beef gains ?

[J.T.M.]

Would anyone like to share with me {us}how much gain there cattle get on pasture alone?My pastures are 3 years old and excellant shape.Orchard grass,a noval fescue whos name escapes me at the moment.Alice white clover and birds foot tre foil.I have sheep on the 15 acres , but that may that change soon.I'm looking for alteratives .

[agmantoo]

My cattle get all their gain from the pastures as I feed no grain. The brood cattle remain in good condition and the feeder calves will weigh 500 to 575 lbs. in less than 8 months. I am unsure if this answers your question as I am uncertain exactly what you want to know. My brood cattle have probably put on 200 to 250 lbs in the past 10 weeks with the return of good grass after a major drought in '07.

[J.T.M.]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

My cattle get all their gain from the pastures as I feed no grain. The brood cattle remain in good condition and the feeder calves will weigh 500 to 575 lbs. in less than 8 months. I am unsure if this answers your question as I am uncertain exactly what you want to know. My brood cattle have probably put on 200 to 250 lbs in the past 10 weeks with the return of good grass after a major drought in '07.

Thanks for taking the time.

I'm not sure what I'm asking either.I guess I'm looking for a direction to leed my thoughts.I was thinking about getting a couple of 500 lbers. and see what happens.Not enough land to really get into any thing major,but I hate to see it sit idle.Not interested in putting other peoples animals on it,not interested in plowing it under for corn.

[agmantoo]

The easiest money made with the minimal risk but some labor is to get a few thin cows that may be bred at the auction. If necessary pay a buyer at the sale barn to select the animals. This is money well spent! Bring them home along with a holstein bull big enough to bred and put the "herd" on your acreage. Worm the herd before releasing with a generic ivermectin wormer. Feed them until the grass runs out. As the grass is finished send the entire group back to the sale and have the cows pregnancy checked and sell everything. Get the pasture ready to repeat this again next year.

[francismilker]

Hey agmantoo, why a Holstein bull? Am I missing something here? Is it because they have high birthweights?

[Shagbarkmtcatle]

If you have good pasture with legumes, expect at least 1lb a day.

[francismilker]

In a good year with average rains and temps, we get up to 2lbs. per day on johnson grass and bermuda.

[agmantoo]

the holstein bull will put on more weight in the limited time and will gain more per day for the money spent and the holstein will not cost as much as a beef bull, plus he will be big enough to bred the thin cows. The holstein will also bring more profit when it is sold. The thin cows will put on weight faster bred than open. We are trying to maximize the weight gain and I expect more than two pounds per day gain per animal. We are out to get JTM the best return we can. JTM, read about compensatory gain doing a Google search.

[Shagbarkmtcatle]

Agmantoo,

It's fine with me if you like Holstein's, I didn't ask you about Holstein's, Francismilker did.
But from personal experience, we have in the past purchased Holstein bull calves at the same time we purchased black Angus calves, and this is fact, at the end of the growing season, the Black Angus calves yielded $1.15 per lb with 2lb gain per day.
The Holstein calves yielded $.62 per lb, with 1-1/4lb gain per day. The carcass return is much higher with a beef animal than with a Holstein. The Holsteins do not finish as early and produce loss of bone mass, which is poor return. If you were to sell a calf at a stock yard, Jersey bull or steer would be the lowest price. Holsteins would be close behind. The beef animals far exceed the price of dairy animals except for heifers.
To abtain 2-3 lb per day of weight gain, requires pature mangement. We were tring to give JTM encouragement if he even bought a low quality calf. We expected the MINIMUM gain would be 1lb a day if he bought a Jersey or Holstein calf.

[agmantoo]

Shagbarkmtcatle, I corrected the address issue. Any inconvenience regretted. You are correct with your position with the Angus. I too am an Angus producer and I am aware of the advantages. What I am attempting to promote for JTM is the maximum return with the least effort, least time and the least amount of equipment for his acreage that has existing good forage. I challenge you to present a program that will outperform my suggestion

[Shagbarkmtcatle]

JTM,

Agmantoo suggested that I come up with what might be a better program for your situation.
I would leave the choice of breed up to you but suggest you get the best quality beef breed that you can afford to purchase. Because you will receive the most gain with a quality animal, the best carcass weight return and/or receive the highest market price at sale time.
I strongly do not recommend you purchasing cows from unknown sources because I feel this is a bad investment. The reasons are:
you do not know why the cattle are thin
you do not know why the people are selling them
you do not know if they even will breed, will have breeding problems or what they've been bred to.
you can easily loose cow and calf when buying from an auction because you do not know the bull that was used for breeding.
there are calf-easing bulls with excelled growth rates that you can breed your own animals too if you decide to buy cows which is a safer way
statistics prove that black angus cattle purchased at 350-450 lbs of good genetics will provide the best weight gain and bring the most resale price at the end of the growing season.
Please do not fall for the cheap Holstein or Jersey calf route, it is not a good financial investment. ( unless you are planning on milking)

[J.T.M.]

Thanks people .I like your way of thinking.I talked to a guy today who will lease a bull [black]for $200.00.He does not have the type of females we are talking about here.He is asking $1300.00 each,which I haven't' researched markets or anything yet ,but seems very very high.I have thought about just bailing it and selling the hay.Last year we took one cutting and got 21 big round bails.I'm told by the guy that bailed it that each bail was 1100-1400.Thats a lot of grass if he was correct.For easy math lets say 1000 lbs. Thats about 17 60 lb. sqs.per round.We'll say 20 rounds,at $3.00 per.sq. thats $1020.2nd cutting would be ,what maybe 50% -...thats $1500 for the year.The problem with this is it is not challenging enough for me.And honestly, it is so relaxing watching animals graze.I'm still searching for a direction.