40 Days out of show..(PICTURES)

[Jerry Ray]

This is my son's County fair steer. Target show is first week of March He is weighing about 1100-1150. Sired by Paddy O'Malley. Just looking for yall's opinion on him and what we should be doing next in these last few days. Feeding him 11 lbs Purina show chow, whole crock pot steamed corn, and a pound of Full Tank per feeding. Gave him his final implant 10 days ago. We also Blow, rinse, etc everyday. Criticism welcome your opinion is always appreciated.

Thanks, -Jerry

 

[GoWyo]

He is still green.  Keep pouring it to him and maybe add some stabilized rice bran or flax seed meal for additional fat.

 

[Jerry Ray]

Do you recommend a product like Max-E-Glow?

 

[GoWyo]

Yes. Start at 1 lb. and  work up to 2 lbs.  Last couple of years I found some flax seed meal that was 32% fat or something like that.  Cattle really did well on finishing and really popped the hair too.  Other posters on here will have some good ideas as well.

 

[HomeRaised]

I would be starting him on a product with Optiflex in it. 28-35 days on the product with no slaughter withdrawl.

 

[vc]

Not only feed but something to start expanding his gut, along with stabilized rice bran.

Here I would add beet pulp, and oat hay, not sure what you have in your area.

 

[Tallcool1]

First off, that is a nice County Fair steer.  Really nice.

What your son has there is a show steer minus 2" of hair.  If you can get his hair growing, he is going to look much better than he does now.

Feed him!  Give him what you have been feeding him, except up the Show Chow to absolutely as much of it as he will eat.  He plain and simple needs more feed.  All of the supplements in the world are not going to help him if you don't get he consumption up.  He needs 30 pounds of feed, maybe even 35......per day.

 

[GoWyo]

You are short on time to really get him finished, but you can do as well as possible by keeping him on feed and bumping his calories through more feed and adding some fat.  One other thing that will help to better convert the feed he is eating is to add rumensin.  I feed a pelleted rumensin as a top dress.  Make sure to increase your feed gradually enough that he doesn't go off feed and wind up further behind.  He is a nice county fair project and another 100 lbs will be good.

Also, I see you are feeding a pound of Full Tank, which is good.  If you have long stem grass hay, that will help expand and deepen his gut.

Optaflexx will likely not allow him to put on fat and if your county fair sale is direct to a local buyer it can make for a not so good steak, which is going to disappoint your buyer.

 

[HomeRaised]

Optaflex wont effect meat quality. That's the difference between Optaflex and Zilmax. They will finish nearly the same as they would have normally on Optaflex. Zilmax is not accepted by packers and isn't available on the market. Don't feed Zilmax.

 

[Mlopez4202]

Nice Calf!!! He looks like a winner to me. Just keep it up!!!

 

[RyanChandler]

First off, that is a nice County Fair steer.  Really nice.

What your son has there is a show steer minus 2" of hair.  If you can get his hair growing, he is going to look much better than he does now.

Feed him!  Give him what you have been feeding him, except up the Show Chow to absolutely as much of it as he will eat.  He plain and simple needs more feed.  All of the supplements in the world are not going to help him if you don't get he consumption up.  He needs 30 pounds of feed, maybe even 35......per day.

(thumbsup)

 

[jj_roberts]

I have been around cattle my whole life, that is Good looking calf. But super green... Id say he needs another 60 days on feed or so before he is ready... Gonna have to push him hard to get him where he needs to be in the next 40 days.

 

[Simmgal]

Not only feed but something to start expanding his gut, along with stabilized rice bran.

Here I would add beet pulp, and oat hay, not sure what you have in your area.

Agree! Get a bit more belly on him! You've got a good start with him though! Good luck! (thumbsup)

 

[Jerry Ray]

Thank you all for the suggestions we will do our best with the time we have left.