finishing bullocks

jd06

hi all, jjust wondering how much meal to feed 2 year old bullocks per day. i bought 14% beef nuts today. they are on grass and was planning to feed them for 4 to 6 weeks. cheers

Farmer Pudsey

Normally about 3kgs however unless they are on good grass and with the way the weather is you could go to four especially if you want them gone before six weeks.

bob charles

5kgs considering what conditions are like, the best of grass is sh*te if analyzed currently, build them up over a week.

blue5000

bob charles wrote: »

5kgs considering what conditions are like, the best of grass is sh*te if analyzed currently, build them up over a week.

Would 5kg be economic though? A ballpark cost of ration is 300e per ton, that's going to be 1.50 a day. How much extra carcase will they put on? I know grass is full of water at the moment.

bob charles

blue5000 wrote: »

Would 5kg be economic though? A ballpark cost of ration is 300e per ton, that's going to be 1.50 a day. How much extra carcase will they put on? I know grass is full of water at the moment.

I answered the question:D:D in my mind buying a few bags of grub at the coop for feeding to beef cattle is never economic irrespective of feeding level.

MfMan

bob charles wrote: »

I answered the question:D:D in my mind buying a few bags of grub at the coop for feeding to beef cattle is never economic irrespective of feeding level.

Would beg to differ. Feeding meal at grass can speed up the finishing period, no small factor if you're racing against the factories trying to pull the price weekly. Additionally, your grass may not be of sufficient quality to finish cattle properly on it's own, plus the meal may be contributory in improving the finished carcass by a grade. I start off feeding a bunch with 1Kg per head / day, working up to 5Kg a day after a few weeks. Anything over this, cattle should be fed twice a day, or so they say. Probably not necessary when at grass anyway.

Farmer Pudsey

Bob is making a valid point about buying a few lucky bag from the co-op and paying throught the nose for them. Your ration could be made up of cotten seed and wheat extract (bran). The economics of feeding this when paying 8 yo-yo's a bag (320/ton) as opposed to a farmer buying barley/soya hulls at 250/ton blown into a bin are entirely different.

You are right about maybe trying to avoid a price fall in a normal year or getting cattle to come up a fraction of a grade or getting cattle out before 30 months to get the QA premium. On a 350 kg bullock this might equate to 40 euro's which would pay for the ration.

However this year the factory could be better in November than August so I would be careful about rushing to finish cattle remember the kill last week was less than 24K no glut of cattle coming in at present.

Manoffeeling

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Bob is making a valid point about buying a few lucky bag from the co-op and paying throught the nose for them. Your ration could be made up of cotten seed and wheat extract (bran). The economics of feeding this when paying 8 yo-yo's a bag (320/ton) as opposed to a farmer buying barley/soya hulls at 250/ton blown into a bin are entirely different.

You are right about maybe trying to avoid a price fall in a normal year or getting cattle to come up a fraction of a grade or getting cattle out before 30 months to get the QA premium. On a 350 kg bullock this might equate to 40 euro's which would pay for the ration.

However this year the factory could be better in November than August so I would be careful about rushing to finish cattle remember the kill last week was less than 24K no glut of cattle coming in at present.

On the ball

nashmach

I know the grass this year is not up to much but really question this idea behind complex mixes and a one solution mix.

Much better value to be got from feeding rolled barley and a protein balancer on top compared to a finisher ration IMV.

One thing, make sure animal health is top notch.

A white drench given the weather this year is not expensive compared to lack of thrive.

Farmer Pudsey

nashmach wrote: »

I know the grass this year is not up to much but really question this idea behind complex mixes and a one solution mix.

Much better value to be got from feeding rolled barley and a protein balancer on top compared to a finisher ration IMV.

One thing, make sure animal health is top notch.

A white drench given the weather this year is not expensive compared to lack of thrive.

No need of protein if finishing on grass barley,barley & maize and a fibre source my own prefernce is for soya hulls as it has no sugar content. No point in complex mixes from co-op as you can end up with a lot of fillers such as wheat extract cotten seed etc.