How do you feed beef cattle?

Answer 1

Fattening beef cattle depends on what diet you want them to fatten up on, their age, their breeding, average daily gain, rate of intake, and target weight you want to have them slaughtered. Grass-finished cattle take a month or so longer to fatten up than grain-finished cattle. But both types of finisher cattle should be on a high-energy, high-protein diet to gain weight quickly. For grassers this would be young, vegetative grasses that are almost at the stage of inflourescence but the long stems that haven't quite popped up yet. It will take about 6 months for the cattle to reach target weight. For grainers, a diet of 80 to 90% diet of grain is the common way (the feedlot way) to fatten cattle within a period of 3 to 4 months. However, if you wish you could finish your cattle on a 50-50 or 40-60 diet of grain and forage, respectively or vice versa, to get a stronger tasting, yet juicy steak.

British breeds fatten quicker than Continentals will. So starting British breed-type cattle when they are but 18 to 20 months of age on a high energy ration will get them to gain enough meat on them but not too much fat. Continentals genetically are built to be lean, so you could start them whenever you like, like right after they are weaned on a grain-based diet or a diet of 50% forage 50% grain to get them to gain weight. Continentals will finish at a heavier weight than British breeds will, so also bear that in mind when choosing which breeds to fatten up for your freezer. Crossbred calves that have British and Continental breeds in them can be started either way, but the British influence will have them still fatten quicker, so backgrounding them until they are 18 months old would be a wise decision.

Answer 2

Beef cattle grow like any animal does. When they are born, they are mostly all knees, elbows and legs, literally. As they grow, feeding on milk which is high in protein, calcium and CHO, their thinner bodies start to fill in with muscle and fat, with each passing month, until, when they reach weaning age, they look like smaller versions of their dams and sires. The first three months a calf is far more dependent on his dam's milk than other food sources. But he also starts learning about these different feed sources from what his mother eats and starts sampling these different feeds by the time he's a week or so old. By the time three months come around, he's starting to eat more feed and/or grass than milk, and by the time he's weaned, he's on 75% feed/grass and 25% milk. Some producers like to creep feed their calves prior to weaning to boost their growth potential and increase weaning weights. Preconditioning is a good way to get these calves used to feeding from a feed bunk before they are sold to a backgrounding operation or the feedlot, and is less stressful for them after they're taken away from their mothers. Most calves, by the time they are weaned, are on a 16% to 18% protein diet, depending on the breed.

To complicate things here, some producers don't even feed their calves grain, but let them graze instead. Calves that are growing require a daily intake of 16 to 18% protein, and pasture grasses that are rich in nitrogen and phosphorus and still at the growth stage (vegetative stage) tend to take care of this issue and help the calves grow and fill out a bit.

As these calves grow, they increase muscle mass and bone size, with the quickest growth rate occurring between birth to 15 months of age. By the time they are reaching 15 to 18 months, growth is starting to slow down, and maturity is reached at 3 to 4 years of age. Most calves that are grown for beef never live to see 3 to 4 years of age, as most are slaughtered at 18 to 24 months old.

The most important thing to remember is that these growth rates depend on the breed. British beef cattle tend to gain fat much more quickly and finish at a lighter weight sooner than Continentals do. Thus, most British-breed crosses cannot be fed a high protein ration "throughout their life" because they will put on more fat than muscle and thus will grade poorer than a British breed steer that was first backgrounded on roughage (hay and grass) and a daily ration of ~5 lbs of grain per day or fed silage, then put on a grain-diet for the last 2 to 4 months of its life.

Continentals, on the other hand, have a slower growth rate than British breeds do and consequently tend to gain fat much harder. Most Continentals have to be put on the feedlot when their weaned with a 50-50 grain and roughage diet (unlike the 80-20 ratio of roughage and grain for British breds) to increase marbling and fat content until they reach slaughter weight. Most Continentals have to be fed a high protein diet for the rest of their lives, unfortunately. So as a Continental calf grows, it absorbs these fats and carbohydrates from the feed and puts it into muscle and fat. Any excess energy that the beef animal does not need at the moment gets stored into fat. With British breeds, they do not need as much "pampering" to be able to thrive. Grain that is fed to them gives them tonnes of energy, often much more than they need, and most of that energy that they do not need gets stored into fat--and LOTS of it. British breeds have been known to thrive better on a roughage-only diet with much less fats and carbohydrates than what a typical Continental needs to thrive on the same diet.

So in summary, all the nutrients that a beef animal eats gets converted into metabolic energy for growth, reproduction, normal function and mobility. Any nutrients or energy that are not needed are stored as fat or excreted as feces and urine. Beef cattle have a nonlinear growth pattern: this means that the highest growth rate and weight gain occurs between birth and 15 to 18 months of age. This growth curve slows and starts to curve by the time the animal reaches around 20 months of age, and flattens out completely at 3 to 4 years of age. Cows and bulls maintain this age (with proper nutrition and management) throughout their lifetime.

Answer 3

Before thinking of anything else remember the 5 freedoms;

1. Freedom from disease
2. Freedom from fear
3. Freedom to express normal behavior
4. Freedom from thirst and hunger
5. Freedom from discomfort

These are key to raising healthy animals, provide them with a clean barn/stall, provide them with food that is clean and free of dust and mold, and they will remain healthy.

Answer 4

What an idiot. Obviously, you plant beef cow seeds in the ground and water and nurture them for years. Then you can eat them for being godless heathens who have not accepted our lord and savior, the one and only, holy ghost and holy spirit, pomp and circumstance, hoorah, Jesus Christ, amen.

Answer 5

With a tractor or a feed bucket. Tractor is mainly used for feeding hay and silage, and a feed bucket for grain. Most of the time though, beef cattle feed themselves when out on pasture.

Answer 6

you over feed the pig till it get's fat

Answer 7

With their mouths.

Answer 8

mast