How to soften heifer up?

[stockshowkid]

I have a 9 month old chi cross heifer. She's gets 6 pounds of feed and 2 scoops of beef pulp each feeding (two times a day) along with hay. I want to know what I can do to soften her up? She looks really "hard" to me. I just slicked her recently to get new hair growth.

 

[stockshowkid]

This is her

 

[stockshowkid]

Also her

 

[CRS]

Feed.... and lots of it. 6 lbs is only good enough for a 300 lb calf. Beet pulp I find takes up space in the rumen that could be used for more hay or feed. We feed ours a commercial feed and free choice hay and they seem to do the best. Feed that is high in fiber will help get them bellied down too. Hope this helps.

 

[stockshowkid]

What feed do you use?

 

[Chuck Wagon]

A lot of feed stores have their own mix.  If nothing else, buy Purina.  Forget the beef pulp and substitute with Purina nonmedicated precon.  Up her feed to 8 lbs feed and a 2 lb scoop of precon per feeding and fresh hay at all times

 

[Double R Cattle]

Precon is excellent for adding guts to one, it is however, high calorie as well.  Make sure you don't get her too fat.  For the moment, I am feeding a custom show mix that the local feed mill makes, with 600 lbs/ton of precon added to it.  Seems to work well for me.  I am good friends with one of the guy that works at the mill, he fed heifers equal parts Honor Show Chow and precon, if that helps any.  Also free choice hay is a must.

 

[Cardinal_Crest_Shorthorns]

lose the beat pulp and feed her all the grain she will eat. The "soft" look is all about body condition. I've also found it is way more common for people to under feed an animal than to over feed and get them fat. Get her fat then worry about easing up on feed. Its way harder to be playing catch up close to show time, as far as getting them to put weight on.

 

[CRS]

We use Rowe's Cates Jackpot mix and it is not too expensive and does a great job.  Our mill makes the feed for Rowe, so it's always fresh and consistent. We've fed most of the other brands, but Rowe works the best for us.  We even use this as a creep feed and take them all the way through finish with it.  Still can't over stress the importance of free choice hay, it does a lot for them and really expands the gut. 

 

[Tallcool1]

Precon is excellent for adding guts to one, it is however, high calorie as well.  Make sure you don't get her too fat.  For the moment, I am feeding a custom show mix that the local feed mill makes, with 600 lbs/ton of precon added to it.  Seems to work well for me.  I am good friends with one of the guy that works at the mill, he fed heifers equal parts Honor Show Chow and precon, if that helps any.  Also free choice hay is a must.

Great advice.  We feed Precon (steers not heifers) from the day the come home until the day they go to their terminal show.  The lowest percentage we go to is about 35% of their total feed intake, and generally end them at about 75% of their feed intake once they are almost fat. 

I have personally never seen a product that will put as much belly in one, as long as the calories aren't an issue.