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Finishing Bulls

  • 29-10-2010 10:05pm
    #1
    newholland
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 174 ✭✭


    Lads,

    I was thinking of buying a few bulls around the 400kg mark and 15-18 months olds. I was going to house these and then feed them meal ad lib with silage.

    There was an article in the Journal yesterday. Any advice for me on this?

    Michael


Comments

  • #2
    Pat the lad
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 160 ✭✭Pat the lad


    I would just go with good barley straw, plenty of water and the ad lib. They just need fibre when On ad lib diet.


  • #3
    blue5000
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,756 Mod ✭✭✭✭blue5000


    talk to a few factories that you've dealt with before, find out what spec they want them, weights, fat cover and grade. Some aibp plants are giving a bonus(21c/kg?) for AA for aldi. If you haven't done them before AA X or hereford X are the easiest to finish.

    I don't think they said anything in ifj about numbers in pens, try and keep this down to 6-8 max as they will settle quicker and fight less. Be prepared to pull out one that is always being picked on or seperate fighting bulls.

    A neighbour uses electric fences over their heads to stop them riding. I think it just adds to the stress, and never used it when I was fattening them.

    Another tip is just have one person feeding them all the time, watch out for lameness, and as said on ifj build them up slowly to ad lib, I found the easiest way to do this was feed 3 times a day.

    If the seat's wet, sit on yer hat, a cool head is better than a wet ar5e.



  • #4
    clover 1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11 ✭clover 1


    bulls on ad lib meal would be better with good quailty rufouge such as straw or hay, also bulls at 15-18 mts would nearly want to be at the finishing line as regard to age of slaughter to get best price but you want to know what the factory are willing to pay for older bulls i.e 20mts as it could take up to 60 days to finish the bulls once you go ad lib


  • #5
    bbam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,410 ✭✭✭bbam


    clover 1 wrote: »
    bulls on ad lib meal would be better with good quailty rufouge such as straw or hay, also bulls at 15-18 mts would nearly want to be at the finishing line as regard to age of slaughter to get best price but you want to know what the factory are willing to pay for older bulls i.e 20mts as it could take up to 60 days to finish the bulls once you go ad lib

    Sorry I don't mean to hijack a thread but I have no knowledge of finishing for the factory and was wondering.. Do you mean that 15-18 months old is the best age for bulls to slaughter, is this similar for heifers.. What weight would want to be acheived and is it dependant on breed?? Is there anywhere I can see this information or is it just an experience game?


  • #6
    clover 1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11 ✭clover 1


    depends largely on breed, some good articles in the journal recently.


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