Finishing Heifers

bbam

Just a general query..

We sold some HEX and CHX heifers recently in the mart... The sold well (given the year thats in it). They were 18/20 months, bucket reared, weights about 400-430 kgs..

However afterwards someone said that we should have pushed them on and finished them for killing as were giving profit to the "next fella".. Now this isn't something we've ever done but I was just wondering peoples opinions..

What weights would they kill at?? 500-550kg??
Keep them at grass and build them up to a few kg/day of high energy ration??

farmerpaddy

I don't know but finishing is a costly job, meal/health wise and you need to have the setup for it. I see no money in it unless you have everything above handed down to you , such as sheds, etc.

PatQfarmer

bbam wrote: »

Just a general query..

We sold some HEX and CHX heifers recently in the mart... The sold well (given the year thats in it). They were 18/20 months, bucket reared, weights about 400-430 kgs..

However afterwards someone said that we should have pushed them on and finished them for killing as were giving profit to the "next fella".. Now this isn't something we've ever done but I was just wondering peoples opinions..

What weights would they kill at?? 500-550kg??
Keep them at grass and build them up to a few kg/day of high energy ration??

Not wishing to pick holes, but the weights were poor for 18-20 month old stock. Did they have a good enough "do"?
We would generally get to that weight with 12-14 month AAX hfrs (although probably not this year!!!) and finish at 18months(520-580kg) depending on animal.
Finishing in shed is tough going, try to push them on as hard as possible at grass and gone before 2nd winter is my plan.

bbam

PatQfarmer wrote: »

Not wishing to pick holes, but the weights were poor for 18-20 month old stock. Did they have a good enough "do"?
We would generally get to that weight with 12-14 month AAX hfrs (although probably not this year!!!) and finish at 18months(520-580kg) depending on animal.
Finishing in shed is tough going, try to push them on as hard as possible at grass and gone before 2nd winter is my plan.

I'd say the weather had an effect on their weights... I was constantly swapping them from paddock to paddock due to the weather so they wouldnt have had as much meal as I would have liked (didn't move the trough enough:rolleyes:) I was hoping they would all have been 30-40 kg heavier.. They were all in the .7kg a day weight gain where I would have a goal of .8kg a day and have often got 0.9 on a better year..

Do you mind me asking what feeding regeim you would have with the AAx heifers??

PatQfarmer

bbam wrote: »

I'd say the weather had an effect on their weights... I was constantly swapping them from paddock to paddock due to the weather so they wouldnt have had as much meal as I would have liked (didn't move the trough enough:rolleyes:) I was hoping they would all have been 30-40 kg heavier.. They were all in the .7kg a day weight gain where I would have a goal of .8kg a day and have often got 0.9 on a better year..

Do you mind me asking what feeding regeim you would have with the AAx heifers??

Reared from calves, Autumn and Spring. Weaned at 6-7 weeks, on 1kg meal. Increase to 1.5kg as they grow, get to grass and off meal as soon as possible (generally 12-16 weeks for Spring calves), weather-dependant. Stay on grass as long as possible, supplementing with hay/silage if needed.
Autumn calves are over-wintered cheaply, max 1kg/head meal, then best of the grass for their second Spring. Spring calves are overwintered cheaply (outside if possible!) max 1kg/head meal. As the Autumn born are sold off at 17-19months, Spring born move up the ladder and get the good grass (following the current batch of calves!) to finish from Aug-Oct, usually without too much meal. Like an assembly line. Dizzy after typing that, easier in practice:)

PatQfarmer

bbam wrote: »

I'd say the weather had an effect on their weights... I was constantly swapping them from paddock to paddock due to the weather so they wouldnt have had as much meal as I would have liked (didn't move the trough enough:rolleyes:) I was hoping they would all have been 30-40 kg heavier.. They were all in the .7kg a day weight gain where I would have a goal of .8kg a day and have often got 0.9 on a better year..

Do you mind me asking what feeding regeim you would have with the AAx heifers??

And stock is crucial to that plan. AAX finish early and easily. No way you could do that with a Ch, imo. Then I don't know as I gave up on them years ago:) Your HEX should nearly do it, maybe.
I'm prepared to put up with smaller carcases for the ease of finishing.
And as the kids and OH help a lot (part-timer only), they are very docile and easy to manage.

bbam

PatQfarmer wrote: »

And stock is crucial to that plan. AAX finish early and easily. No way you could do that with a Ch, imo. Then I don't know as I gave up on them years ago:) Your HEX should nearly do it, maybe.
I'm prepared to put up with smaller carcases for the ease of finishing.
And as the kids and OH help a lot (part-timer only), they are very docile and easy to manage.

Thanks for that.
Not to dis-similar to our own with the only difference I can see straight off is we wouldn't up to 1.5 kg meal, we'd never go above 1kg. Also wondering what type of meal are you feeding. I think one mistake we've been making was to change them onto a 16% beef nut as soon as possible. Perhaps we should be keeping them on a higher protein meal longer to help the grow more frame early on.
For example I have six in at the moment and they are 10 weeks old, I have tem two weeks. They will be on milk for another 4-6 weeks, they are eating plenty of straw, fresh water and eating 1kg of crunch. I've already started mixing beef but through the crunch with the plan to have them off crunch in a week or so. Maybe this is too early to be dropping the protein content.

PatQfarmer

Only go to 1.5kg with Autumn born ones, Spring born usually get most feed from grass as soon as possible.
Agree re protein. I started to use lower protein nuts and was not happy with result. I use all Gain feeds. 18% crunch to start, 18% nuts to follow on, then 17%. Don't go to beef nut until they are all strong. I'm probably paying too much for meal, but convenience and performance are important to me too.
I'd feel your issue might be too much milk! Only the weakest of ours stay on milk past 7 weeks. Meal and then grass as soon as possible is the goal on my farm.:)

bbam

Possibly so.
We usually budget 1 bag per calf, these were a little older than we usually get. Weaning at seven weeks is good going, we're usually in the 10-12 week when weaning after buying at 3-4 weeks but would all be on 1kg meal for a few weeks before weaning.
Lots to think about there.

Do you finish them or sell as stores?

PatQfarmer

bbam wrote: »

Possibly so.
We usually budget 1 bag per calf, these were a little older than we usually get. Weaning at seven weeks is good going, we're usually in the 10-12 week when weaning after buying at 3-4 weeks but would all be on 1kg meal for a few weeks before weaning.
Lots to think about there.

Do you finish them or sell as stores?

Always plan to finish, but adapt in relation to price and grass supply...as you must:) Often sell in Mart, sometimes better than factory.
AA bonus scheme is ok, but lots of criteria!

bbam

Thanks Pat.
It's always great to come on here and chat through this stuff with others.

Another problem I had this year was soft ground, where we would usually top ground twice, most was only topped once and some hasn't seen the tractor since April and is unlikely to now till next spring as its so wet. Less good grass, it all adds up.

PatQfarmer

I'm lucky that my land is dry...relative to other land that is, all land is wet this year:)
I topped start May (causing second grass shortage as I topped too bloomin' much:rolleyes:).
No topper near paddocks since, but heifers are great to graze down.
Have one field that needs topping, but they seem happy enough in there still, so will leave alone.
Currently stocked at 3LU/HA, so can't be taking out land wily nily.
Slowing rotation with bales of hay to keep good grass in front of calves and build Autumn wedge. Bit of a tightrope...Will be selling some stock soon.

PatQfarmer

bbam wrote: »

Thanks Pat.
It's always great to come on here and chat through this stuff with others.

Sure is. I've learned a lot from this forum. Some real clever farmers on here...and no, I'm not going to start naming ye:D