Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2010 7:13:06 GMT -5
We're purchasing several Jersey/beef cross steers this week with plans to intensively rotational graze and grass finish them by September. They'll be in a small corral for about a month, more or less, until the grass comes in.
My concern is that they're currently on a diet of free choice hay and approximately 9lbs of organic grain (mostly corn) per head per day, with access to pasture or barn. We had such difficulty with transitioning our cow from a grain-intensive to grass-intensive diet that I really want to make sure I gather as much information as I can on how best to transition them with as little interruption to their growth/gains as possible.
We are planning on feeding good quality round bales to them for the next month (along with free choice loose Redmonds salt and kelp). Additional feeds we could use in the transition and have ready access to are alfalfa/rye haylage, beet pulp, and possibly the same organic grain that they're used to eating.
A thought I'm having is to feed them the amount of grain they're used to for the first day to minimize stress, and then to slowly taper off of the grain while introducing beet pulp and haylage. The ultimate goal would then be to introduce grass (and stop the round bales and haylage) in late April, while continuing beet pulp through the spring flush to maximize gains while the grass protien content is high. We'd then drop the beet pulp and go to straight MIG by the end of May.
Would this plan have a chance of working? Do any of you have other suggestions for making a smooth (or smooth as possible) transition to grass while maintaining growth and keeping costs under control?
We're hopefully bringing the steers home on Saturday, and want to be prepared to put a plan into action, so any input you could give would be helpful! I'd also like to hear if anyone thinks the grass-fed transition wouldn't work for some reason. There are 6 steers and 2 bulls (which will be steered before they come home), and they average 400 lbs, but range from 250-500 lbs. They are otherwise healthy. We're hoping for a final live weight of at least 550 lbs a piece, which would require an average daily gain of 1 lb (we're planning very conservatively, but it would be great if their gains are more).
Thanks for your input!
My concern is that they're currently on a diet of free choice hay and approximately 9lbs of organic grain (mostly corn) per head per day, with access to pasture or barn. We had such difficulty with transitioning our cow from a grain-intensive to grass-intensive diet that I really want to make sure I gather as much information as I can on how best to transition them with as little interruption to their growth/gains as possible.
We are planning on feeding good quality round bales to them for the next month (along with free choice loose Redmonds salt and kelp). Additional feeds we could use in the transition and have ready access to are alfalfa/rye haylage, beet pulp, and possibly the same organic grain that they're used to eating.
A thought I'm having is to feed them the amount of grain they're used to for the first day to minimize stress, and then to slowly taper off of the grain while introducing beet pulp and haylage. The ultimate goal would then be to introduce grass (and stop the round bales and haylage) in late April, while continuing beet pulp through the spring flush to maximize gains while the grass protien content is high. We'd then drop the beet pulp and go to straight MIG by the end of May.
Would this plan have a chance of working? Do any of you have other suggestions for making a smooth (or smooth as possible) transition to grass while maintaining growth and keeping costs under control?
We're hopefully bringing the steers home on Saturday, and want to be prepared to put a plan into action, so any input you could give would be helpful! I'd also like to hear if anyone thinks the grass-fed transition wouldn't work for some reason. There are 6 steers and 2 bulls (which will be steered before they come home), and they average 400 lbs, but range from 250-500 lbs. They are otherwise healthy. We're hoping for a final live weight of at least 550 lbs a piece, which would require an average daily gain of 1 lb (we're planning very conservatively, but it would be great if their gains are more).
Thanks for your input!