What to feed beef cattle to fatten them up?
Fattening cattle should be fed a mineral supplement. If a high concentrate (grain) ration is fed, a mineral supplement consisting of two parts dicalcium phosphate, two parts limestone, and six parts trace mineralized salt should be fed free choice.
How do you fatten up a bull?
Fattening of bulls requires a quality diet. This means doing high quality hay and having it in your store, making silage, making a concentrate to improve on protein and energy nutrition and also having minerals and vitamin sources that can be bought as premix. Total mixed ration way of feeding is also encouraged.
What is the best feed to fatten cattle?
What is the best feed for fattening cattle? Barley is the best grain for lot feeding cattle, but wheat, triticale, sorghum, maize, and oats can be used. Oats is not an ideal grain on its own for cattle fattening but can be used with any of the other grains. Hay or silage could be used as the roughage source.
What is the best weight to slaughter a steer?
In 4-H Market Steer Project 18 Page 4 general, taller, larger-framed animals tend to finish at heavier weights—sometimes too heavy to fall into the preferred weight range of 1100 to 1350 pounds when ideally finished. Likewise, short, small-framed steers may be ideally finished at less than 1100 pounds.
How long does it take to fatten a steer?
The amount of time on feed can vary from 60-150 days. For a backyard steer, 90 days on grain should be sufficient. The grain component will help him gain faster and change the flavor of the beef to more closely match what is purchased in the grocery store.
How much grain should I feed my beef cattle?
10-15 lbs. per day of corn, oats or barley fed to grazing cattle is a good finishing ration. This fed to a 900-1000 pound steer for 3-4 months should will you a nicely finished animal. If you do not have access to pasture or if you are finishing during the winter, you might increase the amount of grain to 15-18 lbs.
What is the best protein for cattle?
Damaged or discolored soybeans can be used as a protein source for cattle. Soybeans can be a good protein source for cows and can be used in developing heifers as well as growing and finishing rations. Soybeans are typically about 40% crude protein and 20% fat.
How do you feed beef cattle?
Be prepared for big appetites. Beef cattle can consume up to 3 percent of their body weight a day in dry feed. Provide your beef cattle with forage to keep their digestive systems functioning correctly. You can meet your animal’s forage requirements by letting them graze pasture or feeding them dried, harvested hay.
What is a feeder calf?
A feeder calf is a young cow that is raised until it’s 6 to 9 months old and then transported to a feedlot .
What are cattle feed?
When an animal eats forage, it means the animal grazes on grass in a pasture or field or eats some kind of preserved forage such as hay, silage or haylage. Cattle feed comes in three forms (or combination of the forms): Pelletized cattle feed has the ingredients milled and formed into pellets.