Feed Question

[Cattle7]

As the new show season approaches, and the new calves come home, we are looking to improve our feeding program. My question is: I will be feeding a show heifer this year...we feed Umbarger...in the past we've put them on Breeder-Grower until they hit about 1,000 pounds then switch them to Cattle Blaster (Finisher)..but i've spoken with several people that said to put her on finisher when she came home for best results. But i've also spoken to people that said Finisher will burn her out if fed at a young age...so what do you all feed & reccommend?

 

[johnmetzger]

As a Umbarger user myself, I feed my show heifers Breeder/Grower up to around 650 to 700 lbs. If we have a shorter heifer I'll put her on Show Ready supplied by Umbarger to keep her in condition without getting to fat or the taller ones will be put on Cattle Blaster. When they hit the heat of the year we will switch to Barley Base to keep from burning them out.

 

[DEA]

What do you do with your steers?  Do you use breeder grower or do  you go straight to finisher when you bring them home?

 

[johnmetzger]

The steers are put on Cattle Blaster at 500lb. with top dressing Apex supplied by Umbarger (4-5 lbs per hd per day) with helps expand the gut to take on more feed. Now on the shorter stocky calves I'll feed them like the heifers as mentioned above with the Apex.

 

[Cattle7]

So after you get your heifers to 700lbs. you switch to cattle blaster or barley base?

 

[johnmetzger]

Blaster to the taller ones and show ready to the short stocky ones as mentioned above.