Thinking about beef...So...lets talk about my steers

[Cheryl aka JM]

So the calves are about a year old now~ give or take a week. One of the steers is a Holstein, the other is what we believe to be a Jersey/Holstein cross. Not sure on their weights. Not small~ but not huge either. They don't get any grain at all right now~ all hay all winter. Starting to green up out there~ but mostly they are still on all hay.

We LIKE some fat on our beef~ We've never butchered our own beef before~ and the last time either of us had "home raised" beef was when we were young children and we don't have any memories of it being better or worse than grocery store beef. But we do KNOW we like nice marbling in our grocery store beef.

So~ looking at my steers and thinking I'd like to eat one........soon........and eat the other when we run out of meat from the first (family of 5 and we eat a lot of meat)...

What is my best next step to take to get which one of the steers ready to send to the processor? ~lets not have a grass vs grain debate please~ just give me YOUR OPINION on how you would proceed from this point if you were me and respect that others OPINIONS may not be the same as yours.

THANKS for the help!!!

[agmantoo]

Well, you have fed them expensive feed all Winter and the cheap feed is now growing in the pasture. Additionally you want to process one for meat now. To me there is not a lot to convince me that now is the time. Either animal should put on a minimum of 2 lbs per day until the grass is exhausted. You actually should see a jump in gain as they go onto the fresh grass as long as the grass is plentiful. For me, I would wait until you cease to have an abundance of forage before slaughter in order to get the weight on them. The yield will be a lot higher as they approach 18 months of age.

[tyusclan]

I'd let them eat all the grass they can eat and gain all the weight they'll gain for the next 5 months. I would then pen them up (somewhere around mid-September) and feed them a high quality cattle finishing feed for 30-45 days, and butcher them both and put them in the freezer.

Dairy breeds make very good beef, but they generally do not marble very well on grass alone.

[Cheryl aka JM]

well I was expecting that I would be looking at 3 to 6 months more before the actual beef......but I'm THINKING about beef~ so looking for the best plan to get them ready to be beef! I figure if I ask NOW I won't later find out what I SHOULD have done NOW to get ready.
Thanks Guys~ appreciate the help

[tinknal]

Can you separate them? I would work one immediately to full feed grain (while on grass) and slaughter in 90 days. The second one I would start on 10 lbs or so of grain (on grass) and work them up to full feed grain (on grass) 60 days before the grass runs out, then slaughter at the end of the season. Full feed grass plus full feed grain really does give you the best of both worlds as far as taste, marbling, and tenderness is concerned.

[KSALguy]

well first of all what kind of pasture do you have available for them right now? how much grass/clover do you have, is it growing well? depending on whats in your pasture and how big the pasture is will decide what you can actually do,

i am farther south and the clover and Rye and other cool season grass along the road side and other waist areas are doing great but the actual pasture grass in most places are still relatively dormant, if you have the space with good forage put them on it and let them work it over but i would prolly suppliment with SOME grain because you want the marbling and dairy doesnt marble as well as beef,

[BlackWillowFarm]

We butchered our Jersey at 16 months old. That was in December. She was on hay and about 4 lbs of grain a day. I grained her twice a day, 2lbs each time. The grain was 16% dairy that I feed my milk cow.

The meat is tender and well marbled but not overly fat. The heifer (freemartin) was raised on pasture/hay and a little bit of grain for all of her 16 months. She also was nursing on the cow until she was 6 months old. I don't know what effect nursing had on the finished product, if any.

We weren't planning on butchering her until this fall, but it worked out to have her done early. I'm not disappointed at all. Very good meat.

Bought a 3 month Jersey bull calf to do it again. He'll go next fall after the grass is done and the freezer is empty.

