this year i am raising my own beef. i have two black angus on to buther this fall and one next year. i was wondering on what is the best way to bring them up to weight. and the best buther weight. what i have been feeding them is 18% dairy ration and and alfalfa. i would love to here some feedback from some one who has done this more than me. also the pen is not real big so the can only graze a little. thanks also i have a few pigs if eny one knows about them.
raising beef
- Thread starter peyton
- Start date
I usually feed my butcher calves sweet feed and some corn to put a little fat on. If they don't clean it up then you are feeding too much. Just keep them gaining weight so they dont get tough meat. Always need some roughage so they dont get the runs/squirts. I try to have them around 800# when ready.
My pigs get pig And sow feed free choice and maybe some soured chops once in a while after they get a little size on them. I like a weight around 275-300#.
I'm no expert but thats how i do it.
My pigs get pig And sow feed free choice and maybe some soured chops once in a while after they get a little size on them. I like a weight around 275-300#.
I'm no expert but thats how i do it.
Peyton & 2Busy,
Your 2 post reminded me of my Grandad and Dad going in on the halves for a beef to butcher and in the fall my Grandad killing a hog. It was a family affair to work it all up. My Mom would can sausage after my Grandad did the seasoning, in quart jars. (Oh that was good sausage) my Grandmother would put sausage in long cloth bags she had sewn up to put in the smokehouse. My Grandad would get the hams and shoulders ready to put in the salt box.
A interesting note, my Dad found the salt box in the old barn on my Grandad's place when he bought it a few years ago when he cleaned out the barn he threw out the old salt box and it still had 2 hams in it!! We figured they were at least 50 years old and they still looked very good when you cut into them. I'm sure they had enough salt to preserve anyone who would have tried to eat any of that ham
:lol:
Thanks for the memories
Ron W.
Your 2 post reminded me of my Grandad and Dad going in on the halves for a beef to butcher and in the fall my Grandad killing a hog. It was a family affair to work it all up. My Mom would can sausage after my Grandad did the seasoning, in quart jars. (Oh that was good sausage) my Grandmother would put sausage in long cloth bags she had sewn up to put in the smokehouse. My Grandad would get the hams and shoulders ready to put in the salt box.
A interesting note, my Dad found the salt box in the old barn on my Grandad's place when he bought it a few years ago when he cleaned out the barn he threw out the old salt box and it still had 2 hams in it!! We figured they were at least 50 years old and they still looked very good when you cut into them. I'm sure they had enough salt to preserve anyone who would have tried to eat any of that ham
:lol: Thanks for the memories
Ron W.
Kodiak, your post brought back memories. Granny (Mam-Maw as we called her) canned sausage too. Lordy, that was good stuff. Make a puppy pull a freight train!! Sure wish she was around - she never used a recipe. I can see her right now, kneading that dough by hand to make one of her chocolate pies. She didn't use one of these tinfoil pie plates. I ain't lying...I remember her pie sitting in a supper plate, crust standing up all by itself. She was still canning and freezing and had her own garden at age 92. Then, she fell and broke a hip. That was it.
I raise cattle to 'supplement' my regular income and have found that the best way for ME was to feed what's called cattle finisher. 18% protein and feed average grade hay. I don't let one leave for the freezer till it's around 1,200 pouds. Feeding the way I do, my cattle gains roughly 4 pounds a day. Contact your local feed supplier and ask em about the "finisher". I feed the grain to a portion of body weight. For example, a 900 pnd cow will get 2 feed scoops in the AM and 2 in the PM. Plus hay.
I know this is kind of a older post and I'm sorta late but hopefully it'll help someone out. Raising your own beef CAN be very rewarding and satisfactory. That's the way I started out, just wanted to do 1-3 cows a year for me and family and that has exploded into 12-16 a year. Gets in your blood for sure!!
I know this is kind of a older post and I'm sorta late but hopefully it'll help someone out. Raising your own beef CAN be very rewarding and satisfactory. That's the way I started out, just wanted to do 1-3 cows a year for me and family and that has exploded into 12-16 a year. Gets in your blood for sure!!
A few post down I started a post about brewers grain, check it out. My baldies are up around 650-700 lbs and I just cut them out to pasture. I keep large round bales in front of them most the time. I feed a small bucket of brewers grain and a good scoop of steam flaked corn(roasted) and a scoop of crimped oats twice a day, before work and when I get down there in the evening. I let them out during the day and back in the feed yard at night with the hay. 90 days before butchering I lock them up to no grass with as sweet a alfalfa hay I can find which they only get enough to keep their gut from twisting and I lay the finisher on them until it's flowing out the back end like , well you get the picture. My beef tastes great if I may say so my self. The japanese kobi beef is raged about, well feeding the brewers grain can't be to far off the mark. One last thing, I don't tell the butcher how I want it cut until it's hung for ten days no exceptions. It 's a must on setting the meat up for the right curing. oh no chemicals, diatemaceous earth and garlic for worms and external pest.