Finish as Bulls or keep as Bullocks

jfh

Hi all, I 'accidently' bought 2 lovely weanling bulls and i'm looking for a bit of advise. we were dairy & store cattle up till recently enough so don't know much about finishing cattle. I know there's more knowledgeable farmers than i, wondering what they'll do with the price of meal & fodder shortgages.
so of course i don't expect exact suggestions ,just what would you do.

CHX 10 months weighing about 420kg avg.
will i squeez them and keep as bullocks till this time next year or feed them up & finish as bulls under 16 mtnhs?
would you want a few(more than 2) if going down the finishing route?
So any thoughts welcome.

Farmer Pudsey

I be inclined to leave as bullocks I would not be worried about the 16 months of age as long as they are finished around christmas. If you can keep in a seperate paddock ( let them run ahead of other cattle) and feed 5 kgs each/day, you might want to build up to a bit more in November. They will finish at that.

cj maxx

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I be inclined to leave as bullocks I would not be worried about the 16 months of age as long as they are finished around christmas. If you can keep in a seperate paddock ( let them run ahead of other cattle) and feed 5 kgs each/day, you might want to build up to a bit more in November. They will finish at that.

did ypu mean leave as bulls or cut them ?

MfMan

jfh wrote: »

Hi all, I 'accidently' bought 2 lovely weanling bulls and i'm looking for a bit of advise. we were dairy & store cattle up till recently enough so don't know much about finishing cattle. I know there's more knowledgeable farmers than i, wondering what they'll do with the price of meal & fodder shortgages.
so of course i don't expect exact suggestions ,just what would you do.

CHX 10 months weighing about 420kg avg.
will i squeez them and keep as bullocks till this time next year or feed them up & finish as bulls under 16 mtnhs?
would you want a few(more than 2) if going down the finishing route?
So any thoughts welcome.

If you squeeze them and they get cut, flies this time of the year may play hell. Just a thought.....

Bizzum

I would view the Bull beef trade as a specialist system and leave it to those set up for it. Hardly worth the hassle for 2 bulls.
I'd bring the blackleg vac up to date on them, let them settle and squeeze them. 2 nice bullocks will always be saleable as stores, forward stores or finished.

Farmer Pudsey

cjmc wrote: »

did ypu mean leave as bulls or cut them ?

sorry bulls typo a bad one i admit the issue with what bizzum plans is if one goe's wrong they go a long way back and yes I admit it is hassle but them most farming is hassle if you want it to make money

oldhead

i would leave them as bulls, they will finish quicker and you can move on instead of feeding them for another year. try a 50% maize ration and push them on, they will leave some money

jfh

HI Lads, thanks for your opinion, know there's for & against both.
Farmer Pudsey & oldhead suggest bulls, which i was thinking when i bought them, I've them in a loose lean-to, feeding them baled silage & meal. so there's no real hassle with them, letting them out on grass ins't really an option.
on the other hand, their only dec 11 calves(look older!)
i think bizzum makes a lot of sense, squeez them,let them out & few kg of meal over the winter & maybe sell them this time next year.
all in their own good time, they have good scope to turn into decent beasts.
thanks again for taking the effort to reply.