finishing cattle or mart?

1chippy

i have 2 batches of yearlings around the 360 kg mark. the first is a bunch of friesian bullocks. thriving ok and getting 1kg of meal per day on grass the last few weeks. would i be realistic to think i could have them finished out of the shed by March if i kept the kilo of meal to them until the last six weeks and bump them up to4-5kg for that period. these are genuine british friesain.
The second bnch are a group of heifers i was going to put to the bull in November, however have decided to only keep a few for cows and buy in springers instead.Mianly limos, sim and charlaois. I was just going to keep 1kg of meal to these till september october and try pull them all up over 410-20 kilo mark and move them on. has anyone any better ideas of what to do with either of these. i have thought about finishing the heifers but it would probably mean holding them till this time next year.
cheers.

Sam Kade

Why are you feeding cattle 1kg meal at grass?

1chippy

Sam Kade wrote: »

Why are you feeding cattle 1kg meal at grass?

the friesians just to keep them pushed on a little bit and the heifers the same. I dont like selling anything under 400kg especially after they go over a year so i'm reckoning i should get some bit of return once i bring them to the mart. Or am i just throwing away money here.

mf240

if they are not short grass stop the meal then reintroduce in for 6 weeks before sale.

locky76

1chippy wrote: »

the friesians just to keep them pushed on a little bit and the heifers the same. I dont like selling anything under 400kg especially after they go over a year so i'm reckoning i should get some bit of return once i bring them to the mart. Or am i just throwing away money here.

you're better off giving short sharp bursts of meal, cattle respond better rather than long term feeding...

nashmach

A lot depends on the quality of the grass though.

For the FR's I would keep the meal to them but you can forget about finishing them by March if they are 350kgs now, they would need to be closer to 420kgs.

NewBeefFarmer

Dont know how it pays to feed meal/nuts. . When grass is available. . .