Finishing A Angus Cow
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Baymule
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@farmerjan would have the best answer to that! Welcome to BYH from East Texas!
farmerjan
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Welcome to BYH.... First off.... several questions, and comments. 530 lbs at 14 months is somewhat stunted... and you commented that she is skinny. She should be in the 700+ range at that age under normal circumstances and it seems you realize that.
Are you an organic purist? Not being disrespectful..... but if you are, then you will have a very hard time getting her to growing/gaining... BECAUSE... the first thing she needs is worming... and again a 2nd worming in 30 days... we worm all our calves that come off cows at weaning.. somewhere in the 7-10 month age range, and the steers should weigh in the 500-600 range most of the time and the heifers 50-100 lbs less....
Since you said she was grass fed, and it is obvious the previous place did not have enough grass.... and since it was a drought year for many, I get it.... They will pick up worms when the grass is short.... and it is something you live with, and deal with.
So, Ivermectin for first worming... gets a good number out without being too "rough" on their system... 2nd time I would use something like Safe-guard... a little "harsher"... but by cleaning out a good number of worms the first time around, there will be not major "die off" of worms to actually make them sick.
She is not going to grow alot of size, since she is not looking to be large framed and the lack of good growing nutrition earlier in life. 12 or 14% protein to get her started... you can go back to a 12% after a month or 2 .... a gallon of feed will weigh approx 5 lbs... a 5 gallon bucket will weigh ab out 22-25 lbs normally... this is ROUND figures but gives you an "eyeball" measurement. I'd start her out on 1 gallon a day for a week....split in 2 feedings.... make sure she is not getting loose.... the worming and grain feeding will make her quite loose for a few days... up it to 2 gallon if her cow patties are soft but not runny/watery, week 2. After a month, I would go back to 12 % or even a 10% feed and do 3 gallons a day... ALL the GOOD quality hay she wants to eat and pasture if you have it.
Then I would start adding whole shell corn or cracked corn... added to the feed.... and increase to where she is eating up to a 5 gallon bucket a day, total feed, after about 2 months. No point in putting alot of higher protein into her for growth because she will not do alot of frame growing.
She ought to weigh 900 lbs, if she starts to gain and grow a little, by 24-26 months, and be ready to kill. She will hang at around 450-500 lbs and you will get about 250-300 lbs actual edible meat back. We figure 25% of live weight is actual meat back to eat... it usually is more, but not to count on it.
It is really hard to tell you on such little information. We mostly grass feed and finish... most of my jersey steers will weigh 7-900 at 26-28 months. I like the jersey beef and get about 200-300 lbs meat tops for the freezer. They do not get the filling out and meat that a beef animal gets.... We will kill a few angus and angus x cattle for beef for a few customers that want home raised and they will go to be killed in the 9-1000 lb range at 22-26 months. We do not "push them" to finish. We have been feeding silage to steers this year and have had some hit 900 lbs at 15 months so they would finish out at 1200 more likely, but we don't want to kill any that size since the couple of customers want smaller animals. We also do not want alot of fat on them, as most people want a leaner beef. We mostly sell feeder steers in the 5-700 lb range.... they go to someone to run on pasture and such to say 900 then go on feedlots to finish.
Heifers will finish smaller than steers no matter what... it physiological...
Hope this helps a little...
Are you an organic purist? Not being disrespectful..... but if you are, then you will have a very hard time getting her to growing/gaining... BECAUSE... the first thing she needs is worming... and again a 2nd worming in 30 days... we worm all our calves that come off cows at weaning.. somewhere in the 7-10 month age range, and the steers should weigh in the 500-600 range most of the time and the heifers 50-100 lbs less....
Since you said she was grass fed, and it is obvious the previous place did not have enough grass.... and since it was a drought year for many, I get it.... They will pick up worms when the grass is short.... and it is something you live with, and deal with.
So, Ivermectin for first worming... gets a good number out without being too "rough" on their system... 2nd time I would use something like Safe-guard... a little "harsher"... but by cleaning out a good number of worms the first time around, there will be not major "die off" of worms to actually make them sick.
She is not going to grow alot of size, since she is not looking to be large framed and the lack of good growing nutrition earlier in life. 12 or 14% protein to get her started... you can go back to a 12% after a month or 2 .... a gallon of feed will weigh approx 5 lbs... a 5 gallon bucket will weigh ab out 22-25 lbs normally... this is ROUND figures but gives you an "eyeball" measurement. I'd start her out on 1 gallon a day for a week....split in 2 feedings.... make sure she is not getting loose.... the worming and grain feeding will make her quite loose for a few days... up it to 2 gallon if her cow patties are soft but not runny/watery, week 2. After a month, I would go back to 12 % or even a 10% feed and do 3 gallons a day... ALL the GOOD quality hay she wants to eat and pasture if you have it.
Then I would start adding whole shell corn or cracked corn... added to the feed.... and increase to where she is eating up to a 5 gallon bucket a day, total feed, after about 2 months. No point in putting alot of higher protein into her for growth because she will not do alot of frame growing.
She ought to weigh 900 lbs, if she starts to gain and grow a little, by 24-26 months, and be ready to kill. She will hang at around 450-500 lbs and you will get about 250-300 lbs actual edible meat back. We figure 25% of live weight is actual meat back to eat... it usually is more, but not to count on it.
It is really hard to tell you on such little information. We mostly grass feed and finish... most of my jersey steers will weigh 7-900 at 26-28 months. I like the jersey beef and get about 200-300 lbs meat tops for the freezer. They do not get the filling out and meat that a beef animal gets.... We will kill a few angus and angus x cattle for beef for a few customers that want home raised and they will go to be killed in the 9-1000 lb range at 22-26 months. We do not "push them" to finish. We have been feeding silage to steers this year and have had some hit 900 lbs at 15 months so they would finish out at 1200 more likely, but we don't want to kill any that size since the couple of customers want smaller animals. We also do not want alot of fat on them, as most people want a leaner beef. We mostly sell feeder steers in the 5-700 lb range.... they go to someone to run on pasture and such to say 900 then go on feedlots to finish.
Heifers will finish smaller than steers no matter what... it physiological...
Hope this helps a little...
