3 Weeks Out

[Mueller Show Cattle]

One of our walks alone steers that we sold to a local 4-H girl is getting ready to show at county fair in 3 weeks. The steer is at 1100 lbs rite now and was wanting it to be around 1200 lbs but might fall a little short of that. The problem is that steer has really slowed down with it's feed intake I think from the rising temperatures. This is there 1st year and they don't have the set up that we do with a cooler room, they have been trying to use a window A/C unit but not working so great. The question is I have read some past posts and know to try and keep the steer as cool as possible, is there any other secrets to help the steer take in more grain? I was going to give them some of my Cellarator X to see if that will help if get it's appetite back along with maybe putting some molasses on the grain to make it sweet and see if that helps. Any other tricks to try get the steer to eat as much as possible in these last 3 weeks? It was putting on 4 lbs a day weight gain for awhile but has dropped off when it stopped eating as much grain. It was a late started steer but gained great until the past 10 days or so, just trying to get another 100 lbs or as much as possible in the last 3 weeks. Thanks for any hep.

 

[rocknmranch]

I truly believe that probiotics help immensely!! Good luck

 

[SlickTxMaine]

Ditto the probiotics.  Might add a supplement that is tasty such as rice bran or calf manna to help encourage them to eat.  I think at a point they just get burned out on the heavy eating.

 

[GoWyo]

If they can keep the steer in the shade under fans and maybe a mister that sprays down in front of the fan will help keep the steer cool.  Some moderate exercise - large pen and drive him around in the evening.  Also Rumefil or Full Tank to build gut capacity.  Might even drench him a little to get his gut expanded.  An extra cubic foot of feed and water in the gut is worth 40-50 lbs.

 

[akaacattle]

Had two steers go off feed about a month ago that were gaining at about the rate as your steer, they just decided to start eating like birds.I gave them each about 40 grams of probiotics in the paste form for three days and then switched to the powder form in their feed daily. It is unbelieveable how they go after their feed now! Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[jmb1498]

Optaflexx

 

[Aussie]

We don't have alot of the additives you guys have just use probiotics and a few shots of B12

 

[Mueller Show Cattle]

Thanks guys, been gone away from SP for a couple days with no internet. I'm going to get some probiotics to try. GoWyo I don't know what part Of Wyoming you live in, but do you know any suppliers that sell that Full Tank? I would like to give that a shot and have not seen it around Casper but have not looked for it either, Do you know if  Murdochs, Sutherlands or Noland Feed carry it, those are about the main feed supply stores in Casper. Thanks.

 

[vc]

Probiotics, keep their guts working right.

Calf-manna, most calves like the taste and it will help with gain weight.

Stabilized rice bran, has helped us put weight on the calves for the last couple years and helps add finish.

3-way grain hay, when you need to add to the caloric daily intake, good 3-way hay can add ½ to 1 pound a day in gain as well as help expand the gut. It is not near as hot as alfalfa, has more calories than grass hay. We had a steer we were trying to hold on beet pulp and 3-way hay, we had to change him to Bermuda hay because he was still gaining over 2 pounds a day on the 3-way.

We have what they call oat-mo in our area, it is chopped oat hay with molasses, and we have fed this along with their grain instead of regular hay when we are trying to get more weight on them.

I try and stay away from fillers when I am still trying to push the weight on. That's why I like to try and use hays or supplements that will aid in their weight gain, not fill them up and reduce their caloric intake.

Not knowing the type of feed they are feeding, bulk or bagged, I might try a different lot of the same feed. We have had calves stop eating feed when we purchased new bags of the same feed, turns out the fat in the feed was bad. We picked up fresh feed and they started eating like there was no tomorrow.

 

[rackranch]

If your wanting weight gain I would not use Full Tank.. Think about it, your goal is weight gain.  Why use a filler when your needing greater conversions?  Your need greater caloric intake and beet pulp and fiber are going to fill the gut without the proper nutrition for weight gain.  I think the best advice given so far has been probiotic and vit B... Also for greater conversion and weight gains I like to use DJ's Oxy Explosion...It can be ordered from Sullivans...

Thanks guys, been gone away from SP for a couple days with no internet. I'm going to get some probiotics to try. GoWyo I don't know what part Of Wyoming you live in, but do you know any suppliers that sell that Full Tank? I would like to give that a shot and have not seen it around Casper but have not looked for it either, Do you know if  Murdochs, Sutherlands or Noland Feed carry it, those are about the main feed supply stores in Casper. Thanks.