Market steer question-weighted

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taylor tay

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Jun 22, 2010
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So today was my December beef weigh-in for our county market steers that will be sold on the end of July  I was just interested if anyone could tell me what a good weight for a steer would be for that date?  My steer is a purebred shorthorn steer and he was born april 14.  At this weigh in he weighed more then i expected and weighed 596 lbs.  Many people told me that this is where i want my steer to be and that he would weigh about 1100-1200 pounds my the fair. is it? what do you like your calves to weigh? thanks a bunch.
 

ROMAX

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In my opinion i would still keep porking the feed to him, cause i think it will still be a stretch for him to make weight by JULY.
 

oakbar

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if you figure 210 days approximately to show day and the calf gains 3.25-3.5 lbs/day you shoudl end up with a calf in the 1275 to 1325 lb. range.  Sounds pretty good to me.  Once you have him comfortably on full feed, I'd feed him 2.5-3.0% of his body weight each day and watch him grow. 

Good Luck with your steer!!
 

dutch pride

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oakbar said:
if you figure 210 days approximately to show day and the calf gains 3.25-3.5 lbs/day you shoudl end up with a calf in the 1275 to 1325 lb. range.   Sounds pretty good to me.   Once you have him comfortably on full feed, I'd feed him 2.5-3.0% of his body weight each day and watch him grow. 

Good Luck with your steer!! 

If your steer has the frame to make 1275#s then it is going to be a stretch to get him prperly finished, you will need to pour the feed on. If however, he is smaller framed and will finish out at 1100#s you should be fine. If you can post a pic, iy would help to judge what his end weight should be.

DLZ
 

oakbar

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Frame size certainly does determine what the ideal finished weight of your steer should be--the larger the frame--he more he will weigh when he grades choice.

Here are some actual weights and averages from our 2010 fair on all the steers from our carcass contest.

Ave weigh-in  weight    694 lbs.    Range 552--885

Ave. weight at fair.      1311 lbs  Range  1140--1495

Ave    ADG                      3.31 lbs/day    Range  2.94--3.98

There was 186 days between the weigh-in in December and the weigh-in at our fair.
 

R1Livestock

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Feb 24, 2010
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Regardless of his frame size, you need to get home going pretty hard pretty quick.  It's easier to get him up to weight and hold him the last two weeks if you need to than it is to try to pour it on in the heat of the summer.  Worm, get him going hard, and let him eat.

If he is smaller framed, just make sure you don't burn his frame out by feeding him too hard too early.  Likewise, if he is a bigger framed steer, you probably need to try to burn it out a little so you can have him finished in that 1175-1250 range that is most reasonable to be reached.
 
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