advice sought re_ finishing bulls

great_booze_up

hello room

id like to ask for some tips regarding my first time attempting to finish bulls to slaughter , ive ten and they range from febuary to april so i would be hoping to slaughter them around 2015 june

they were weaned around october 15th and were on around two kg of creep prior to weaning , now as i understand that it would take around 10 kg per head for the final three months to finish at sixteen months , i have built them up to a current level of 5 kg per head since october 15

i spoke to someone the other day and they believed i was feeding them far too much as they are only 8 to 10 months old , i might add that silage is good and around 70 dmd , i left some straw with them but they have not eaten it

severeoversteer

well you would want to be feeding nearly 3 times per day for 10kg a day

out from that its adlib

and I have seen yearling bulls much 19kg of meal a day on adlib and they devour straw

overall it doesn't pay

be as well keep them till 18 months old and get some grass in the diet until around may next year and then throw the nuts at them
3.5-4.5kg per day in the mean time and you can cut the feeding 4 weeks before turnout in the spring and delay feeding outside until they are out for 3-4 weeks


most of the gain form grass is obtained by the time the middle of june has come, you need to throw meal at them then and keep the grass well topped and leafy, or else into the shed with them.

great_booze_up

severeoversteer wrote: »

well you would want to be feeding nearly 3 times per day for 10kg a day

out from that its adlib

and I have seen yearling bulls much 19kg of meal a day on adlib and they devour straw

overall it doesn't pay

be as well keep them till 18 months old and get some grass in the diet until around may next year and then throw the nuts at them
3.5-4.5kg per day in the mean time and you can cut the feeding 4 weeks before turnout in the spring and delay feeding outside until they are out for 3-4 weeks


most of the gain form grass is obtained by the time the middle of june has come, you need to throw meal at them then and keep the grass well topped and leafy, or else into the shed with them.

hard to manage bulls outside so i wont be grazing them again

regardless of which route i take , do you think 5kg right now is too much for cattle their age ?

Farmer Pudsey

What weight are they at present. Weight decides finishing as opposed to anything else. What type of ration are you feeding them. At present they would need little straw as more than likely silage is providing enough fibre.

manjou

I would start in january to build up to ad lib with straw which will take about 3 weeks then then 120 days later which is early may hang them.Make sure they have adqueate water little bowl drinkers not good enough you would 70 gallon drinker with them.Feed ration not nut.Keep in different shed to heifers.
Once you start this you have to keep going so make sure you have someone to kill them because they can only go one way with them and alot money tied up in meal.

Robson99

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

What weight are they at present. Weight decides finishing as opposed to anything else. What type of ration are you feeding them. At present they would need little straw as more than likely silage is providing enough fibre.

Even at 10kg per day wouldn't silage provide adequate fibre FP ?

Robson99

manjou wrote: »

Feed ration not nut.

Didn't think this would make any difference?

severeoversteer

great_booze_up wrote: »

hard to manage bulls outside so i wont be grazing them again

regardless of which route i take , do you think 5kg right now is too much for cattle their age ?

well I had them on 8kg a day now at the same age as your own, a high protein nut to grow frame before you try and put fat on them

great_booze_up

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

What weight are they at present. Weight decides finishing as opposed to anything else. What type of ration are you feeding them. At present they would need little straw as more than likely silage is providing enough fibre.

they are on a 16% beef nut

hard to say what weight they are , i would say they are above average for their age , they are out of angus cows and a limousin bull

great_booze_up

severeoversteer wrote: »

well I had them on 8kg a day now at the same age as your own, a high protein nut to grow frame before you try and put fat on them

thats good to know , maybe the guy didnt realise what i had planned , i wont give them anymore than 5 kg per day until january and by march , should have them on 10 kg per day

blue5000

great_booze_up wrote: »

thats good to know , maybe the guy didnt realise what i had planned , i wont give them anymore than 5 kg per day until january and by march , should have them on 10 kg per day

60kg, oct
450kg 5x90 nov-jan
1200 10 x 120 days to end of may. You are using a nut which has to be costing at least 240/ton. That's roughly 1.75 ton @ 240 =€420 + silage/straw. I honestly can't see it adding up.

great_booze_up

blue5000 wrote: »

60kg, oct
450kg 5x90 nov-jan
1200 10 x 120 days to end of may. You are using a nut which has to be costing at least 240/ton. That's roughly 1.75 ton @ 240 =€420 + silage/straw. I honestly can't see it adding up.

well they were only worth on average around 850 in the mart off the cow so if you add 850 + 420 = 1270

they should be worth at least 200 euro per head more than that in the factory

btw , the nut is costing me 235 per tonne

Farmer Pudsey

TBH feeding bulls that you do not know the weight of even an approx guess is high risk. I say these are sub 350 kg bulls. If they are they are too light IMO to finish. If yoou had wanted to gamble I have fed good silage and 2-3kgs and sold in March. From mid October that would cost 150-170.

As blue has shown that is 420 on ration. They will eat 3 bales of silage each from now to finish. Add in straw and you are north of 500 euro. Add 50 for vetenary, transport and slaughter cost and 30 for misc. That is 580 euro add to 850 and you need 1430 before you make a margin. At 4.5/kg to break even you need them to weight 320kgs DW

If they are light bulls it may not happen As well they will be gone well stale by Mid April.