Finishing Beef Cattle

camera

I am finsihing a number of beef cattle at the moment on grass. I want to supplement this with beef nuts over the next 7/8weeks before factory. Just wondering what quanity of feed per head would you recommend in this period to finsih?

thanks

dryan

I think you have to use your own judgement on this a bit. How yea fixed for Grass?
This is the way i have been doing it:
For a lot of 20 bullocks that have a good supply of grass from May - September/october.
May -> end August - just a shake to keep them quiet and following the bucket.
Sept -> 30KG/day (~ 3lb/day) as grass quality decreases.

Thats what i do. Whether its right/wrong, i dont know.

For every 10 bullocks i sell, i am averaging 3 U grades. All the rest are R grades.
All cattle are sold between the ages of 30 - 36 months.

adne

dryan wrote: »

For every 10 bullocks i sell, i am averaging 3 U grades. All the rest are R grades.
All cattle are sold between the ages of 30 - 36 months.

How much on average do you receive for a U Grade comannd and an R Grade from the factory

millertime78

Good topic, I'm feeding 12 cattle which are around the 30 mths..hope to have them ready for factory in the middle of October, it entirely depends on the quantity and quality of grass you have. Mine are in good after grass at the moment so they're only getting about 1kg Beef ration each. I'm told that there will be a flood of cattle out in October though!

dryan

adne wrote: »

How much on average do you receive for a U Grade comannd and an R Grade from the factory

You cant really put an average price on it. If the supply of cattle is good, factories will pull the prices. If supply is tight, they are forced to give a bit more.

In the general run of things, you will be paid on average 2p/lb more for a U grade bullock versus and R grade.

e.g
R grade - 1.05p/lb - 2.94 cent/kg
U grade - 1.07p/lb - 3.00 cent/kg

You can work out the potential difference from the animal carcase weight.

MfMan

I start off feeding ~1kg per head and build it up to nearly 4kg towards the end - usually about 5 - 6 weeks later. A lot of feeding but I find it pays, if only marginally. Sent off a few recently and was surprised at their gradings and kill-out weight as they didn't look exceptional. I put it down to the meal. I have been feeding buffalo beef nuts (from Stewarts) and it puts fair flesh on them in fairness. Towards the end of this month the best of the grass is usually gone so have them nearly finished by then if poss.

dryan

Whats people feeding?
Nuts or ration?
which is the best for finishing?

I feed the beef (bull nuts) myself and dont have any experience with rations.

How do they compare price wise?

wiggy123

would ration b better for cattle fattening or stores
more minerals in it than straights!

locky76

camera wrote: »

I am finsihing a number of beef cattle at the moment on grass. I want to supplement this with beef nuts over the next 7/8weeks before factory. Just wondering what quanity of feed per head would you recommend in this period to finsih?

thanks

i'm at something similar myself and what i was advised to do by several people was to give them 1 kilo of nuts per head to start with and to build them up to 4KGs per head per day. you should only give them nuts for 6 weeks max. this short sharp burst is the most efficient.

reilig

Just a quick question for some of the earlier posters.

You're keeping bullocks to 30 and 36 months old.
How much on average do you buy them for?? (per kg or along with the weight)
What's your average sale price? (per live kg or along with the weight).

A lot of people around us have changed to breeding and finishing their own cattle or 80% finishing of cattle.
For example, I sold bullocks 380kg to 430kg. They were all under 12 months old. If the buyer put another 80kg to 100kg on these cattle, they would be ready for slaughter. They all made over €900, the 430kg guy made €1000. I estimate that I would have had at least €500 profit on them after taking into account the cost of meal, dosing, testing, grass and labour.

Maybe this is because we are closer to the border and there is better buying for these heavier young cattle for feedlots in the north and UK??


What sort of profit would you have on a 3 year old bullock when you put him into the factory???

What sore of weights are they when you send tyhem for slaughter???

Do you think that BSE has an impact on the age that people are keeping bullocks to??

Pharaoh1

Reilig, the cattle have been super quality to get those sort of prices.
As a hobby farmer I used to buy stores to finish but got fed up with poor factory price etc...
After joining REPS a few years ago i decided to operate a summer grazing system buying weanlings in the spring and selling as stores in the Autumn.
Last year I bought 25 bullocks avg price 680 avg weight 325 kg (fairly expensive) in Feb/March and sold them in late Oct/Early Nov at avg 901 euro 480 kg .They got approx 1.5kg of a cheap ration for the last six weeks I had them.
Thats 220 euro gross plus I sold 120 silage bales of excess grass.
It's not a lot of money but the costs are low. The weight gain of 155kg last year was poor because of the wet year- In previous years I was hitting about 200kg gain
Difficult to see how the guy who bought them could make a margin.

