Honest opinion

[shortybreeder]

Feed them individually. or at least feed him individually. That way you know how many lbs of feed he is eating each day, and get him up to 2.5% of his body weight each day. 12% seems low in a grower to me, but I don't remember what ours was. Split it into 2 feedings, if you have time a 3rd feeding may get him to eat a couple more pounds per day. When it's warm out keep a fan on him--not just to grow hair, but to keep him cool and eating. I put a fan on my purebred shorthorn 24/7 a few years ago and he never went off feed, even when outside hit 100 degrees. He hit over 3.5lbs/day ADG, and I bet if your steer does that he will look nice and your family can be proud of him.

This takes me back to my 1st beef steer. He was 1/2 Angus and 1/2 Holstein. He didn't have an inch of hair, but I could walk down the road and he'd walk right by my side without me even touching his halter. He stood last, but it drove me to want to do better and breed better. Best of luck to you and your daughter.

 

[SlickTxMaine]

Thanks you guys here's a pic of her and Charlie. We have been practicing over the weekend

There is a great team!  She loves that calf and that's all that matters right now. 

As for the feed - he needs to be on a good finishing ration for show calves.  You can search this site - We have used AOOK's ration on both steers and heifers and had good success.  It's a reasonably priced ration.  He needs filler too to expand his ribs; the ration we use has cotton seed hulls.  Some use beet pulp.  And all the hay he can eat.  Stabilized rice bran, which you can buy at Tractor Supply is great for putting on a smooth finish.  Search this site for feed rations.  What you are feeding is good for a butcher calf, but for about the same cost you can get a good finishing ration which will help your calf look more like a show calf than a feedlot calf.  Feed him the right feed and help him look the best he can.
Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Tallcool1]

Since charlie has been on a regular worming schedule and to go more in-depth with what we are feeding I'd like for everyone to give us help and advice on what we could feed him to help him gain weight. I don't want harsh criticism, I want helpful criticism. I understand charlie isn't a $5000 steer nor will he be one ever in his life but I'd like to tell you what we are feeding him and what we could change to maybe help push him to gain better and/or get the most bang for our buck. Right now we are dumping a 12% sweet feed that is pelleted and has alot of cracked corn in it, plus I'm cooking 6lbs of cooked whole corn, 2 pounds of calf manna, and corn oil mixed in and that's twice a day. I've been doing a dose of probiotics boluses once a week. We have two other steers in there with him cause we have two people buying them o put in the freezer. I've watched them eat to make sure no one is being the hog of the feed they all eat together well without fighting and pushing one another.t think we should split them up and see if we can't push him to eat more? Or.....??

Send a personal message to a person names VC on Steerplanet.  Best feeding advice I have always received has been from VC.