# Does anyone dry lot beef steers?



## AshleyFishy (Feb 18, 2014)

My husband *really* wants me to do a beef steer...

I've had cattle on our property before but they had free run of the pastures. Those said pastures are now in use with the goats. I'm not putting a big ol' cow in with my little goats!

My question is can I dry lot a beef steer humanly? If so how much room would he need and how long would it take to get him to butcher size? I would be purchasing an angus mutt steer between 300 and 500 pounds (depends what comes through the auction really) and feeding up to about 1000.

I'm going to assume that feeding needs will be a bit different than a pastured cow. Would this feeding plan work out okay? Free choice 30% protein lick, hand fed 20% cattle cubes, hand fed 16% feed, free choice round bale and hand fed corn/alfalfa snacks?

All of my other beefers, I had while growing up, we just put them out to pasture, threw out cattle cubes and a round bale every now and then. Dry lotting seems....well intimidating.


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## Four Winds Ranch (Feb 18, 2014)

We do it with 4-H steers every year! It is easy! 
Look up different sites on 'Feeding 4-H steers" on the internet and they will give you formulas on how to figure out how much dry matter your steer will need every day depending on his weight!
They need hay, and grain (we use premixed feeder/4-H ration), salt, mineral, and lots of water.
You weigh them every month, or use the weight measuing tape so you can adjust the amount of dry matter consumed.It usually takes about eight months to get a finished steer! 
We really pound the grain into ours,(like 30-36lbs per day the last 4 months) it is up to you!
Our pen is 24'X12' for one steer if more than one, we add on another 12' per steer!


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## AshleyFishy (Feb 18, 2014)

Thanks so much!


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## greybeard (Feb 20, 2014)

I would prefer to see around 800-880lbs finished weight, but yes, you can dry lot a steer. Much preferable if the lot really is DRY tho, and not turn into a little mudhole in wet weather. Good quality hay (plenty of it) and watch the grain input--a little at a time building up to whatever you want your daily rate of gain is. 
I'd go light on the cubes--it's mostly cottonseed meal--and use a good textured ration. Textured means you can actually see the grain in the feed as opposed to pelletized commercial feed. 
(I don't do goats, but I see people in my area all the time with both goats and cattle in the same pasture, tho I can see where minerals can be a problem.)


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## Azriel (Feb 21, 2014)

one steer would be fine with your goats, they are normally pretty layed back and just want to graze. If you have the pasture space, you could keep him with the goats letting him graze and feeding some grain till he is within about 200 pounds of your desired butcher weight, then dry lot and push the grain for the last month or 2.


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## Womwotai (Feb 21, 2014)

Please don't everyone throw your chair at me, but I'm wondering what would be the point of dry-lotting?  The way I look at it, I can go to the grocery store any day of the week and buy beef that was fed in a dry lot.  The whole point for me of raising my own is to produce BETTER meat than I can get at the store.  For me that would mean grass-fed.  (I do take the same attitude with poultry.  I don't buy store-bought chicken, and instead raise my own, where they have free-range of several acres and fatten up on greens and bugs 9 months of the year.  Sure it takes a little longer to get them to eating size, but it is also cheaper than pumping them full of purchased feed.)

I currently raise lamb and goat meat on pasture and have considered adding beef, figuring they'd do fine with the smaller animals and might graze the area differently than the others too, adding bio-diversity that way, so I'm glad to hear a couple of you say you think the steer would be fine with the goats.


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## WildRoseBeef (Feb 21, 2014)

Womwotai, dry-lotting beef doesn't automatically equate to grain-fed, as in what is done with commercial/conventional feedlot operations. You can dry-lot a beefer and feed it hay an/or silage with a little grain and still get good beef--better than what most grocery stores sell. We've done that before, and the beef we had could hold a bigger candle to the grocery-store beef that we sometimes get.

ETA: The beef we raised (after seeing Ashley's post) in that dry lot was not fed antibiotics (i.e., ionophores), nor injected with hormones except that a full year before deciding to keep that steer back for fattening for the freezer. And yes, you certainly do know how it lived, how it was raised and what it was fed before it was slaughtered. You also know that it was slaughtered humanely, unlike the infinite possibilities of what may have gone wrong during the slaughter process.


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## AshleyFishy (Feb 21, 2014)

A. I know what went into it. Including hormone free etc.
B. Cheaper.
C. Small amount of space to keep the animal.
D. I would know it lived an ok life and was dispatched humanly.


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## greybeard (Feb 21, 2014)

> B. Cheaper.


Cheaper than what?
Cheaper to dry lot than to run a steer on pasture and then him finish on grain (or grass finish)? No.
Cheaper than boxed beef or grocery store retail beef? Depends on your cost of the protein lick, minerals, textured or pelletized feed, hay, cubes, and treats--as well as processing/cut/wrap costs (assuming you aren't going to do the processing yourself) and any medical costs you run into along the way. 
I've seen lots of people try to raise one even on pasture and come out in the hole $ wise. 
A-C-D I agree with.


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