reilig

Pharaoh1 wrote: »

Reilig, the cattle have been super quality to get those sort of prices.
As a hobby farmer I used to buy stores to finish but got fed up with poor factory price etc...
After joining REPS a few years ago i decided to operate a summer grazing system buying weanlings in the spring and selling as stores in the Autumn.
Last year I bought 25 bullocks avg price 680 avg weight 325 kg (fairly expensive) in Feb/March and sold them in late Oct/Early Nov at avg 901 euro 480 kg .They got approx 1.5kg of a cheap ration for the last six weeks I had them.
Thats 220 euro gross plus I sold 120 silage bales of excess grass.
It's not a lot of money but the costs are low. The weight gain of 155kg last year was poor because of the wet year- In previous years I was hitting about 200kg gain
Difficult to see how the guy who bought them could make a margin.

I disagree with you. Cattle do not have to be super quality to get those prices. I know at least 40 farmers within 5 miles of me doing the same thing and getting the same prices. Most of mine come off a Charloais Bull and Limousin cows. The secret is to calve them from september to December and have them eating a small bit of creep before they get out in may. Our local Teagasc Office is very encouraging and organises open evenings throughout the year for anyone interested.

Personally I believe that there is a profit to be made from Beef Cattle, the problem is that most farmers don't know what they're doing. I was in Loughrea mart last friday night and there were farmers there selling bull weinlings that weighed 160 to 200 kg. They were failing to make €400. Some of them were 10 months old. There's something wrong when a 10 month old half bred continental bull is less than 200kg. Either he has been starved of grass, he got no creep (even though he is been sold as having taken part in the Suckler cow scheme) or the cow or bull that he has been bred from is a scrub or inbred etc.

I have 1 neighbour with 25 acres and 10 cows. We went to his farm for an open evening earlier this year. Including his single payment of almost €4000, he had €7500 in profit last year. Part of the open evening was a run down on his costs - they put them on a blackboard for all to see. He also gave us the details of his income. There are farmers out there with 80 acres not making that kind of money in the year.

Sorry for the rant, but I think that it is about people using their heads rather than just producing large numbers of cattle.

leg wax

reilig wrote: »

I disagree with you. Cattle do not have to be super quality to get those prices. I know at least 40 farmers within 5 miles of me doing the same thing and getting the same prices. Most of mine come off a Charloais Bull and Limousin cows. The secret is to calve them from september to December and have them eating a small bit of creep before they get out in may. Our local Teagasc Office is very encouraging and organises open evenings throughout the year for anyone interested.

Personally I believe that there is a profit to be made from Beef Cattle, the problem is that most farmers don't know what they're doing. I was in Loughrea mart last friday night and there were farmers there selling bull weinlings that weighed 160 to 200 kg. They were failing to make €400. Some of them were 10 months old. There's something wrong when a 10 month old half bred continental bull is less than 200kg. Either he has been starved of grass, he got no creep (even though he is been sold as having taken part in the Suckler cow scheme) or the cow or bull that he has been bred from is a scrub or inbred etc.

I have 1 neighbour with 25 acres and 10 cows. We went to his farm for an open evening earlier this year. Including his single payment of almost €4000, he had €7500 in profit last year. Part of the open evening was a run down on his costs - they put them on a blackboard for all to see. He also gave us the details of his income. There are farmers out there with 80 acres not making that kind of money in the year.

Sorry for the rant, but I think that it is about people using their heads rather than just producing large numbers of cattle.

i agree with above post ,on a different thread a guy is woundering if he should dose for fluke because they are coughing ,are we still in the 70s

snowman707

reilig wrote: »

Just a quick question for some of the earlier posters.

You're keeping bullocks to 30 and 36 months old.
How much on average do you buy them for?? (per kg or along with the weight)
What's your average sale price? (per live kg or along with the weight).

A lot of people around us have changed to breeding and finishing their own cattle or 80% finishing of cattle.
For example, I sold bullocks 380kg to 430kg. They were all under 12 months old. If the buyer put another 80kg to 100kg on these cattle, they would be ready for slaughter. They all made over €900, the 430kg guy made €1000. I estimate that I would have had at least €500 profit on them after taking into account the cost of meal, dosing, testing, grass and labour.

I am open to correction here as I rarely finish bullocks. but I think that by killing your bullocks at say 530 - 550 kgs as you state after giving an average of say €930 for them would leave very little profit, bet they were bought for the boat.

reilig wrote: »

I disagree with you. Cattle do not have to be super quality to get those prices. I know at least 40 farmers within 5 miles of me doing the same thing and getting the same prices. Most of mine come off a Charloais Bull and Limousin cows. The secret is to calve them from september to December and have them eating a small bit of creep before they get out in may. Our local Teagasc Office is very encouraging and organises open evenings throughout the year for anyone interested.

