3 increments. What I usually see on this type of a thread a person gets soo many suggestions that B4 you know what happened you've got the calf so messed up with his ration and amount that he is consuming that it backfires all the way around. If it were me, I would take OH Breeder's advice about the implants & look into the Sure Champ pellets. Other than that, I think that you just need to keep doing what you are doing and gradually increase his intake carefully. If you do decide to try something different/new, think it through very carefully. JMO.
 

vc

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Along with OH Breeder's and CAB's advice if you plan on increasing his feed, try feeding him 3 times a day, morning, midday, and night, something like 5 am, Noon, and 7 pm (or when you kick him out).

Start with 7.5 pounds a feeding (22.5 lbs a day), increase him at no more than half a pound a feeding, wait at least a week before you increase him again, and watch his appetite and digestion, if you see a negative change back off and wait a little before you increase anymore. If he is cleaning all his feed up, I see no reasons not to give him a little hay at night.

Do you have any idea what his ADG is right now?
 

CAB

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The reason not to give him hay is because there are more calories in the concentrate & the calf's stomach can only hold so much total volume. It needs to be high energy,(calories). It's like PPL eating candy bars verses salads.You'll gain more weight eating candy. Same thing really, as long as you have enough roughage built into the ration to keep his rumen healthy you don't want anymore than that if you are striving for maximum gain. Between the whole oats,(sharp ends scratching), and the cotton seed hulls the calf will have enough roughage.
 

roper

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Thanks alot for all the information.  I've been feeding show steers for 20 years and never had one to be like this.  I honestly beleive that there is something wrong with his digestive system.
 

vc

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A girl in our area had a real nice steer a couple years ago, they had to work their hind end off to get it to gain, it did well at the fair. My buddy bought it in the auction and hauled it home, when the killer came and processed it, they found a 30 gallon trash bag in the first stomach.

CAB: Have you ever read the calorie content on a salad in a restaurant, you would gain less off the candy bar, I get your point though.
 

RankeCattleCo

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CAB.. so say you eat candy bars and a handful of nuts each day for a little bit of fiber. Everythings going to go right through you and the amount of conversion of food to calories, i.e. fat, is going to decrease.
 

CAB

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I guess I should have said that the salad was dry.LOL. I was using it for an example needless to say simple stomachs can't be compared to a ruminant system.  I almost always try not to reply to the ration threads anymore B/C by the time they are discussed, there is so much advice that even I get confused. PPL really should just find a very good local nutritionist in their own area so that they can talk about ingredients that are economically available to them and go with their best suggestions. I think that families should go out together and visibly & literally get one lb of hay out so that everyone knows what one lb of hay looks like. One lb of hay 2 times per day for a calf that has been gradually worked up to full feed is God's plenty for roughage & in this ration IMO more than necessary. If you talk to a nutritionist that knows they will tell you that a steer on a ration built for maximum gain that the resulting stools will be somewhat loose, but not runny. I knew that when I entered this thread that there would be contradicting opinions which is great. Good luck with your project Fitter.
  BTW, why were they feeding garbage bags & why did they open the stomach? That's how we get the ecoli scares.
 

vc

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I doubt they were feeding garbage bags, the steer had some how found it and eaten it, who knows when, could have been before they bought him, he was always a little hard doing.
Anybody with cattle grazing near a public road knows the type of things cattle can find to try and snack on.

As far as opening the stomach, once the quarters are hanging in the truck, the guts are loaded into a drum for disposal. A full gut is a little heavy to put in to a barrel all at once, he dumps the feed contents then loads the guts into the drum.
 

CAB

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vc said:
I doubt they were feeding garbage bags, the steer had some how found it and eaten it, who knows when, could have been before they bought him, he was always a little hard doing.
Anybody with cattle grazing near a public road knows the type of things cattle can find to try and snack on.

As far as opening the stomach, once the quarters are hanging in the truck, the guts are loaded into a drum for disposal. A full gut is a little heavy to put in to a barrel all at once, he dumps the feed contents then loads the guts into the drum.

About the garbage bags, tongue in cheek.Couldn't resist. I knew that the calf ate the bag by accident. It is easier to let the stomach & intestines just fall in the drum. Doesn't smell quite so much either. Used to work in a small Locker as a teenager. Everyone starts out in the slaughter room.
 

roper

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I had been talking to the beef nutritionist for one of the major universities in the midwest he suggested different feed rations and treatment for several illnesses for 2 months and he could never figure it out .  I also talked to 2 different veternarions .  If I don't get this calf finished it won't be because I haven't tried.  One thing I have decided is, from now on I will not pick a steer out until I see his manure.  I know that sounds crazy, but I'll know what to look for.
 
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