Finishing beef

55deere70 · Jan 27, 2013

We have been finishing our beef on grass Pasture all summer before slaughter in the fall. Thinking about trying finishing them on some grain. Any suggestions on type of feed, how much/lb., and how long?

LorenMN · Jan 28, 2013

I feed ground ear corn now, but before that I fed ground shelled corn and also ground corn & oats. I grind the feed myself and add a mineral & protein supplement to the mix. We butcher in mid-Feb., so I start feeding them a little feed around Labor Day while they're on pasture, and slowly bump up their feed until they're at 20 lbs/day each by Thanksgiving. Then I fill the steer stuffer and it's all they can eat from then on for 3 months. They still have pasture access to move around as they want, and I have straight alfalfa hay available too, but they don't eat much of that. Mine are Lowline black angus, and finish around 280lb per hanging half at about 20 months age.

hayray · Jan 29, 2013

There are alot of different ways to finish out beef all with the same end result but just different time frames on how long to get there. The final finish just needs to be on them such as flat over the back, fat around the tail head. I now just pasture and hay finish and it takes about 20-24 months. I used to feed corn and ended up feeding around 20% the total ration was corn figuring that total feed intake on a day is around 3% of dry matter intake. So maybe around 5-10 lbs. per head per day of grain with a high protein hay. If feeding low quality hay then add a small amount of protein to corn such as soybean meal or pellets but get direction on proper mixing percentages before doing this on your own so you don't damage the cattle with too much protein.

TomA in CA · Jan 29, 2013

We have a shorthorn/angus steer we plan on feeding out as soon as the feed dries up in May, he will be about 15 mos. then. We don" want to take any chances on GMO"s so we plan on feeding oats and barley.

Dalet · Jan 30, 2013

GMO's aren't anything to worry about feeding an animal you are going to eat. I would definitely prefer an animal that tastes good after all the work of feeding it. The barley and oats are for you to stay healthy, give the bovine the corn!

Dean Olson · Feb 8, 2013

Back in the day we put our butcher steer in a 10x10' box stall and
grain fed for about 30 days. They got minimal exercise and as
much grain as they would eat. Mostly cracked corn & some hay.

To this day the best beef I've ever had.

Seems real hard to get good flavorful tender beef here in TX.

Scott(MO) · Feb 8, 2013

What kind of recipe do you have for your earn corn mix for say 600lbs steers? What percent supplement & mineral do you mix in with ground ear corn. I have included my email address.Thanks.

Scott

Finishing beef

55deere70

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LorenMN

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hayray

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TomA in CA

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Dalet

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Dean Olson

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Scott(MO)

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