Final finish determines the beef profit margin
Their owners are now looking at the price of cattle at both the mart and the factories.
The prices being paid for advanced cattle in the marts are very attractive at present, and have given beef producers a real lift, after such a poor 2014.
At the same time, factory prices have crept up slowly.
If cattle are to realise optimum profits, they must now be finished properly, or moved on to specialised finishing units.
Given that we had such a mild back-end to 2014, many cattle may not have entered sheds until well into November. Many cattle intended for finishing this winter are now entering the final stages of finishing, where the profit margins are determined.
Getting the final finish on your cattle will decide your grade and pricing.
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 the lean meat yield of the carcase.
While it’s not possible to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, it is possible to move a proportion of O plus cattle to R, and a proportion of R cattle to U minus.
The natural growth cycle of any animal is skeleton first, then muscle, and finally fat.
Once the frame is established, the amount of weight gain the animal achieves depends on its sex, breed and genetic potential.
Other key factors are health, comfort, feed quality, feed availability, and feed conversion efficiency.
It is crucial that the final finishing of an animal does not commence until the animal has been grown properly.
When setting up a diet to achieve target weights, ensure the total diet has a high energy density of at least 11.5 to 12.0 MJ per kg of dry matter, and 12-14% crude protein. These specifications are both breed and sex dependent.
Ensure that the ration contains sufficient fibre to maintain rumen function, and that there is clean fresh feed in front of the animals for 22 to 23 hours per day.Ideally, fresh feed should be provided every day, to encourage intakes.
The source of forage used to finish cattle needs to be considered closely.
Low quality forages have very little role in getting the final cover on cattle, other than providing an essential source of fibre.
However, a good quality forage can play a major role in reducing overall finishing costs.
Ad-lib feeding of concentrates may be a more economical option for finishers, if only poor silages are available.
Poor silages slow down finishing and result in cattle finishing slower and very inefficiently.
Good quality maize silage, wholecrop cereals and beet provide excellent forage energy sources for finishers, in conjunction with a balanced concentrate.
Most beef and dairy farmers in Ireland still use the currency of protein to judge the rations that they purchase.
This really needs to change; they should instead judge the quality of concentrates by their energy content.
Ask your feed supplier for the UFL or ME value of the concentrate you are considering for your cattle.
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 cattle.
Water is also a critical element to get right when you ramp up feeding for finishers.
It should be clean and in plentiful supply.
If cattle don’t drink, they don’t eat, and if they don’t eat, they don’t thrive.
It may be obvious; but do your cattle have enough space in the shed to achieve optimum performance?
They may have fit fine on the day they were put in, but they have grown a lot since then. Can they all lie down, and can they get to their feed without having to walk all over their comrades?
Make sure ventilation is adequate also.
The key to any successful beef finishing system is to allow the animal on feed to meet the market requirements at the earliest possible opportunity while maximising your returns efficiently.
