# Finishing calves



## Rob30 (Nov 2, 2004)

I just sent two calves, one holstien one jersey. I had to turn them into hamburger because they had no finish. My goal is to do grass fed at some point, but I could not get these guys finished with about 5 lbs of whole corn and unlimited hay. The calves were 18 months and 24 months and were bottle calves. 
Our next calves to butcher will be a 2yr angus and a 1yr highland welsh black cross. These guys were raised by their mothers and are on grass now. I think they will do much better, but I want to make sure. 
Any suggestions?


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## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

To me, finished means grain fed and 5 lbs of corn is nowhere near what you need to finish out a 1 1/2 to 2 year old steer. Grass-fed is a whole nother animal and I never had any use for it, but I don't want to get into that debate.:lookout:


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

ksfarmer said:


> To me, finished means grain fed and 5 lbs of corn is nowhere near what you need to finish out a 1 1/2 to 2 year old steer. Grass-fed is a whole nother animal and I never had any use for it, but I don't want to get into that debate.:lookout:


What he said. For a steer to finish on grass they have to frame up first. They will put all effort into growing their frame first and will not start to fatten until they have created the frame to hang it on.

You either need more time, or more grain.


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## Curtis B (Aug 15, 2008)

I was thinking about asking something simlar. My question was though the difference between gaining through carbs(corn), and gaining through protein(possibly alfalfa). I was thinking corn would put on more fat, and the alfalfa might put on "meat". Am I wrong in my thinking?


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## bruce2288 (Jul 10, 2009)

rob, your 2 year old angus should finish well as he has probably about reached full growth. The year old probably still growing and will be harder. A finishing critter will eat between 20 and 30 lbs of corn per day depending on the size. That is the easy way to get well marbled beef. If you plan on finishing on grass, you need extremely high quality pasture, grass with adequate protein and high sugar content. Just any old cow pasture will NOT put a good finish on a steer. Curtis, yyou are right to a degree. Lower energy-higher protein rations will promote growth and less fat, but excess protein in a ration will be metaboized to an energy scource or excreted. Extra enegy in a ratiion will be stored as fat.


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## Gregg Alexander (Feb 18, 2007)

You didn't state how good your pasture was. 5 lbs of corn per hd per day is not enough. Stien and Jersey will take a long time to finish on pasture. 
Don't know any thing about a highland but your angus should finish out good at 1 1/2 to 2 yr old. But must have very good pasture to graze on 247 the entire finishing period.


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## Rob30 (Nov 2, 2004)

Our pastures vary in condition. I am hoping the spring flush of grass will help. We are thinking of adding more grain until we can get more experience with grass finishing. Our new plan consists of setting up a creep for the steers so they have access to grain as well as fresh pasture.
How long do you usually finish your steers? I am thinking finishing on corn will take care of the energy. The fresh young pasture will take care of the protein. 
A local co-op offers a new product called golden beef. It is made up of 12 month old steers finished off grass.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Rob, I prefer to raise them to 18-24 months on grass and then finish full feed ground ear corn for 60 to 90 days while still on grass.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

I'm with tinknal. Let them get to full frame size or 14-16 months old and then gradually get them to full feed. Once they're on full feed for 60-90 days they'll add some finish fat. The way I decide when an animal is finished for the most part is to look at what's left of their scrotum and see when it begins to fill up with fat deposits. When they begin to look like they're growing a new "pair" they're ready for the freezer. It's just harder to do with dairy bred critters.


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

We've only "finished" our dairy steers once. We used Tend-r-leen and whole shell corn for a few months before butchering since hay was hard to find and corn was cheap then.

Otherwise we feed 4-6 pounds of a 14 or 16% grain twice a day along with pasture or free choice hay (depending on the season) and have never been disappointed or heard complaints with any of the animals we have had processed.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

There's another name for Tend-r-lean feeding but I forget it ATM. Don't they have to start very young to be able to maximise the corn? How much shell corn were you feeding Sammy? I know you can feed whole corn to sheep no problem but on pastured cattle we always used cracked corn. A good 25 pounds anyhow....I fed more than that to my holstein steer.


