Weight on steer

[Cattle7]

I have a steer that I feel like needs some more weight on him. He is a larger framed calf. Big bone, just big framed. On 12% protein that our local feed mill custom mixes. Got the basic ingredients in it with a special beef pellet added and some other vitamins, etc. Weighed 30 days ago and weighed almost 1000. County fair is the second week of July. Thats our goal. I feel he will not look good until he gets up to about 1300. Any suggestions?

 

[Cattle7]

Also I forgot to add, his appetite varies vastly. Its taken a lot to get him up to where he is & thats the reason I worry about getting him up to weight. I would rather hold than push! He is a hard feeder.

 

[stkrdge]

keep pushing till he is visably putting on some fat. If he is a bigger framed calf is 1300 enough?

 

[Cattle7]

I think 1300 hundred would make him look decent. If I could get more on him it would be great, but due to being a hard feeder, I felt like it would be a miracle if i can get him to 1300

 

[vc]

If he is finicky you might try adding something like Appetite Express, Glu-coat, Calf-manna, or even Stabilized Rice bran, to get him to eat his feed.
We added Glu-coat and the Stabilized rice bran, the calves really liked it. It also helped with the fat, internal and external.
You might even try a different feed, some calves are just picky. When I was young I had a good calf that just would not eat, we tried several brands of feed, he would not touch any of them. I mixed them all to gether to get rid of them, he ate it like he was starving, some were dryer some wetter, mixed together they worked.

I have found on the harder doing calves that if you feed a good forage hay (oat, barley, and/or wheat) along with their grain it helps get  weight on them as well.