Autumn guide to finishing young bulls
Most of these are around 12 months old and must be fed on now if slaughtering under 16 months.
Weather has been ideal for all livestock lately with great growth and ideal conditions.
Bulls are doing well outside on good quality grass. However, grass can only do so much and needs to be supplemented with concentrates. If herd owners want cattle to finish at target weight, age, and grade they must gain substantial weight every day.
Setbacks in thrive should be avoided at all costs. You must take maximum advantage of the hormonal effect of young bulls to optimise profit through efficient feed conversion efficiency.
With current conditions so good it is likely that for many the option of feeding bulls meal at grass will be explored.
* Bulls’ paddocks must be dry to minimise damage.
* The right feeding facilities must be available to avoid injury to both man and bull.
* Sturdy troughs.
* If using ad-lib feeders, ensure they are bird proof.
* For some, the easiest option may be to bring them inside and start finishing them.
What decisions need to be made?
* Are they grown well enough to start finishing?
* What is your target market? Weight, age or grade?
* Is indoor or outdoor feeding your best option?
* Are your facilities suitable for the feeding programme you have in mind?
* What feeds are available to you and what will they cost?
* What is the quality of the forage available like?
It is critical that bulls don’t start finishing until they have been grown correctly.
If they are not grown properly, they may begin a growth spurt during the finishing period resulting in poor confirmation and kill out percentage. All of the above factors also need to be considered in the context of what type of bull you have on your farm.
Continental types will have different maturity characteristics to dairy-bred bulls. In fact, in the final finishing phase a larger percentage of thrive from continental bulls will be converted to actual carcass sold at slaughter.
It has consistently been seen that increasing the daily weight gain in the final months of finish will improve the conformation of the animal and lean meat yield of the carcase. While it’s not possible to perform miracles, it is possible to move a proportion of O+s to Rs, and Rs to Us.
When setting up a diet to achieve target weights in bulls, ensure the total diet has a high energy density in excess of 12.0 ME and 13%-14% crude protein per kilogram of dry matter.
The exact specifications are weight and breed dependent. Ensure the ration contains sufficient fibre to maintain rumen function and that there is clean fresh feed in front of the bulls for 22 to 23 hours per day. Ideally, fresh feed should be provided every day to encourage intakes. Make sure they have plenty of clean water.
The source of forage used to finish bulls needs to be top quality. Low-quality forages have absolutely no role in getting the final cover on bulls.
However, good-quality forages can play a major role in reducing overall finishing costs. They can also provide an essential source of structural fibre. Good-quality maize silage, wholecrop cereals, and beet provide excellent forage energy sources for bulls in conjunction with a balanced concentrate.
Adlib feeding of concentrates may be a more economical option for bull finishers, if only poor silages are available.
Many get confused by the term, adlib. For me, it is simple: The cattle must have access to meal 24-7. They must also have access to good-quality clean straw at all times. Hay is a poor substitute for straw, as it does not promote optimum rumen function, depressing intakes and ultimate weight gains in bulls.
Most meal providers have a bull beef ration in their portfolio. The best concentrates for finishing bulls must include high levels of cereals in the form of barley, wheat, and maize meal.
Digestible fibre sources such as soya hulls, citrus, and beet pulp are also important to maintain rumen function in these intensively fed animals.
Protein, while not required in large amounts for finishing bulls, is required to encourage intakes and balance the energy provided for optimum weight gain.
Avoid where possible having filler ingredients high up the label. Ask your feed supplier for the UFL or ME value of the concentrate you are considering for your bulls.
A good quality mineral spec is also important. many finishers may introduce straight maize meal to their current concentrate as a means of achieving the final cover on bulls over the last 30-40 days.
If bulls are to realise optimum profits they must be finished properly, with the right feed in the right environment. Remember that you have a lot of the work done with these bulls, but the feeding must now be done to finish them correctly, so you can get paid the best price possible for your work.
In most cases, the high volume of concentrates for 100 days plus is unavoidable if you want to reach the spec required.
Daily gain will depend very much on breed, age, feed quality, management and environment.
You should expect in excess of 1.5kg per day under ideal conditions for most bulls, with many able to achieve up to 2kg for a period.
