Heifer

[FF/EMT516]

I have always raised beef cattle up until 3 or 4 years ago, and we kept some Holstein steers we raised on the bottle over the years to eat. But recently I got a steal on a Holstein heifer that was 7 months old when I bought her. I figured we’d raise her for beef. Well I know Holsteins are really bony. But I’m feeding this one about half a 5 gallon bucket full of 15% maximizer from performance in Caneyville once a day and she has hay grass and water, but she’s growing up it seems and not out. Anything I can do to help her pack on more weight? It seemed the steers we used to keep grew a lot faster than this heifer is.

 

[DH13]

I have always raised beef cattle up until 3 or 4 years ago, and we kept some Holstein steers we raised on the bottle over the years to eat. But recently I got a steal on a Holstein heifer that was 7 months old when I bought her. I figured we’d raise her for beef. Well I know Holsteins are really bony. But I’m feeding this one about half a 5 gallon bucket full of 15% maximizer from performance in Caneyville once a day and she has hay grass and water, but she’s growing up it seems and not out. Anything I can do to help her pack on more weight? It seemed the steers we used to keep grew a lot faster than this heifer is.

Shes a Holstein milk cow. They dont get fat. Just tall and lean. More bone than meat. We used to milk growing up. Holsteins and Jersey. We raise a holstein steer every year to eat. They ok. Taste pretty good. But not a lot of meat on them. You would better off to sell her. Buy an Angus.

 

[Feedman]

Have you treated her for internal parasites?
She is not old enough yet to start packing on the fat.
Not enough energy in the feed that you are feeding

 

[FF/EMT516]

She was 7 months old when I bought her about 2 or 3 months ago. I wormed her the first week I had her. May need to do it again. I think the feed is decent because that’s what I used to feed before and it always kept them looking good. I know she’s a Holstein and that makes a difference, but I’ve seen good looking Holstein steers before. I just didn’t know if a heifer wouldn’t pack on weight like a steer would

 

[DH13]

Steer will put on weight because its a male but also been cut. Only time we killed a Heifer if it was crippled. But milk cows dont put on a lot of weight. If she about a year old now. She should be close to 750 to 850 pounds now with some height to her.

 

[FF/EMT516]

She’s fairly tall. Maybe weigh 450#. I was thinking the same thing as to why a steer grows faster.

 

[FF/EMT516]

Probably closer to 500 or more actually

 

[DH13]

Heck depends how big you want her to be for slaughter. If around 1000 be almost another year. Even at that 1000 pound mark. Not a lot of meat from a Holstein.

 

[Feedman]

Weight the amount of feed that you are feeding everyday.

 

[FF/EMT516]

Yeah slaughter house said if she weighed 1000 you can count on getting about half that. Okay I will weigh the feed

 

[bigbonner]

Could be that she did not get enough colostrum milk after she was born???
When was she weaned? If she was weaned too early will stunt her.
Another thing is if you see her every day you will not notice her growing.
Check with your vet, she may need a good wormer and a vitamin B shot or similar.
Spray her for flies, They take a lot away from them.

 

[FF/EMT516]

Yeah I spray her down every day. I dont know when she was weaned. I got the idea that the people who had her didn’t know anything about cattle. She was 7 months old when I got her

 

[CalebConn16]

I have always raised beef cattle up until 3 or 4 years ago, and we kept some Holstein steers we raised on the bottle over the years to eat. But recently I got a steal on a Holstein heifer that was 7 months old when I bought her. I figured we’d raise her for beef. Well I know Holsteins are really bony. But I’m feeding this one about half a 5 gallon bucket full of 15% maximizer from performance in Caneyville once a day and she has hay grass and water, but she’s growing up it seems and not out. Anything I can do to help her pack on more weight? It seemed the steers we used to keep grew a lot faster than this heifer is.

Had a holstein that we bought as a bottle calf and was gonna raise to eat. After - month of every night in the barn force feeding and warming and all that jazz we got attached. Turned into a big ass dog. She was about 10 or so when she died never figured out what happened to her really just down one day and never got back up. 2 vets never could figure it out. Anyway she just got tall probably close to 5 1/2 feet at the top of her back, and had a low pot gut but all the meat areas were bony and she ate good. Just never packed on weight on legs and stuff. Jersey steers were always what we raised for beef. Hated angus everyone we ever had was a mean sum bitch. Had to shoot one that got out and take the carcass to the slaughter house.

 

[HuntressOfLight]

...Hated angus everyone we ever had was a mean sum bitch. Had to shoot one that got out and take the carcass to the slaughter house.

You were doing something(s) incorrectly, then. Had plenty of Angus with no issues at all, playing around them all the time when extraordinarily small through to adulthood. Gentle giants in my opinion.

 

[120+]

I have always raised beef cattle up until 3 or 4 years ago, and we kept some Holstein steers we raised on the bottle over the years to eat. But recently I got a steal on a Holstein heifer that was 7 months old when I bought her. I figured we’d raise her for beef. Well I know Holsteins are really bony. But I’m feeding this one about half a 5 gallon bucket full of 15% maximizer from performance in Caneyville once a day and she has hay grass and water, but she’s growing up it seems and not out. Anything I can do to help her pack on more weight? It seemed the steers we used to keep grew a lot faster than this heifer is.

Marry her.