one more thing on topdresses PLZ!

[Cowgurl101]

Sorry to bring up this topic again,but when i went to order something this morning, i noticed that though most of my choices were said to have the same results,their ingredients differ. Winners Edge and  Oxy Explosion both have very low fat and high protein, but Maximum Gain,said to do the same thing, has not near so many nutrients and has lots more fat and lower(22%) protein. I want my steers to get some more muscle as well as some finish,and i need more appetite and hair, and all these are supposed to work for this. What differences would i notice in one versus the other, and which would you recommend? Im also thinking about using Natural Glo, as it seems to be similair to Maximum Gain, with both fat and protein incuded.

PS- i guess ill need to go with something that will suit both my steers- one has 40 days til fair and lacks finish, and the other has 60 days and could use a little more fat but needs to stay toned and firm.

Also, do the steers usually take time to get used to topdresses, or do they eat their feed as usual?
Thankyou so much for your replys and sorry for my ignorance :-\

 

[chambero]

I've always operated under the assumption that most of this stuff just doesn't work.  Most are made by very small companies.  If their stuff really worked, the big ag companies would make it.  That's wny the suggestions people gave you for stuff made by Moormans (ADM) and similar are very good recommendations.

If you have the extra money and just want to try the "other stuff", I strongly recommend you try Shag.  It has a lot of the individual products (Oxygen, melatonin, & a bunch of other stuff) all combined in one form.  Its expensive (I think it actually costs more per day than our feed).  We are using it one calf right now and he does in fact already have his new hair coat in and is doing well.  Whether its just the calf or not, I couldn't tell you for sure.  He's our best calf and we probably work a little harder on him than the others.  But I'm satisfied with it.

 

[NHR]

I would like to hear from more people who have tried Shag as to how it worked for them.

Does anybody have any experience with Tasco? (Shag has Tasco but I am looking at using Tasco to mix in my feed)

 

[Jill]

We haven't fed Shag, but in the summer months we will add Kelp (Tasco is a brand name) for lower body temps.

 

[kanshow]

Has anyone tried Epic?  We are going to try it this summer.   

 

[GONEWEST]

I'm with Chambero on the supplements. Haven't used Shag, but I believe the Moormans #1 is an excellent supplement. It makes a difference in  our calves.

 

[DLD]

I've not been a big fan of all the additives (seems like lots of snake oils out there), but we did feed Shag to our OKC steer this time, and I guess I'll say I'm a believer. I picked up a bucket at the Fort Worth steer show, and fed it through 'til he showed @ OKC (not quite one whole bucket), and I really think it helped alot with hair and bloom, at least. Without a cooler, we kept pretty good hair, and it grew a little all the way through. He never shed at all (you could rinse him and comb him all over and there wouldn't be a noticeable amount of hair left in the comb, and it was thick enough you had to use a skip tooth or fluffer) 'til the first of March, and very little after that (which was also after he was clipped for our county show), which is an accomplishment in itself to me. I wish we'd started it earlier - a friend of ours started it around Thanksgiving, and ended up with lots of really good hair, also without a cooler. As far as it's other claims (appetite, soundness, etc...) I don't know how much good it does, 'cause we didn't have any problems with that before we started, but I'll say we will be using it in the future.

 

[chambero]

On the Shag, I thought I started seeing a difference between our test calf and the othe four in the barn after about 30 days or so.  All of our calves had good hair coming out of winter as babies.  Our Shag steer shed his out in a hurry and it has come back quickly.

I decided to use it because calves coming out of our barn just haven't been matching the upper level competition at our Fort Worth show.  We don't have a cooler, but we have a "cold" barn and our calves have lots of hair as babies.  So I decided to give it a try.  Stierwalt has been around a long time and ought to know what might actually work if anyone does.