Finishing cattle meal

restive

I have some cattle gone onto grass that will be slaughtered in June. What meal if any should I be feeding them?

blue5000

What sort of cattle are they, breed/weight/age?

restive

From 26 - 33 months 650kg upwards. Charolais & chx

blue5000

1-2 kg would finish them a bit quicker and maybe give you 1 or 2% extra KO. But it's borderline as to whether it would pay or not. I've never done it this time of year apart from cull cows to have them gone earlier.

restive

1-2kg hi maize ration ok?

blue5000

I suppose, just introduce it slowly, maybe some pulp or hulls for fibre as well.

FarmerDougal

restive wrote: »

1-2kg hi maize ration ok?

Ok to start with..build up to 5kg for last 6 weeks. They will respond well to feeding and at worst cover cost of meal along with improvement in fat scores and grades vs not feeding

MfMan

Start feeding a good 6-8 weeks in advance of slaughter. Start off about a kg a day of finishing nut (c. 14% maize) and work up to about 5/6Kg a day for the last few weeks. Kill out / grade good and heavy then.

Bass Reeves

There was a study a few years ago and it found that cattle can consume half a kg of ration/ 100kg liveweight without reducing grass intake. After that you are replacing grass with a high cost input. From that a 600kg bullock can consume 3 kgs of ration without effecting grass intake. Good grass from now to late July is the cheapest feed you can feed. If you feed a ration you need it to balance the grass. Spring grass is high in protein although this spring grass is lower in P than previous years. However I still pick a high energy product and a fibre source.

Best fibre source at grass is soya hulls it slows down the grass going through the the rumen. For energy I'd prefer barley over maize as it is more palatable. So feed up to 3 kg of barley/ hulls split 2/3 barley 1/3 hulls. Although if there is a difference in price of over 50/ ton in buying straight hulls I be Inclined to feed them straight.

Feeding 5-6 kgs to a 650 kg bullock you are replacing 2-3 kgs of grass dry matter with a much more expensive drymatter. Grass DM cost 3-4c / kg compared to rations and nuts costing 20-30c/ kg. The weight gained from this will not be profitable

Willfarman

Bass Reeves wrote: »

There was a study a few years ago and it found that cattle can consume half a kg of ration/ 100kg liveweight without reducing grass intake. After that you are replacing grass with a high cost input. From that a 600kg bullock can consume 3 kgs of ration without effecting grass intake. Good grass from now to late July is the cheapest feed you can feed. If you feed a ration you need it to balance the grass. Spring grass is high in protein although this spring grass is lower in P than previous years. However I still pick a high energy product and a fibre source.

Best fibre source at grass is soya hulls it slows down the grass going through the the rumen. For energy I'd prefer barley over maize as it is more palatable. So feed up to 3 kg of barley/ hulls split 2/3 barley 1/3 hulls. Although if there is a difference in price of over 50/ ton in buying straight hulls I be Inclined to feed them straight.

Feeding 5-6 kgs to a 650 kg bullock you are replacing 2-3 kgs of grass dry matter with a much more expensive drymatter. Grass DM cost 3-4c / kg compared to rations and nuts costing 20-30c/ kg. The weight gained from this will not be profitable

that bullock is expending energy grazing when the lad that got the meal is lying off in the sun ruminating and chewing his cud!. like everything there is a point of balance. I think the last 6 weeks is time enough to carry it to them. Starting at 2 kg and building up to 4 over first week or so.

Bass Reeves

Willfarman wrote: »

that bullock is expending energy grazing when the lad that got the meal is lying off in the sun ruminating and chewing his cud!. like everything there is a point of balance. I think the last 6 weeks is time enough to carry it to them. Starting at 2 kg and building up to 4 over first week or so.

Agree entirely WF it all about balance but exceeding 3kgs on a 650kg bullock and replacing a kg of grass DM with a KG of ration is not gpoing to increase profitable even if feeding straights not to mind facy bagged nut. When hitting 6kgs/day ration/nut is costing 1.2-1.5 euro/day. You will want 3-400grams of flesh to cover the cost of it or over half a kg extra in LW and that is to break even.

1/2 a kg of barley and hulls max/100kgs LW. You also need to remember that cattle get fussier about grass when on ration and you may need other cattle to clean out paddocks.