Daily gain

[CowboyRam]

I took my calves to the sale today, my daily gain was only about 1.3 pounds per head. I was feeding about 12 pounds per head of first cutting grass/alfalfa hay and 4.5 pounds of barley per head. I think I could have done better, should I have fed more hay or barley?

 

[Lee VanRoss]

I took my calves to the sale today, my daily gain was only about 1.3 pounds per head. I was feeding about 12 pounds per head of first cutting grass/alfalfa hay and 4.5 pounds of barley per head. I think I could have done better, should I have fed more hay or barley?

Not withstanding that your information is incomplete and abstract you may have answered your question correctly.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Short answer is yes!

Umm. What did they weigh beginning and end?

How many days?

These things are important

 

[faster horses]

The cold weather could have affected their daily gain.
Did you figure in shrink?
Did you test your hay?
What was your starting weight and when did you weigh them?
Was your final weight at the sale barn or did you weigh them at home?

 

[Silver]

I'm lost also. Weaned calves? How long? How old?

 

[CowboyRam]

Weaning weight 535 average
todays weight 615 average
weaned for 62 days
I fence line wean.
about 7 to 8 months old at weaning
Yes I did have forage analysis, but I can't find it, and I don't remember any of the values.

 

[Silver]

Weaning weight 535 average
todays weight 615 average
weaned for 62 days
I fence line wean.
about 7 to 8 months old at weaning
Yes I did have forage analysis, but I can't find it, and I don't remember any of the values.

How does this compare to previous years for you.

 

[gcreekrch]

The cold weather could have affected their daily gain.
Did you figure in shrink?
Did you test your hay?
What was your starting weight and when did you weigh them?
Was your final weight at the sale barn or did you weigh them at home?

Shrink at both ends…..

 

[CowboyRam]

How does this compare to previous years for you.

Last year I weaned for 45 days on the Sweetpro tubs, and other years I just jerked the calves off the cows and took them to the sale. This is also the first time I have weaned on grain. So it would be a little hard to compare to previous years. I was hoping to gain a little better than I did. The calves look good.

 

[CowboyRam]

I think my gain last year on the sweetpro tubs was 1.25 pounds per day gain, so I did a little better, but also last year I weaned for 45 days, this year it turned out to be 62 days.

 

[Silver]

I have never long weaned a bunch of calves for market but I know my replacements probably go backwards (sideways at best) for ten days to two weeks after weaning. Once you figure that plus the shrink at the end (assuming your weights were taken upon arrival at a facility) you might find you did as well as could be expected. Which is why I won't do it until there is a financial reward for doing so.

 

[GoWyo]

What was your cost per lb. of gain? What were they worth at weaning versus what they sold for today?

 

[Travlr]

Last year I weaned for 45 days on the Sweetpro tubs, and other years I just jerked the calves off the cows and took them to the sale. This is also the first time I have weaned on grain. So it would be a little hard to compare to previous years. I was hoping to gain a little better than I did. The calves look good.

I don't know about the weaning on grain. Never done it. But at seven months a calf weighing 535 is probably close to average and at 8 months it would be on the light side. So depending on how many were seven or eight months your calves were average weights or light for age. I wouldn't expect a lot from calves just weaned, myself, but then I've never fed calves before selling them at 9/10 months. Bigger animals to begin with would gain more pounds per day... so from that perspective I think 1.3 on light calves would be pretty decent gains.

 

[CowboyRam]

I don't know about the weaning on grain. Never done it. But at seven months a calf weighing 535 is probably close to average and at 8 months it would be on the light side. So depending on how many were seven or eight months your calves were average weights or light for age. I wouldn't expect a lot from calves just weaned, myself, but then I've never fed calves before selling them at 9/10 months. Bigger animals to begin with would gain more pounds per day... so from that perspective I think 1.3 on light calves would be pretty decent gains.

I do have a few that were late, so you are probably right.

 

[CowboyRam]

What was your cost per lb. of gain? What were they worth at weaning versus what they sold for today?

The grain cost me 14 cents per pound. The calves sell tomorrow. I weighed the calves on my way to the sale barn. I will see how my weights compare to those at the sale barn tomorrow; it might be interesting to see the difference.

 

[50/50Farms]

Well, I've shown my ass plenty on here and I'll be the first in line to admit that I don't always know what I've been raised to think I know, but I'll say this and you can take it or leave it and I don't much care either way. 535 is not a fantastic weight to me at 7 months, but do understand that I've spent my entire ag life on the southern ranges. I really cannot relate to up there, but I'll tell you a few things I've learned in my life down here.
1. Sometimes, especially in a year like this one, it's best to sell as much as you can in a conformed bunch
2. Sometimes, they'll never do any better than their range and hay and around 4-10 lbs a day of the cheapest outside feed, even byproduct, is both a savings and a multiplier
3. Sometimes you have to sell them for what they'll bring and hope you have the projections matched with the inputs

I could line y'all up and throw 9 stones and hit 10 better cattlemen than me, but for all of my mental handicaps, I haven't lost much money.

That said, somebody on here is going to give you an answer so good that you'd swear they were part cow.

 

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

What breed ?
What type of parasitic control program do you use ?

 

[GoWyo]

At $0.14/# barley x 4.5# I come up with $0.63 per head per day. Hay at $250/ton ($0.125/#) x 12#/day is $1.50/day. Total ration cost $2.13/head/day not counting your time, yardage, risk, etc.

 

[CowboyRam]

Most of my calves are Angus, Angus cross. I am working on getting rid of all cattle that are not Angus, but that is going to take some time. I think that probably 30% of my herd is not Angus. I also have several, can't say how many at the moment that were late calves, a few as late as end of May. The goal is to get them to start calving first week of March for 60 days. I have finally got on a good mineral program this, and the calves were on mineral. Those late calves hurt my average. Depending on what they sell for I will at least break even, well I hope anyway.

 

[faster horses]

Most of my calves are Angus, Angus cross. I am working on getting rid of all cattle that are not Angus, but that is going to take some time. I think that probably 30% of my herd is not Angus. I also have several, can't say how many at the moment that were late calves, a few as late as end of May. The goal is to get them to start calving first week of March for 60 days. I have finally got on a good mineral program this, and the calves were on mineral. Those late calves hurt my average. Depending on what they sell for I will at least break even, well I hope anyway.

You are working toward a better herd, genetic and nutrition wise. That's great.

Just wondering, did your calves have plenty of water on their summer range? That could have a lot to do with their weaning weight. Water is the first nutrient. Without water nothing else can be utilized properly.

We had a scale under our chute so we could get a pretty good idea of weight when we preconditioned. I had calving dates on all the calves but not BW. Our calves were never big so I gave them an average BW of 80#. If yours weighed 530# at 7 months of age, that's 210 days.
530# weaning, take away 80# BW leaves you with 450# of gain. Divide that by 210 days and you get 2.14# daily gain. I would think they would do better than that. I am of the belief that it takes at least 2 weeks to recover their weaning weight. So if you figure 62 days minus 14 you have 48 days. They weighed 615 when you took them to town, so that would be 1.8# daily gain. There is just so many variables. Putting a pencil to how much that gain was worth after knowing what they sell for and after taking away the cost to do it, tells the end story.

Good luck!! Let us know!