About to get new steer and have lots of questions...

[MikahMom]

I'm looking to get a Polled Hereford steer in about a month (should be weaned by then) that I plan on raising to eventually go in my freezer. I have lots of questions about things:

1. Should I be feeding him grain while he is out on our pasture, or wait until 3-4 months before he goes to meet his maker?

2. We plan on putting him out with our two horses, will this be enough company for him? We really can only afford the one steer at this time as we just added three pigs to our farm.

3. We live in Mississippi and our pasture is pretty good -- have about 4-5 acres in Bermuda grass now out of a total of 8. Will we still need to supplement him with hay?

4. Part of our pasture has woods on it, will he still require a shed for himself? If it rains, we do have the breezeway in our horse barn where he could stay dry if he feels like it (or can figure out that he can use it to keep dry lol )

5. We plan on taking him to the butcher when he turns 15 months -- is this too early should we wait until 18 months?

Thanks for all your help!

___________________________________________________
Proud owner of 2 Shire Horses, 3 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 2 Yorkshire Gilts, 1 Duroc boar, 24 Australorps, 1 Irish Wolfhound and 2 Australian Shepherds

 

[jhm47]

First of all, your horses may or may not be compatible for the calf. Some horses will chase cattle till they die, some will mostly ignore cattle. It all depends on the horse. As to companionship, I feel that it's overrated, and have seen many "single" calves do just fine.

As to the grain/hay question, I would feed him around 5 lbs of grain/day when you get him home, and gradually increase it to full feed as he grows. Full feed would be in the 15 - 20 lb range. He should be on full feed the final 60 days of his life.

Pasture: Pasture is a funny thing. I have seen pastures that people think are great. In reality, they are a mess. A pasture full of mature, stemmy grass that has gone to seed and is now dormant has little nutritional value for any animal. These pastures will appear to have a huge amount of grass, and the owners can't figure out why their animals appear hungry. On the other hand, a pasture with fine, green, immature grass will not appear to be much, but the animals will be doing well.

Shelter: Most any shelter will be fine. My herd of cows and calves rarely see the inside of any type of shelter, even in the many below 0 days we have here. The important thing is to keep them as dry as possible, and feed them well.

Good luck with your new venture!

 

[WildRoseBeef]

I'm looking to get a Polled Hereford steer in about a month (should be weaned by then) that I plan on raising to eventually go in my freezer. I have lots of questions about things:

1. Should I be feeding him grain while he is out on our pasture, or wait until 3-4 months before he goes to meet his maker?

It depends on whether you would like to have grass-fed beef or beef from an animal that was finished on both hay and grain. Usually grain adds to the flavour and tenderness of your beef, and decreases the time he's to be slaughtered. Grass-fed generally takes a bit longer. So I would recommende JHM's suggestion on the grain, keeping him on pasture and hay at the same time.

2. We plan on putting him out with our two horses, will this be enough company for him? We really can only afford the one steer at this time as we just added three pigs to our farm.

I'm not sure about the horses. Like JHM said, some horses disrespect cattle and tend to herd and chase them around all the time, and others just accept them as part of the herd and pretty much ignore them. It's really hard to say whether your horses will accept the new steer or not; really, there's only one way to find out. Make sure you have him in an secure corral before he's let out on pasture for him to settle down for a few days, since with weaned calves, they tend to get anxious and nervous, not to mention quite vocal, and will pace around trying to find away out back to his momma.

3. We live in Mississippi and our pasture is pretty good -- have about 4-5 acres in Bermuda grass now out of a total of 8. Will we still need to supplement him with hay?

Once again, JHM holds true in this respect. How good is your pasture? Is it headed out, or is it like any horse pasture and mowed consistently to prevent the grass from going to seed? If your pasture is in the latter state, then hay is pretty much unnecessary, acting only as a supplement. Although, when we had steers we often had our pastures go into seed because we couldn't graze them fast enough. The cattle were still able to graze off it and get enough nutrient from it, and we never supplemented with hay when pastures got like that. But when you're feeding a stocker steer calf like that, nutrition needs are a little higher when they're younger and tend to decrease when they get older. But with fattening up an animal, you have to do the opposite to get that good marbling.

4. Part of our pasture has woods on it, will he still require a shed for himself? If it rains, we do have the breezeway in our horse barn where he could stay dry if he feels like it (or can figure out that he can use it to keep dry lol )

It depends on him. Sometimes the woods are good enough for him to take shelter to, other times he may choose to be in the breezeway of your horsebarn if the weather gets too nasty.

5. We plan on taking him to the butcher when he turns 15 months -- is this too early should we wait until 18 months?

Weight, and body condition, I find, is more important than age. Whether you want him to finish at 1000 lbs (which is typical of a steer reaching 15 months of age) or 1200 lbs (typical of a steer reaching 18 to 22 months of age), is all up to you. Herefords, as a British breed, tend to mature earlier and put on fat quicker than Continentals (Simmental, Charolais, Limousin) or Continental crosses (like JHM's Angus-Simmental cross cattle), but finish at a smaller size than Conti's do. At 15 months of age, I'm guessing, with the ration of grain you'll most likely be giving him, he'll reach around 900 to 1000 lbs. At 18 months he'll most likely be around 1100 to 1200 lbs. Those are just ball-park figures. But what age you want him finished at is up to you. Typically the younger you slaughter him, the more tender the meat.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[MikahMom]

Make sure you have him in an secure corral before he's let out on pasture for him to settle down for a few days, since with weaned calves, they tend to get anxious and nervous, not to mention quite vocal, and will pace around trying to find away out back to his momma.


We have a Priefert round pen that we can put him in, will that do?



___________________________________________________
Proud owner of 2 Shire Horses, 3 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 2 Yorkshire Gilts, 1 Duroc boar, 24 Australorps, 1 Irish Wolfhound and 2 Australian Shepherds

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Make sure you have him in an secure corral before he's let out on pasture for him to settle down for a few days, since with weaned calves, they tend to get anxious and nervous, not to mention quite vocal, and will pace around trying to find away out back to his momma.


We have a Priefert round pen that we can put him in, will that do?

Yes ma'am. If it's a pen were he can't crawl through, under or over, and it's nice and stout, then yes, definately. Make sure he's got access to water and feed at all times. He may be pacing around and bawling a bit, but that's normal. He will grab a few bites here and there while he paces around, but that is also normal.

 

[DoubleSSRanch]

I would wait alot longer with a herford to butcher...they grow quite a bit slower than your normal 'commercial' angus calf. We usually had to wait 2 years to get a herford steer big enough to butcher..but that was big enough to bothe rbutchering to sell..if it just for yourself..you could probably get away with doing him earlier