Finishing cattle on Grass/silage

restive

Hello

Does any one here finish cattle on grass / silage?

fatoftheland

it can be done on silage but it need to be excellent quality 78 dmd protein of 13 % and a ME of 12 or above not to many people have this. its easier to finish of grass but depends on sward quality and time of year.

bob charles

forget it, its usually too low in dm and to get the quality needed would be near impossible

Kevin1150

much cheaper on grass if managed right. need few kg of meal aswell thou

sh1tstirrer

I often fattened cull cows on silage only over the winter.

restive

fatoftheland wrote: »

it can be done on silage but it need to be excellent quality 78 dmd protein of 13 % and a ME of 12 or above not to many people have this. its easier to finish of grass but depends on sward quality and time of year.

I am familiar with Dry matter content of silage, but what does ME stand for?
Thanks for all the replies.

blue5000

Metabolic energy, but don't ask me (no pun intended:D) what metabolic means.

sh1tstirrer

Megajoules of metabolisible energy. It is a measurement of energy. ME for short they changed to a different system of measurement about 10 years ago but I have never seen it used.

bob charles

The calories system is a much easier system to work with, strange that Im praising the yanks for there way

restive

bob charles wrote: »

The calories system is a much easier system to work with, strange that Im praising the yanks for there way

The calorie system? Is that where they cattle are fed grain?

bob charles

restive wrote: »

The calorie system? Is that where they cattle are fed grain?

No, just all feed is analysised and a calorie count per kilo is given. then tot up calories needed for maintenance and expected liveweight gain . ME is a bit of a fad really considering something like timber has a fairly decent ME if analyzed:eek:. suppose its just another way of skinning a cat, if your getting good liveweight gains then your doing things close on perfect

Muckit

bob charles wrote: »

No, just all feed is analysised and a calorie count per kilo is given. then tot up calories needed for maintenance and expected liveweight gain . ME is a bit of a fad really considering something like timber has a fairly decent ME if analyzed:eek:. suppose its just another way of skinning a cat, if your getting good liveweight gains then your doing things close on perfect

Would BMI come into it at all?

F.D

Does any one here finish cattle on grass / silage?

Depends on how quick you want to turn them around
finished nearly all of our cattle off grass this year, but they would have got 1kg per head in the shed last winter, which i think is what makes the difference to get them finishing at grass with no meal the following summer under 30 months
as for finishing of silage, usually they go back a bit once housed, maybe its the silage or just the stress of it so meal would be a must or a longer period of time to finish them,

restive

F.D wrote: »

Does any one here finish cattle on grass / silage?

Depends on how quick you want to turn them around
finished nearly all of our cattle off grass this year, but they would have got 1kg per head in the shed last winter, which i think is what makes the difference to get them finishing at grass with no meal the following summer under 30 months
as for finishing of silage, usually they go back a bit once housed, maybe its the silage or just the stress of it so meal would be a must or a longer period of time to finish them,

Thanks for the reply. what kind of finishing weight did u achieve? what breef of cattle were they?

funny man

bob charles wrote: »

No, just all feed is analysised and a calorie count per kilo is given. then tot up calories needed for maintenance and expected liveweight gain . ME is a bit of a fad really considering something like timber has a fairly decent ME if analyzed:eek:. suppose its just another way of skinning a cat, if your getting good liveweight gains then your doing things close on perfect

ME and Calories or Kilocalories are pretty much the same thing, just like Faringheight and celsius two different scales but both measure the same thing, you can convert one into the other 1 calorie is 4.2 joules. on the ME of timber, energy is measured by burning so timber would have an ME, doesn't mean you have to eat it.

yellow50HX

Just bumping this back up again.

The mrs is looking at keeping some of the cattle for her own use ( she does some food work on part time) anyway she is looking for meat that will be completely grass fed as many of her clients are looking for that.

We have lim/AA cross cattle so they should be ok for finishing around 20-22 months so be able finish then without a second winter. Would authunm calves be better and able for this as they would only need 1 winter of silage.