Fattening beef cattle

[The Kernel]

Hi. I've got 70 hereford crosses mixed with a few Belgium blues and sims still out at grass, due to me finishing there shed off, but I will be fetching them in, in two days time.
I've only ever sold as stores before, so it's my first time fattening. I'm after some tips on how to get them up to ad lib corn and spuds safely. I've got oats barley and spuds available to me.
The reason I was thinking ad lib was because I'm already carrying silly amounts of buckets of corn for the younger cattle and still bedding by hand, there is also another 70 big cattle out on turnips and kale to come in after Christmas for fattening.
I thought oats might be good for starting them on corn but don't know what amount I might get away with plus the husk might keep the s##t drier if there a big tub of spuds to go at. Got plenty of silage as we'll.
Sorry for long post but any help would be useful as I may be a little out of my depth at the mo. I will reply later when I can but big push today to finish feed fence, if I'm on my iPad all day the lads might give me angry looks.

 

[Chae1]

What country are you in?

Corn and oats? Same thing.

 

[czechmate]

What country are you in?

Corn and oats? Same thing.

I think corn = cereals?
He has oats and barley (as corn).
I would of thought start off (slowly) with a mix of barley and oats rather than pure oats just to change later?

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Hi. I've got 70 hereford crosses mixed with a few Belgium blues and sims still out at grass, due to me finishing there shed off, but I will be fetching them in, in two days time.
I've only ever sold as stores before, so it's my first time fattening. I'm after some tips on how to get them up to ad lib corn and spuds safely. I've got oats barley and spuds available to me.
The reason I was thinking ad lib was because I'm already carrying silly amounts of buckets of corn for the younger cattle and still bedding by hand, there is also another 70 big cattle out on turnips and kale to come in after Christmas for fattening.
I thought oats might be good for starting them on corn but don't know what amount I might get away with plus the husk might keep the s##t drier if there a big tub of spuds to go at. Got plenty of silage as we'll.
Sorry for long post but any help would be useful as I may be a little out of my depth at the mo. I will reply later when I can but big push today to finish feed fence, if I'm on my iPad all day the lads might give me angry looks.

If they’re big enough to finish now forget the oats...get them on barley and protein...take your time getting them onto the ad-lib barley and you’ll be fine

 

[yellowbelly]

Barley, oats and potatoes are all high carbohydrate sources - what are you using for protein?
How will you feed the potatoes? Beware of the choking risk.

 

[czechmate]

If they’re big enough to finish now forget the oats...get them on barley and protein...take your time getting them onto the ad-lib barley and you’ll be fine

You know better than I but I like to add something like oats rather than pure barley for safety/insurance?

 

[Northeastfarmer]

You know better than I but I like to add something like oats rather than pure barley for safety/insurance?

You can add oats or SB for the fibre to the barley till they’re safely onto the barley yes...but once safely onto it, it’s optional

 

[Ocm-1994]

Hi. I've got 70 hereford crosses mixed with a few Belgium blues and sims still out at grass, due to me finishing there shed off, but I will be fetching them in, in two days time.
I've only ever sold as stores before, so it's my first time fattening. I'm after some tips on how to get them up to ad lib corn and spuds safely. I've got oats barley and spuds available to me.
The reason I was thinking ad lib was because I'm already carrying silly amounts of buckets of corn for the younger cattle and still bedding by hand, there is also another 70 big cattle out on turnips and kale to come in after Christmas for fattening.
I thought oats might be good for starting them on corn but don't know what amount I might get away with plus the husk might keep the s##t drier if there a big tub of spuds to go at. Got plenty of silage as we'll.
Sorry for long post but any help would be useful as I may be a little out of my depth at the mo. I will reply later when I can but big push today to finish feed fence, if I'm on my iPad all day the lads might give me angry looks.

Used to work on a beef finishing unit buying big framed stores out of wales and down country. We finished roughly 3000 a year with the cattle only on for the farm 3-4 months before sent to kill. A simple way we used to use was feed a 90% soya Hull 10% barley for the first day gradually increasing the mix to 100% barley over a 14 day period. The cattle responded well as the soya hull is basically a shell which acts as a fibre source balancing the diet. Once we had the cattle on adlib they received nothing else but the rolled barley mix. Usually flew with only the odd case of acidosis if a mix was too rich in barley at a early stage. Not too sure on the price of soya hulls but I'm sure they weren't dear. LWG generally fluctuated between 1.6-1.8kg and the majority of stores were in the 550-650kg bracket. Good luck whatever u decide to do!

 

[The Kernel]

Barley, oats and potatoes are all high carbohydrate sources - what are you using for protein?
How will you feed the potatoes? Beware of the choking risk.

I had my silage analysis back and it said my silage was 15% protein I was thinking this might be enough that was second cut! haven!to had my third cut tested though. All silage is in quite dry round bales.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

I had my silage analysis back and it said my silage was 15% protein I was thinking this might be enough that was second cut! haven!to had my third cut tested though. All silage is in quite dry round bales.

You can certainly fatten cattle on silage..... but you can’t finish them on it

 

[The Kernel]

Used to work on a beef finishing unit buying big framed stores out of wales and down country. We finished roughly 3000 a year with the cattle only on for the farm 3-4 months before sent to kill. A simple way we used to use was feed a 90% soya Hull 10% barley for the first day gradually increasing the mix to 100% barley over a 14 day period. The cattle responded well as the soya hull is basically a shell which acts as a fibre source balancing the diet. Once we had the cattle on adlib they received nothing else but the rolled barley mix. Usually flew with only the odd case of acidosis if a mix was too rich in barley at a early stage. Not too sure on the price of soya hulls but I'm sure they weren't dear. LWG generally fluctuated between 1.6-1.8kg and the majority of stores were in the 550-650kg bracket. Good luck whatever u decide to do!

Hi. Was this 90% soya hull and rolled barley ration straight in an ad lib hopper slower decreasing the percentage of soya hulls every time you filled the hopper.

 

[The Kernel]

You can certainly fatten cattle on silage..... but you can’t finish them on it

No I meant would that not be good enough as a protein source or would I still need somthing mixed with the barley

 

[czechmate]

No I meant would that not be good enough as a protein source or would I still need somthing mixed with the barley

We buy a pellet mixer and use circa 20%. Yes it's annoying buying in when you grow but...

 

[czechmate]

Hi. Was this 90% soya hull and rolled barley ration straight in an ad lib hopper slower decreasing the percentage of soya hulls every time you filled the hopper.

You can't go straight ad lib, I am lucky, my wife has the patience to do the building up

 

[yellowbelly]

No I meant would that not be good enough as a protein source or would I still need somthing mixed with the barley

IMHO, you need a bit of something to lift the barley to 13-14%, maybe soya or as @czechmate says a balancer pellet

 

[Roy_H]

Barley, oats and potatoes are all high carbohydrate sources - what are you using for protein?
How will you feed the potatoes? Beware of the choking risk.

Yes potatoes should ideally be chopped.

 

[The Kernel]

Yes potatoes should ideally be chopped.

Would you have to introduce potatoes steadily

 

[Roy_H]

Would you have to introduce potatoes steadily

Definitely

 

[The Kernel]

Definitely

To mix all this feed and introduce it slowly, sounds like the only way is a mixer wagon. How do people go on when they are constantly buying fresh stores each week for fattening.

 

[tinsheet]

You can certainly fatten cattle on silage..... but you can’t finish them on it

Yes you can, neighbour has 200 sucklers, finishing everything at 2 year old on red clover silage
Never say never!