Beef prices are rising and with market forecasts pointing to a positive trade this spring, there will be farmers thinking of moving store cattle on to finishing diets.
For steers requiring a 100 to 120 day finishing period, animals entering the finishing phase in mid-December will be ready for slaughter by late March to early April.
Where farmers are considering moving animals from a store to finishing diet, outlined are some things to keep in mind.
1. Is there a margin to be made in finishing?
Before committing to finishing cattle, do a short budget to see if there is a margin to be made.
Start by putting a value on cattle if sold live now. Price a finishing ration, then work out how many kilos will be fed to animals per day and for how long.
Add in a cost for silage, any follow up fluke or lice treatments and a profit margin. Tally up your costs to get a break-even sale price.
Use a realistic slaughter weight for your cattle. High genetic merit animals should gain 1.1kg to 1.3kg/day on an intensive finishing diet and kill out around 57% to 59%.
For cattle sold at 720kg liveweight, that would yield a carcase of 410kg to 425kg. Divide the breakeven cost by carcase weight to get the beef price required to cover finishing costs.
2. Have cattle adequate space?
Is there enough housing space for finishing animals? If cattle are overstocked, weight gain will be impeded. That means a longer finishing period is needed, or animals are killed at lighter weights.
Either way, cattle will struggle to cover finishing costs. Give finishing cattle plenty of lying space. Allow 3m2 per head on slatted floors.
Space at the feed rail is also important when feeding higher levels of meal. All animals need to be able to stand and eat at the same time. Otherwise, smaller animals will be underfed.
3. How long will the finishing period last?
For late maturing continental steers, a finishing period of around 100 days is recommended. Feeding beyond this time period will see weight gain tailing off, despite animals eating high levels of meal.
Assuming animals are gaining 1.1kg to 1.3kg/day, animals moving to a finishing diet should be no more than 100kg to 130kg off their target slaughter weight.
For continental type heifers, limit the finishing period to around 80 days. Heifers should be around 80kg to 100kg from target slaughter weight.
Traditional beef bred animals can be finished over 50 to 70 days for steers and 40 to 60 days for heifers.
4. Choose a high energy, low protein ration.
Finishing cattle need energy and starch to put on fat cover. Protein will only encourage cattle to put on lean muscle.
Therefore, switch to a finishing ration with a high barley and maize content. Keep protein levels below 14% and ideally around 12% to 13%.
5. Build up meal levels gradually
When changing to a finishing ration, mix it 50:50 with the growing ration for a few days to allow animals to adjust to the higher starch content.
Build up meal levels by 1kg/day every 10 to 14 days until animals reach the upper meal threshold.
Silage quality is important in the finishing diet and should be at least 70 DMD. Every four unit decrease in DMD means meal rates should increase by around 1.5kg/head.
Don’t forget about clean drinking water. Cattle on high levels of meal have a higher demand for water. A rough rule of thumb is six litres of water per kilo of meal consumed.
That means steers on 8kg/day of ration will drink around 50 litres daily, before making any allowance for silage.