Expected Weight Gain from 485kg Heifers

locky76

Hey Folks,

I weighed my stores the other day and the five best heifers are from 485kgs up to 510kgs.
I'm going to start these five on meal on Monday building up to 4 kgs per head per day, they'll get this for 6 weeks= 4x7x6= 168kgs.
They'll also have the prime grass with the rest of the stores grazing behind them.
What sort of weight gain could I expect from the heifers over this time?
I.E. what weight will they be when i live weigh them again in 6 weeks time?

Sam Kade

What was their daily liveweight gain up to now?

locky76

Sam Kade wrote: »

What was their daily liveweight gain up to now?

Assuming 40kg weight at birth:
1.1 kgs for the 2 home reared sucklers
0.9 kgs for the three bought in dairy bred angus

Sam Kade

Somewhere between 1.2-1.4kg/day

sh1tstirrer

Locky you started a similar thread last year.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=73508226

How did your heifers work out last year?

locky76

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Locky you started a similar thread last year.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=73508226

How did your heifers work out last year?

Cheers Stirrer, i'd forgotten all about that thread, I must dig out the factory docket from last year, I fed them the meal for the 6 weeks at 4 kgs per day.
I only got the scales this year so I'll be very interested to see how they weight at the end of the feeding period and also what % they kill out at, i always assume a 52% killout for heifers and 55% for bullocks.

locky76

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Locky you started a similar thread last year.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=73508226

How did your heifers work out last year?

Just after checking out the killout last year:
The 8 killed in September averaged 507kgs live weight @ 15 months and made on average €977: 264kgs deadweight @ €3.72 per kg

bob charles

locky76 wrote: »

Just after checking out the killout last year:
The 8 killed in September averaged 507kgs live weight @ 15 months and made on average €977: 264kgs deadweight @ €3.72 per kg

why slaughter at such a light weight, were they small AA or what?
anything from a 1kg to 1.7kgs lwg depending on the animal. over this gain for a heifer would be unusual

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Thats around 52%. I finished angus heifers off a grass only diet a few years ago and they killed out nearer 60%.

that's one high grass killout

sh1tstirrer

locky76 wrote: »

Just after checking out the killout last year:
The 8 killed in September averaged 507kgs live weight @ 15 months and made on average €977: 264kgs deadweight @ €3.72 per kg

Thats around 52%. I finished angus heifers off a grass only diet a few years ago and they killed out nearer 60%.

locky76

bob charles wrote: »

why slaughter at such a light weight, were they small AA or what?

They are AA and born in June/July and are killed in September the following year, it's a quick turnaround system killing them at 15 months, cheaper than wintering them a second time.
I held onto the lighter heifers until May and they killed out at 595kgs liveweight and made €1,259: 309kgs deadweight @ €4.06 per kg

locky76

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Thats around 52%. I finished angus heifers off a grass only diet a few years ago and they killed out nearer 60%.

I didn't have their liveweight, i assumed a killout of 52% and worked it back from their killout weight to find their liveweight, now i've a scales i'll know exactly the killout %...