Finishing Fr Bullocks

270WIN

Hi all..I have a few 2yo BR Friesian bullocks on good grass. I was hoping to kill them in 6 weeks time..mid June. Would 2kg a head of rolled barley be enough to see them over the line? They are about 600 kg and square enough.

Willfarman

Yes for a start for a fortnight but increase after that a kilo a week till on 5 or 6 kilos. Assuming they are the proper square butty type british friesian they’ll lay down flesh quickly.

Bass Reeves

I never go beyond 500grams/ 100 kgs when feeding this time of year especially with friesians. When you go above that you reduce grass intake kg for kg of dry matter. Grass is costing 4-8c/kg of dry matter this time of year while ration is costing 35c/ kg. If they square and butty put them on 3 kgs from the start barley or maize and hulls would be better but it is all price related as if you add hulls you will have to buy bulk. You will be amazed after two weeks the way they take off if on good grass. They will do 1.5kgs+/ day. You only want them FS 3 at slaughter.

Cavanjack

270WIN wrote: »

Hi all..I have a few 2yo BR Friesian bullocks on good grass. I was hoping to kill them in 6 weeks time..mid June. Would 2kg a head of rolled barley be enough to see them over the line? They are about 600 kg and square enough.

When will they be 30 months?

270WIN

Cavanjack wrote: »

When will they be 30 months?

30 months in late july/early august. They were on no meal over the winter on goodish silage. They have turned inside out since they went out on grass early march. They would be br fr crosses with Holstein i suppose, but they are fine square bullocks. There is only 10 of them there so buying in bulk is not worth my while.

weatherbyfoxer

all depends on grass quality thats available..if you rotating them onto a fresh paddock of decent 8-10cm at least once a week i wouldnt bother but if there standing in the same field for weeks on end 6 weeks of a few kilos of meal could make a world of diffrence

270WIN

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

all depends on grass quality thats available..if you rotating them onto a fresh paddock of decent 8-10cm at least once a week i wouldnt bother but if there standing in the same field for weeks on end 6 weeks of a few kilos of meal could make a world of diffrence

They are being moved around to good grass..thats what i was wondering..is meal a waste on them...im new to finishing bullocks and im kinda afraid to chance killing them without a bit of meal

Cavanjack

270WIN wrote: »

30 months in late july/early august. They were on no meal over the winter on goodish silage. They have turned inside out since they went out on grass early march. They would be br fr crosses with Holstein i suppose, but they are fine square bullocks. There is only 10 of them there so buying in bulk is not worth my while.

I wouldn’t start feeding them until the 1st June and get them away just before they are 30 months as they are light yet. Some will say the price will be higher in June but who knows.
If you need the land for something else then a few kg a day from now till June would help put a finish on them ok.

270WIN

Cavanjack wrote: »

I wouldn’t start feeding them until the 1st June and get them away just before they are 30 months as they are light yet. Some will say the price will be higher in June but who knows.
If you need the land for something else then a few kg a day from now till June would help put a finish on them ok.

I need the fields for calves and a few bales of silage.

QA1

270WIN wrote: »

Hi all..I have a few 2yo BR Friesian bullocks on good grass. I was hoping to kill them in 6 weeks time..mid June. Would 2kg a head of rolled barley be enough to see them over the line? They are about 600 kg and square enough.

how about maize meal on its own 2 kgs around e 225 bulk price good job on grass some beet pulp with it if you wanted

Bass Reeves

If you feed for 6-8 week you should get them all into FS3 . Maize by itself is often not very palatable and cattle will often not clean trough's completely. Like Cavanjack I am not sure if we will get the normal May/June bounce this year and cattle may be tight in July. However like OP I will need to slaughter in June so I am starting to feed this weekend.

grassroot1

Bass Reeves wrote: »

If you feed for 6-8 week you should get them all into FS3 . Maize by itself is often not very palatable and cattle will often not clean trough's completely. Like Cavanjack I am not sure if we will get the normal May/June bounce this year and cattle may be tight in July. However like OP I will need to slaughter in June so I am starting to feed this weekend.

Will meal lift kill out?

Bass Reeves

grassroot1 wrote: »

Will meal lift kill out?

Yes it will but after 500 grams/100kgs cattle replace grass DM with ration DM so the economics get a bit skewed. With Friesians you feed to achieve a FS of 3 and hope as well that it will lift cattle a grade from to O- to O= or from P+ to O-.
The economics of feeding beyond that means you would want all cattle hitting QA which will not happen. Friesians convert very poorly so it is a tight process feeding ration. I find this works in the spring/summer for my system if it was Autumn I would take them to at least 5kgs