Heifer not gaining

[Mykayla]

I have a heifer who isn’t gaining much weight at all. I’ve had her since April. In April she weighed 320 lbs as a weanling straight off of pasture. At the end of July she weighed 510 lbs at 10 months. She’s a mainetainer heifer- 1/2 simangus, 1/4 Maine, and 1/4 chi. My weight tape estimates her about 650 lbs now. This does not seem like much change at all!
She is dewormed every 30 days. She’s on 10 lbs of steer grower at 12% protein each day, 4 lbs of precon, 4 oz of show bloom, 2 oz of corn oil, and 5 grams of probiotic. Constant water. About 2 flakes of costal hay a day- won’t eat anything else. She will scarf down hay but goes through periods of not touching her feed. She’s also had all of her vaccines.
I don’t know what else to do. I feel like she should be atleast 1000 lbs as a yearling but she’s just not there.
Could I give her vitamin b? How much? Would it help her?
Should I top dress or switch to a sweet feed to get her to eat?

 

[shortybreeder]

Were all of these weights collected via the weight tape? Can you get her to a certified scale? Also pictures would help.
Is the grain feeding consistent, same time/same amount each day?

 

[Mykayla]

In April and in July the weights were taken with a scale, the recent weight was taken with my weight tape. She gets fed within the hour each day about 11-12 hours apart.
Does this seem like normal weight gain? Or am I just a worry wart? haha

 

[Mykayla]

The end of august

 

[vc]

So if I understand your post you took possession of her in April, she weighed 320 and was 7 months old? So in the past 5 months she has more than doubled her weight, if she is in fact a yearling now, she either got a terrible start or her age is incorrect. She does not look like a yearling in the pictures. You can slowly up her grain, she is right around 2 percent now you could work her up to another 4 or 5 pounds. not sure how if you have had her for 5 months (150 days) and she has gained 330, that means she has gained just over 2 pounds a day. She was weaned when you got her or did she get weaned when you took her ( I believe they call that trailer weaned) if the latter was the case she has done Okay for you since you took possession, weaning can set them back a little.

 

[RyanChandler]

When you say you ‘feel’ like she should be 1000 pounds as a yearling, what are you really saying? Does this 1000lb number have some association or is this an arbitrary number you’ve come up with?

  Considering the weight your calf started at as well as the temperatures as hot as they’ve been, that gain is perfectly reasonable.

If you want her to gain more: throw those supplements away, limit her to one flake of hay per day, and gradually increase the concentrated portion of her ration on up to close to 3% of her bodyweight.  Equally as important is to be realistic in terms of your expectations. Never is this heifer going to gain more than 3 pounds a day-  even if she does have some stretches where she’s hitting that rate,  it would be unreasonable to expect it to be maintained for very many days.