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

We fed better than 20 pounds a head. Tend-R-Leen calls for whole shell corn rather than cracked. Once the pellet starts working their rumen acts more like a pigs stomach and it digests everything pretty well.
We had them on a small pasture so we used the pellet that allowed for a couple of pounds of roughage along with the corn, there is a different pellet if you have them in a lot with no access to grass or hay.

Tend-R-Leen recommends you start with calves and run their whole program but I didn't discover it until they were a couple of months out from butchering. We ramped them up over a couple of weeks. They ended up very tasty and tender.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Has anyone used the tenderlean on a full beef bred steer? If so, what was your rate of daily gain?


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Are you guys saying you need 20 lbs of corn A DAY for 2-3 months to finish a steer? I was feeding about a 1/2 gallon thinking I was helping my steer.....I don't want to butcher until later in the summer. How much corn a day per steer? Mine is jersey- 15 months old. He also gets regular grain and grass not much alfalfa in it right now.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Callieslamb said:


> Are you guys saying you need 20 lbs of corn A DAY for 2-3 months to finish a steer? I was feeding about a 1/2 gallon thinking I was helping my steer.....I don't want to butcher until later in the summer. How much corn a day per steer? Mine is jersey- 15 months old. He also gets regular grain and grass not much alfalfa in it right now.


A Jersey will not take as much as other dairy breeds. See if your mill can make ground cob meal, they self regulate better than straight corn.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

tinknal said:


> A Jersey will not take as much as other dairy breeds. See if your mill can make ground cob meal, they self regulate better than straight corn.


I am not sure if my mill has cobs to grind, most of the corn here is harvested without the cobs. Why would I want to feed corn cobs? Self-regulate as to how much they eat? sorry, the 20 lbs a DAY kind of stumped me, especially over that amount of time.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

> Self-regulate as to how much they eat? sorry, the 20 lbs a DAY kind of stumped me, especially over that amount of time.


Finishing a lamb as a fatty would take 2 pounds+ per day and a steer is easily 10X bigger.... and not as efficient at converting grain to gain as ovines in general.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Callieslamb said:


> I am not sure if my mill has cobs to grind, most of the corn here is harvested without the cobs. Why would I want to feed corn cobs? Self-regulate as to how much they eat? sorry, the 20 lbs a DAY kind of stumped me, especially over that amount of time.


" Ground cob meal" is ground ear corn. Sorry, I could have been clearer on that. Your mill won't have it but if you can find a farmer who still picks corn on the ear you can buy it and have the mill grind it.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I think I had best start buying LOTS of corn....no matter what kind it is.


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## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

Ross said:


> There's another name for Tend-r-lean feeding but I forget it ATM. Don't they have to start very young to be able to maximise the corn? How much shell corn were you feeding Sammy? I know you can feed whole corn to sheep no problem but on pastured cattle we always used cracked corn. A good 25 pounds anyhow....I fed more than that to my holstein steer.


Lean-R-Beef was the last one we used.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

DaleK said:


> Lean-R-Beef was the last one we used.


Yeah that's it. I have a nice red angus/holstein heifer I'm ramping up the corn for. She'll go up to 15 pounds from 12 tomorrow, then up to 20 next week. Corn screenings with some red dog in it so we'll level off at 30 lbs


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## farmmaid (Jan 13, 2003)

We raise a Jersey steer every year. We butcher at 18 months, the first part of October. They will have been on pasture, then on long stem hay and hubby picks sweet corn that has gone past selling, to feed for @6 weeks. The steer gets a 5 gallon pail of ears per day.........the best beef you will ever taste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

What do they weigh after 18 months? We've finally got enough pasture growing good here to go pick up a Jersey steer.


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