Advice for finishing cattle at grass
If you have beef cattle that weigh 350-450kgs, you can give them the best opportunity to finish off grass in September.
Protein at grass
As they graze the first round of grass, they will grow quickly, aided by the high levels of protein in the grass (currently 17-19%), which will help them grow frame. As the protein in the grass reduces through June, we must change the dynamics of the digestion to encourage muscle and finish levels.
We have all been in the position in September where cattle have grown well at grass, but while they are up to weight, they do not carry enough finish to be fit for slaughter. As soon as the grass loses its high protein levels, we need to drive dry matter intakes to ensure a good level of finish.
Microbial digestion
To achieve this, we need to increase rumen microbial activity. This can be done by including cereal and protein to stimulate intake. Most of the time, cattle are limited, not by the amount of forage available, but by the rate of flow through the rumen. The microbes that digest forage require a combination of sugar, starch and proteins to boost the numbers of these forage-digesting friends.
Triple Top feeds
Feeding 2-3kgs/ head/day of our Triple Top beef nuts will drive the availability of nutrients to the animal. Our new Triple Top beef feed combines wheat, maize and barley with highly digestable proteins and sugars. Using all three cereals will give the best balance of supply of nutrients due to their different rates of degradation in the rumen.
Cubing this diet into a nut will also give you a cooking factor – the diet reaches 65 degrees C during the process which pre-digests the starch into a more available form. Feeding Triple Top beef nuts in troughs is clean and easy to handle with no dust. Triple Top also contains Levucell live yeast which scavenges oxygen that is not needed in an anaerobic rumen digestion system. This allows the pH to be raised increasing the activity of rumen microbes. Levucell also aids the digestion of fibre particularly lignin, allowing the digestion to the hemi-cellulose within the plant leaf.
Beef feeding
Feeding should commence in July so that cattle can be finished in September. The added benefit of feeding daily is that cattle become quieter and easier to handle when you want to move them. With the beef trade looking steady going forward, there seem to be fewer seasonal price fluctuations, so autumn finishing can be just as profitable as winter finishing.
Contact us
Speak to your Harpers Feeds Specialist to discuss your beef finishing requirements and maximising the growth potential of your cattle.
