finishing cattle using rolled barley + ab lib straw...

Xbrandyx

Member
i have two batches of cattle being fattened on ab lib straw + ab lib hay + rolled barley... + mineral buckets and salt licks

9/10 month old hereford bulls ... to be finished as beef 16 months and under...

and

circa 24 months old hereford steers.... to be taken up to 30 months...

all are receiving 5kg head total of rolled barley split in two feeds morning and afternoon.... what are peoples thoughts???? can i push ether harder or am i pushing too hard????

all comments appreciated!!!!
 
Last edited:

Devon James

Member
Location
Devon
Im in the not weighing cattle enough club! 2016 improvement.
Someone else will give better advice than me, but we put molasses with the barley to improve intakes.
We have crimped barley this year with a protein blend to give a 16% protein mix at 4kgs per day on steers. Protein will come down when get closer to finishing period.
Have you got any silage for the steers?
 
Its not going to take 6 months to finish the steers. We have changed from feeding a finishing cake to rolled barley 2kgs 3 times a day and silage. We sent 10 in two weeks ago and after 8 weeks feed they were finished, this was after being on old common grazing for 6 months. they all killed out R Grade and weighed between 387 and 437kgs, 8 over 400
 
Location
Cleveland
Its not going to take 6 months to finish the steers. We have changed from feeding a finishing cake to rolled barley 2kgs 3 times a day and silage. We sent 10 in two weeks ago and after 8 weeks feed they were finished, this was after being on old common grazing for 6 months. they all killed out R Grade and weighed between 387 and 437kgs, 8 over 400
You've done well getting steers to those weights after only 8 weeks! Must of come in thick and had a bit of age to them?
 
You've done well getting steers to those weights after only 8 weeks! Must of come in thick and had a bit of age to them?
All big framed cattle. They were between 27 and 29 months because that is what fits are system. They get two summers on about 130ha of commons and 50ha of woods which costs nothing and our 120 were the only ones out there this year and probably will be from now on, due to people losing rights. On are system it doesnt pay to finish earlier. I think its easier to put weight on once their over 24 months
 

czechmate

Member
Mixed Farmer
unfortunately I'm not yet at the stage where I'm recording DWGs, I'm an arable man recently diversified into cattle!


I wouldn't dare without scales. Add lib cereal and straw our bulls make circa 2kg/day, but nice to check. However, we don't do heifers as keep for replacements and fatten old cows but, however we found ourselves with 13 heifers we didn't want, so have been feeding them. Hmm, weighed today, 21 days since last weigh, 1 has put on 20 kg's, 1 stayed the same, the other 11, all lost weight:eek:. Wtf?? Must have been raining last time and they were wet or something but nonetheless, dealer will be getting a call in the morning. Just can't tell without scales when you see them all the time:whistle:
 
Location
Cleveland
All big framed cattle. They were between 27 and 29 months because that is what fits are system. They get two summers on about 130ha of commons and 50ha of woods which costs nothing and our 120 were the only ones out there this year and probably will be from now on, due to people losing rights. On are system it doesnt pay to finish earlier. I think its easier to put weight on once their over 24 months
100 % agree, piece of p!ss fattening 28 month old steers
 

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