“Feed Efficiency Matters”
by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist
If you’ve been feeding your calves since last fall, or all your life, you’ve probably gotten the routine of feeding and doctoring the cattle figured out fairly well. But one added consideration as you approach the end of the feeding period is maintaining feed efficiency. This is especially true in a year where grain costs have risen dramatically.
You may have administered a growth-promoting implant at the time of weaning or shortly after the calves were weaned, but most feedlot implants deliver effective growth promotion over about 120 days, with the daily amount of active compound which is delivered decreasing over time.
So as calves grow in size their metabolic demand for growth promoting hormone increases, while the amount being delivered each day decreases. For this reason, it is common to re-implant finishing cattle between 70-100 days prior to their anticipated marketing date.
If you are feeding for a high-quality program, you may wish to select an intermediate dosage implant. This will preserve quality grade, although it will also reduce the potential growth and efficiency of the animal. But even if quality is your target, it is important to continue to deliver the animal active growth promotion. This ensures that calves are gaining efficiently, and giving you the greatest return on your investment of grain, right up until they are sent to harvest.