Personally I believe that there is a profit to be made from Beef Cattle, the problem is that most farmers don't know what they're doing. I was in Loughrea mart last friday night and there were farmers there selling bull weinlings that weighed 160 to 200 kg. They were failing to make €400. Some of them were 10 months old. There's something wrong when a 10 month old half bred continental bull is less than 200kg. Either he has been starved of grass, he got no creep (even though he is been sold as having taken part in the Suckler cow scheme) or the cow or bull that he has been bred from is a scrub or inbred etc.

.

You obviously have good quality milky cows and keep a respectable bull & look after your stock. I see fellows around here who got of dairying over the years & bulled whatever heifers they had or could buy cheap in the mart.Like you say they are taking mediocre money for their weanlings.

also many carrying way too much stock for their acres. A fellow down the the road is milking 120 cows, we have similar acres & keep 70 & keep 250 - 300 sheep. I know for a fact that we will have more profit than him at the end of the year,

BENDYBINN

reilig wrote: »

I disagree with you. Cattle do not have to be super quality to get those prices. I know at least 40 farmers within 5 miles of me doing the same thing and getting the same prices. Most of mine come off a Charloais Bull and Limousin cows. The secret is to calve them from september to December and have them eating a small bit of creep before they get out in may. Our local Teagasc Office is very encouraging and organises open evenings throughout the year for anyone interested.

Personally I believe that there is a profit to be made from Beef Cattle, the problem is that most farmers don't know what they're doing. I was in Loughrea mart last friday night and there were farmers there selling bull weinlings that weighed 160 to 200 kg. They were failing to make €400. Some of them were 10 months old. There's something wrong when a 10 month old half bred continental bull is less than 200kg. Either he has been starved of grass, he got no creep (even though he is been sold as having taken part in the Suckler cow scheme) or the cow or bull that he has been bred from is a scrub or inbred etc.

I have 1 neighbour with 25 acres and 10 cows. We went to his farm for an open evening earlier this year. Including his single payment of almost €4000, he had €7500 in profit last year. Part of the open evening was a run down on his costs - they put them on a blackboard for all to see. He also gave us the details of his income. There are farmers out there with 80 acres not making that kind of money in the year.

Sorry for the rant, but I think that it is about people using their heads rather than just producing large numbers of cattle.

this farmer is making about 60 euro a week profit on his farm--how many hours does he work a week for this?

reilig

BENDYBINN wrote: »

this farmer is making about 60 euro a week profit on his farm--how many hours does he work a week for this?

He has 25 acres, works full time. Its more of a hobby for him than anything. There's not many farmers in the country making a similar profit on 25 acres.
There's lots of farmers out there making €0 a week on 100 acres and working full time on it.

snowman707

reilig wrote: »

I disagree with you. Cattle do not have to be super quality to get those prices. I know at least 40 farmers within 5 miles of me doing the same thing and getting the same prices. Most of mine come off a Charloais Bull and Limousin cows. The secret is to calve them from september to December and have them eating a small bit of creep before they get out in may. Our local Teagasc Office is very encouraging and organises open evenings throughout the year for anyone interested.

Personally I believe that there is a profit to be made from Beef Cattle, the problem is that most farmers don't know what they're doing. I was in Loughrea mart last friday night and there were farmers there selling bull weinlings that weighed 160 to 200 kg. They were failing to make €400. Some of them were 10 months old. There's something wrong when a 10 month old half bred continental bull is less than 200kg. Either he has been starved of grass, he got no creep (even though he is been sold as having taken part in the Suckler cow scheme) or the cow or bull that he has been bred from is a scrub or inbred etc.

I have 1 neighbour with 25 acres and 10 cows. We went to his farm for an open evening earlier this year. Including his single payment of almost €4000, he had €7500 in profit last year. Part of the open evening was a run down on his costs - they put them on a blackboard for all to see. He also gave us the details of his income. There are farmers out there with 80 acres not making that kind of money in the year.

Sorry for the rant, but I think that it is about people using their heads rather than just producing large numbers of cattle.

BENDYBINN wrote: »

this farmer is making about 60 euro a week profit on his farm--how many hours does he work a week for this?

nearer to €140 per week not €60

dank656

does anyone know the contents of buffalo nuts? or where i could find it? cant find them anywhere. Thanks

Mad4simmental

dank656 wrote: »

does anyone know the contents of buffalo nuts? or where i could find it? cant find them anywhere. Thanks

maize, Barley
Soya bean hulls, Rapeseed meal Wheatfeed
Molasses

http://www.web4print.com/brands/topline/concatpdf/concat14116.pdf

dank656

Thanks