[bruce2288]

This what I would do if I wanted grain fed beef in 3 months. Sort off the crossbred and start feeding him corn say 4 lbs a day increase by 1/2 lb every other day. Until he is getting all he wants. Also offer free choice hay or grass, if grass i would still give him some access to some sort of roughage bale. new growth grass is short on undigestible roughage which he will need with the high corn ration. Depending on how big this steer is he may get to eating over 20lbs/day. The holstein will continue to grow on pasture. About 90-120 days before you want to eat him repeat the procedure. I would be cautious about feeding grain if you are trying to get gain on forages. Grain decreases the calfs ability to digest forages. I would keep any grain fed to cattle on grass to under 3 lbs. Research shows either feed very small amounts of grain or make it the majority of the ration, in between may actually decrease gain. I personally would not try to start to finish the holstein until he weighs at least 1000 lbs. The closer the steer is to mature growth the easier it is to getting marbling. Good luck and good eating. you can send my T-bones by UPS. grin

[TSYORK]

Would you be willing to post a picture of the Jersey Holstein cross? I've got one too, but I don't know if he's conditioned well enough. I wanted to compare to another.

Thanks,

Originally Posted by Cheryl aka JM

So the calves are about a year old now~ give or take a week. One of the steers is a Holstein, the other is what we believe to be a Jersey/Holstein cross. Not sure on their weights. Not small~ but not huge either. They don't get any grain at all right now~ all hay all winter. Starting to green up out there~ but mostly they are still on all hay.

We LIKE some fat on our beef~ We've never butchered our own beef before~ and the last time either of us had "home raised" beef was when we were young children and we don't have any memories of it being better or worse than grocery store beef. But we do KNOW we like nice marbling in our grocery store beef.

So~ looking at my steers and thinking I'd like to eat one........soon........and eat the other when we run out of meat from the first (family of 5 and we eat a lot of meat)...

What is my best next step to take to get which one of the steers ready to send to the processor? ~lets not have a grass vs grain debate please~ just give me YOUR OPINION on how you would proceed from this point if you were me and respect that others OPINIONS may not be the same as yours.

THANKS for the help!!!

[Cheryl aka JM]

I'll try to get a new pic this afternoon. Don't know if he is well conditioned or not.....But they all look pretty much the same....the Holstien is taller.

I do not have good forage in the pasture yet. About like you describe Ksalguy~ green in the gutters brown in the pastures still. Supposed to get the pasture fertilized soon (hopefully the guy is coming out tomorrow)

In a few more weeks when everything greens up I might be able to seperate off the steers. Right now though I only have two of the big round hay bales left and I'm hoping to save them for feeding the horses during the spring growth that may cause founder (or at least thats what my Farrier just told me)

[Gregg Alexander]

You can finish them out next fall on shell corn and supplement for about 30-40 days. That will put some fat on them. Summer grass is the cheapest gain you can get. If on good pasture (plenty of rain) they should gain around 2 # per day figure 140 days at 2 # = 280 pounds gain on pasture. Now the Holstein will not marble out good until around 18-24 months old should be weighing in the nabor hood of 2000#, Jersey cross will marble out at around 1200 # and 14-18 months

[Cheryl aka JM]

Okay~ I did some more reading......and it looks like we are talking a LOT of grain to grain finish a steer. A LOT. A WHOLE LOT! 25lbs a DAY for MONTHS! So......I'm looking more into grass finishing now. My pocketbook can't afford grain finished beef. Maybe I'll look at doing a little grain the last month to add some bit of fat......but not 25lbs a day for months!

Anyway. I got the pics so y'all can tell me if the steers are looking right (and to show them to TSYORK). I had been thinking I should do the Holstein first but from what y'all are saying I should be looking at the one we believe to be a Jersey/Holstein cross first right? The end of summer sound right for him?

Here is the one we believe is a Jersey/Holstein cross. He is the one in back (thats one of the heifers we think is Jersey/Holstein in front)


Of course the only close up I could get him to agree to was behind a tight woven fence~ but you can see him better


and for reference here is a pic of the Holstein next to our other Jersey/Holstein heifer (these two are my cookie monsters so it's easy to get good pics of them......they are always in my pocket looking for a cookie!)


So what do y'all think? Fleshed out over the winter okay? They are just about a year old give or take a week. I'm thinking the Jersey/Holstien steer at the end of summer and the Holstein at the end of next summer. Sound like a plan? That really tiny calf behind them is a steer too......I'm gonna make another post to ask about him.....I don't think he is growing right.

[Gregg Alexander]

From the pictures they look fleshy enough when spring grass hits its stride they will be ready to put on the pounds. When I am finishing a calf out , will give it all the free choice hay it wants and about 10 pounds of grain per day , water ,salt& mineral , and pasture as well. Works for me and I am in west central alabama