Show steer grain ration!

[Annieboon]

Hi all I am having trouble getting my steer to finish his grain, he has a few mouth fulls and then refuses to eat any more I have tries me molasses but he dose my like it, some on e told me to put lolly snakes or Licorice, and mix some molasses with water and squirt it down his throat to get used to the taste. The ration he is on is an 80:20 barley lupins mix with lineards feedlot 45,I can't change the grain because I am being sponsored with it, but the next lot of grain has 10% less lupins it it because we are coming into winter. My other problem is that he is going to a small show in July and he will lose weight going down to the show and back, I need him to be 630-700 KGS in September he weighs 522 kgs on the 5th of May. He is getting 6kgs of grain, and his average growth rate of 1.38 but has gone up to 2.5 kgs a day and down to 0.60 so it is not consistent because of his grain! Please someone help!!  :-*

 

[RyanChandler]

Hi all I am having trouble getting my steer to finish his grain, he has a few mouth fulls and then refuses to eat any more I have tries me molasses but he dose my like it, some on e told me to put lolly snakes or Licorice, and mix some molasses with water and squirt it down his throat to get used to the taste. The ration he is on is an 80:20 barley lupins mix with lineards feedlot 45,I can't change the grain because I am being sponsored with it, but the next lot of grain has 10% less lupins it it because we are coming into winter. My other problem is that he is going to a small show in July and he will lose weight going down to the show and back, I need him to be 630-700 KGS in September he weighs 522 kgs on the 5th of May. He is getting 6kgs of grain, and his average growth rate of 1.38 but has gone up to 2.5 kgs a day and down to 0.60 so it is not consistent because of his grain! Please someone help!!  :-*

I have no idea what lolly snakes, lupins or lineards are but your 522kg calf needs a lot more than 6kgs of grain.  More like 12-14kg/day.

 

[Annieboon]

Hi thanks lolly snakes are jelly babies in a snake form,Lupin or lupini beans are the yellow legume seeds of Lupinus genus and are a traditional food of the Mediterranean basin (L. albus) and Latin America (L. mutabilis). Leinards -http://www.lienerts.com.au/?p=4 feed company, I would give him more but he is just not eating it.
Thanks I hope I have educated you, I live in Australia and not sure want kind of stuff you use. Thanks any way! 12.5 kgs is my goal grain ration!

 

[GoWyo]

So you feed your cattle gummy worms and lupine seeds?  Seems like a strange ruminant diet not to mention gummy worms aren't all that cheap compared to some other feed stuffs, like molasses.  Not sure how many gummy worms I could get our steers to eat.  Would suggest adding in some corn and oats.

 

[Annieboon]

Ok cool, so howuch corn and oats would you suggest me to feed him?
Thanks you are a lifesaver!!

 

[GoWyo]

Start at 1% of the steer's body weight per day of the grain mix with about 30% oats, 30% barley and 40% corn by weight.  You said your sponsor supplies the grain, so if you are limited to barley, the Canadians do a good job feeding cattle barley so maybe they can chime in. 

So, if steer is 522 kilos, he should get 5.22 kilos/day to start (you said he is at 6 kilos/day now, so start there).  Then gradually increase by a quarter of a kilo every 4-5 days until you get to 2% of his body weight.  On the molasses, we mix ours about 5 parts water to 1 part molasses in a bucket and pour 3-4 cups on 15 lbs. (6.8 kilos) of grain in the bucket and mix it with a mortar mixer on an electric drill.  The molasses water controls dust and increases the palatability of the grain.  A cup of vegetable oil will also tend to control dust and is a starch-free way to increase the calories of the feed.  If you can get rumensin, that will help with his feed conversion and keep him more consistent on feed consumption.  Feed the same time every day.  Allow 30 minutes to eat it and clean up whatever is left and feed it the next feeding along with some fresh feed to equal the same amount of feed presented every day.

He also needs roughage such as grass hay or cottonseed hulls or whatever bulky roughage you have in Australia.

 

[Annieboon]

Ok thank you so much!!  (clapping)