6-8 weeks before "freezer camp". What do I do?

[KnowOneSpecial]

I have a Holsten steer that's going to be going off to the butcher in mid-November. He'll be 18 months in October. Right now he's on a good pasture and has started to fill out nicely.

What do I feed him these last few weeks? Do I take him off the pasture?

Thanks!

[genebo]

If he's doing well on pasture, you don't NEED to put him on grain to fatten him up. There are many reasons to keep him on pasture, and some to put him on grain.

First is the taste issue. Most of us were raised on store-bought, grain-fed beef. That's the taste we're adapted to.

Second is the fat issue. Grain builds fat in the meat and gives it the flavor we're accustomed to. It is also the part of beef that your doctor doesn't want you eating.

Then there's the Omega 3, Omega 6 issue. Grains are higher in Omega 6 fatty acids. Your steer has a good Omega 3-to-6 ratio from being on grass. That will change as you feed him grain.

Lean-versus-marbled enters into it. Lean beef is what we all claim to want, when in fact the fat makes it a little easier to chew and easier to cook. Lean meat is easy to dry out in cooking, while fatty, marbled meat is more forgiving.

Then there's the question of whether switching him to grain at this late date will do any good. As soon as you start him on grain, his rumen will be out of kilter for a while. He may lightly scour and lose weight for a time. Can you recover the losses and get ahead in the time left?

And it costs more to feed grain. You'll be taking him off of your pasture, which is pretty much paid for, and buying a large quantity of grain, at prices that have jumped a lot lately.

The butcher can have more to do with the final quality of the meat than you did. He has to be killed humanely, without a lot of stress, and then dry aged by "hanging" the meat for around 14 days. The amount of fat cover (that on the outside of the meat) will determine how long he can be hung. He needs enough to go 14 days. More is not better. If he looks sleek, no ribs showing, and the meat on each side of his tail head yields to thumb pressure, he's OK.

Did you know that the USDA grades for beef are simply a measure of how much fat is in the meat? Prime beef has the most fat. It tastes the best and will kill you the quickest.

I hope you have gotten something out of this to help you make up your mind. Too often, the decision is made because "That's the way I was told it's done!"

[lakeportfarms]

It may be a little late, and our grass in Michigan is pretty much done growing for the year, but if you have the time, and available fresh pasture, you may consider doing mob or management intensive grazing. Give him (with your other cows if you have them) fresh grass in the pasture every day, even twice a day (morning and late afternoon) and it will stimulate them to eat, more than they would otherwise.

We would run 20 or so head into a 6 foot by 200 foot strip twice per day, closing up with a back fence from where they were at couple of days before to keep the lane about 20 feet wide. We have some FAT cows from doing this during the summer! We would set three or four lines up ahead of time so it only required a 5-10 minute move twice a day, and about 30 minutes every few days to set up the future lanes.

We were able to keep about 50-75% more cattle on our acreage than we otherwise would have, and even have some grass stockpiled to give them grazing even later into the fall than normal.

[sammyd]

we leave ours on pasture or hay depending on how the grass looks. We feed 4-6 pound of grain a day till the end. Don't do anything different to "finish" and always had good stuff, no complaints from anyone we've sold to.