Finishing an 18 month steer

[NewbieCowMan]

Hello,

I have an 18 month Angus steer. He has been on pasture his whole life. I want to have him butchered, but I know that I need to put him on grain for a while in order to improve the quality of the meat. Could someone please tell me what he needs to be fed and for how long?

Thanks a bunch!

NewbieCowMan

[Rhodie]

What is your steers present condition score, and where are you? The type of feed available will depend on where you live; UK= barley based feed. USA= corn (maize) based feed.

[NewbieCowMan]

I am in the Southeastern United States. We have corn. How much do I feed? Should I just free-feed him off the start or should I just start with a little corn and increase it gradually? Anything other than corn?

Thanks,

NewbieCowMan

[NewbieCowMan]

I have been feeding him corn, but he seems to like the sweet 10 feed that I give him alot better. If I need to feed him corn, is there anything that I can add to the corn to make it more palatable?

Thanks for your help in advance!

[joncowcare]

Hi Newbie,
The classic 'old'school' sweetener Molasses should do here.
No need to use it by the ton as a little goes a long way !
You also might like to consider Sugar beet pulp but be aware that with both of these less is better than more.
Good luck !
Jon

[NewbieCowMan]

Jon,

Should I start off free-feeding him the corn or should I start him on it gradually? I noticed that his bowels are pretty loose.

Thanks

[joncowcare]

Hi Newbie,
As with any new feed you are quite right, start off with small amounts and build up.
There's a lot of loose bowels around, this can be too much grass [if on pasture] or one of several ailments, always take temperature and take a good look at your cows, if they seem well otherwise no need to worry.
Try and learn the difference between a disease-type scour and grass scours, any disease scour will smell really foul.
Good luck !
Jon

[NewbieCowMan]

Can you give me exact amounts to feed? I talked to a man today and he said that I should start out with 5 pounds of corn/day and increase to a maximum of 14 pounds/day. This doesn't seem like enough to me. However, he said that if I feed him too much he can get acidocis (sp?) or could even die.

Thanks for your help!

[hscsalers]

We use a 50% corn glutten X 50% cracked corn feed to finish them with. It does really well. We leave them on this about 90 days alot of times around 70 or so and then take them to slaughter. I question why you have waited so long to have this steer slaughtered? You are aware that usually the older the animal the more like shoe leather the meat is going to taste and have that consistancy. We take ours off at close to 12 months old.