Late Started Steer

[Mueller Show Cattle]

I have a steer that was not born until May of this year and I have had on grain for the past 6 to 7 weeks. The steer is rite at 500lbs rite now and we have 6 1/2 months until the show. The min weight the steer has to be is 1,000lbs but of course would like to get him as close to 1,250 as possible. Rite now he is eating 6lbs morning and night, 12lbs total a day which is over 2 percent of body weight without any problems. The steer had been rowgrowed 3 months ago and is eating fine so far, would it help to rowgrow him again. The steer is out of Walks Alone bull from a Full Throttle cow and has a big bone build. Is a 100lbs a month a reasonable rate of gain to strive for or am I dreaming. With a 100lbs a month would put the steer a little over 1,100lbs by fair time. I have never had this problem as we have never had this late of bloomer before. Should I give him as much grain as he can eat day and night while cutting back on the hay amount as long as he don't get the runs. So I was wanting to see what rate of gain is a reasonable amount to strive for to get the most gain out of the steer. Also if anyone has any other feeding habits to help with the rate of gain. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Bradenh]

i wouldnt cut the hay off at all. id get him on vitaferm sure champ and give him a vitaferm bolus once a week. also if he was mine, id pump him once a week to make his gut bigger, there fore holding more feed = more gain. ours gain 100 lbs a month  when we are on this program. in a couple of weeks you will be increasing that feed by the day. . . sure wish i could trade you problems. all our calves are too big  (lol)

 

[JTM]

100 lbs per month is possible but probably not at the rate you are going. If the calf is only 500 right now then his wda is around 2.4 lbs per day. I would try hard to get the feed intake up to around 3 to 3.5% body weight. I am not sure what showstopper is talking about when he says "pumping" but that doesn't sound ethical to me. I would use a probiotic powder with a show feed that includes a medication to fight off the small grade stuff and push as much as he will eat. Measure the feed every time you feed and take away the feed that he doesn't eat within a half hour. Probiotic from Rowe Nutrition website or Select Sires. Good luck!

 

[flacowman]

I've never liked taking the feed away from them after 30 minutes whn I'm pushing them.  we just leave it for em and clean up what isn't eaten when we feed again.  I don't mind putting feed in front of a calf 3 or 4 times a day at a show so it works for me.  Calves that will be sold however are given the 30 minute treatment because most of my customers do it.  If you really need to push him I would let him eat as much as he wants as long as he wants.  you can start the 3o minute limit closer to the show and your weight goal.  And of course if he is only going to be shown at one or 2 shows personally I would just always leave feed in front of him.  you'll be amazed at how much more you'll get him to eat that way.

 

[Bradenh]

includes a medication

better make sure you be careful. some of that medicated feed can fail a drug test. vitaferm and aueromyacin (spelling) will do that same thing with their stomach, without the extra cost and risk of certin medicated feeds

 

[Blue25]

I'm almost in the same boat you are, mine was born in June, except he weighed 530 a month ago

 

[JTM]

I actually agree with flacowman on leaving the feed in front of the steer. We do that a lot and that may end up being a better strategy than taking it away. I think either way can work but taking it away may help you know how much the calf is eating and where you are at with things. As far as the medication in the feed, I was thinking about decoquinate which I don't think their would be any issue.

 

[flacowman]

You can still measure how much feed is left when you clean out the trough before you feed again.  Remember, cattle are made to eat several medium sized meals a day, not 2 all-or-nothing portions...

 

[Blue25]

Haha, mine always drain the trough in about 30 to 45 minutes

 

[flacowman]

and see the way we feed that means they need more  ;D  Then again we breed chars with clubbies as a hobby but with chars size=money and bigger=better placings usually

 

[OH Breeder]

I have a steer that was not born until May of this year and I have had on grain for the past 6 to 7 weeks. The steer is rite at 500lbs rite now and we have 6 1/2 months until the show. The min weight the steer has to be is 1,000lbs but of course would like to get him as close to 1,250 as possible. Rite now he is eating 6lbs morning and night, 12lbs total a day which is over 2 percent of body weight without any problems. The steer had been rowgrowed 3 months ago and is eating fine so far, would it help to rowgrow him again. The steer is out of Walks Alone bull from a Full Throttle cow and has a big bone build. Is a 100lbs a month a reasonable rate of gain to strive for or am I dreaming. With a 100lbs a month would put the steer a little over 1,100lbs by fair time. I have never had this problem as we have never had this late of bloomer before. Should I give him as much grain as he can eat day and night while cutting back on the hay amount as long as he don't get the runs. So I was wanting to see what rate of gain is a reasonable amount to strive for to get the most gain out of the steer. Also if anyone has any other feeding habits to help with the rate of gain. Thanks for any advice.

You can implant again with Ralgro every 60 days if you need. Just remember it can exaggerate some features and if there are any structural issues it can cause issues with those as well. Implants won't hurt a bit. I would implant him a couple more times before you fair. I also would keep probiotics regular basis to keep gut up. Make sure you have him on an appropriate ration. You do'nt want to burn him out by getting ratoin to hot but you need to maximize your gains. Work with feed consultant if you have one if not there are a ton of good rations on the board you can search or personal message and folks usually share what works. We have showed lots of May's and had no issue making weight. The closer it gets to spring here we try to keep away from implants as not to sacrifice hair. I am not sure where you are located but we usually have to count on uncomforable summer temps.

 

[CAB]

You can still measure how much feed is left when you clean out the trough before you feed again.  Remember, cattle are made to eat several medium sized meals a day, not 2 all-or-nothing portions...

  Why not just put them on a selffeeder then and not have to worry about it?

 

[Bradenh]

if they are on a self feeder then they will just graze. if you want a calf to eat more you have to let him know. he isnt eating again until he cleans up what he has. self feeders havnt been good to us in the past

 

[Mueller Show Cattle]

Thank You to all of you for you advice. I know this will not happen again, we started this steer way to late on grain, should have been on grain along time ago. We were not going to show this steer at first but the older this steer got, the better he looked, so we decided to give him a shot. I bought some probiotics and we are not going to take the grain away from him and measure it each time we put more in to monitor the amount of grain he is eating per day and see were we are at with with him in a month when we the steer tagged for show and weigh in. So we our just going to push as much grain as we can while rowgrowing him every 60 days and give him a small amount of hay everyday because he likes his hay more than the grain and when he eats alot of hay he will not eat much grain. Thanks again for your guys advice it is much appreciated.  <cowboy>

 

[MCC]

You might want to get some B-complex powder and mix in his feed to help keep him on feed. When we have really needed to push one we started feeding 3 times a day.