Help with Steers

[iacceptcash]

Here is my situation.. I currently have 4 steers on about 5 acres. My pasture to say the least is suffering from the drought. So right now I am supplementing with coastal hay, and about 3lbs of grain for each animal. I also give a bucket of range cubes about every 3rd day. I have a bucket of free-standing mineral also. The problem is that none of the animals are filling out. Rib bones are not showing, but the hip bones are starting to show a little, and on the steer's right side just under their spine, there is a little area that looks caved in. (What does this mean?) Also, these were not the highest quality to begin with, so that might have something to do with it.

My question is, what can I give them to help them fill out? I am wanting to take the two oldest ones (they are about 10 months old now) to the butcher this fall. Maybe I am giving them the wrong kind of grain now? I am currently giving them sweet feed that I get from my local feed mill. (they call it a finisher) Is it too soon for that? Sorry for the long post, but any help will be apreciated.

[Hammer4]

Have you dewormed them? How much hay per day are you giving them? Figure 3 % of body weight per day.... How old are they? I will use 1000 pounds as an example, 3 percent of that is 30 pounds, for 4 of them that is 120 pounds of hay per day, so 2 and a half 50 pound square bales....

I have bought cattle before from folks that were underfeeding and just didn't know it...it took a good while to get them back in condition. I'm not saying that is what is happening here, but just mentioning that it is easy to do as it's hard to gauge how much food an animal that size needs to maintain body condition.

Look at the ribs on the steers, is the flesh sunk between the ribs? Thin is when the skin is sunken between the ribs. Good condition is you can just barely see the outline of the ribs. Fleshy is when you can't see the ribs at all but can feel them, fat is when you can't even feel ribs.

I would put up some temporary electric fences and keep them off the pasture for a few weeks to let it recover ( 6 inch tall grass ). Then just let them on an acre at a time for a few days, pull them off when the grass gets back down to 3 inches or less. If you graze it to short, the grass really, really, takes a long time to recover. Better to pen them up on a small area and feed hay for a bit while the grass recovers....

We have been suffering from drought here as well, it's been a tough summer. We have less than 8 inches of rain for the year here so far, but we were blessed with 1.3 inches last weekend, thank heavens for that.

[james dilley]

Have you tried feeding forage to them, Its just hay . They need it to be able to feed on.

[Hammer4]

If you want grain finished beef, talk to your feed store and search on the internet, most grain finished beef starts off with the amount you are giving them or close to it, then ramps up over time to quite a few pounds per day of grain.

http://extension.missouri.edu/explor...sci/g02066.htm

[swollen tongue]

every beef cattle has a little sunken in area on each side in that area, even if they are in good shape. I have four steers, angusX,....about 650, 700, 780 and 975 in weight. they have range on 15 acres and in addition I feed each one of them about 10 lbs. of alfalfa hay each day and about 2 lbs. of rolled corn, each. they seem to be gaining and in super condition. I slowly introduced them to alfalfa(first cutting) over a period of 2 weeks, so they could adjust to it. Alfalfa has a high protein content. I don't know what your hay has, but this is important for gain. Sounds like your feeding program is o.k., just give them some more time.