Not Your Neighbor's bottle calf: Feeding Freezer Beef

Originally Published in Gulf Coast Cattleman

In a post-covid world, growing and selling your own freezer beef may be more popular than ever, but before you jump on the bandwagon there’s a few things you should know. For example, which animals will be most profitable as beef, how to feed those cattle before harvesting and how to judge when the animal is finished or ready to harvest. Because the beef industry and the people you’re feeding deserve a quality product.

Selecting your future freezer beef starts with considering which animals will be most productive in your herd and which will be most profitable as beef. Steer calves, free martin heifers, and heifers who have other reproductive issues are all good freezer beef candidates. Depending on the current market and your freezer needs, cull cows may be considered for ground product. When selecting calves to feed to finish, Michelle Elmore, Alabama Beef Cattle Extension Specialist, said there are certain characteristics to keep in mind.

“Ultimately, a feeder animal needs to grow rapidly and efficiently to produce a carcass with acceptable quality and yield,” Elmore said. “Looking for characteristics like adequate frame, body capacity, and acceptable structural correctness. Additionally, they should have an appropriate lean-to-fat ratio up to market weight to produce muscle without excess fat. And of course, we want those animals to be healthy.”

When evaluating feeder calves consider frame size and muscling, Elmore recommends, consulting the USDA standards for grades of feeder cattle. The USDA standards describe the various types of feeder calves and how to evaluate them for growth potential.

 “Under ordinary development and feeding conditions, different frame sizes will reach harvest potential at different weights,” Elmore said. “Using Beef Improvement Federation frame scores to evaluate the herd sire and cows in the herd can help select for the desired frame size of feeder cattle. Frame size is highly heritable.”

Steers and heifers with a large frame size should reach a target finish weight to potentially produce a U.S. Choice carcass when live weights exceed 1250 pounds and 1150 pounds. Medium frame size steers should reach finish at 1100 to 1250 pounds, while medium frame size heifers should reach finish at 1000 to 1150 pounds. Small frame size steers could finish at less than 1100 pounds and heifers could finish at less than 1000 pounds.

“Feeder cattle can be evaluated for beef potential by a combination of frame size and muscling score,” Elmore said. “A USDA muscling score of one is the highest level of muscling and a score of three is the lowest level of muscling. The combination of frame size and muscle score can be used to select feeder cattle with the most potential for beef production. Looking at those target weights compared to the animal’s frame score is a good way to evaluate feeder animals at the beginning of the feeding phase and at the end of the feeding phase.”

Beyond frame size and muscling score, there are a number of other selection tools producers can utilize to produce feeder cattle for choice or better beef.

“There are a lot of genetic selection tools that can help producers evaluate the bulls they’re selecting which will impact the quality of feeder calves they produce,” Elmore said. “If you look at EPDs and performance indices, you can look at weaning weight and yearling weight which will give you an idea of post-weaning growth potential. You may also want to look at the mature height EPD to give you an idea of frame size potential.”

The names and availability of EPDs and performance indices will vary from breed to breed, but most will offer similar information on registered bulls. Paying attention to those related to growth, weight, and carcass quality when selecting a herd sire will only benefit your future freezer beef quality.

“When selecting a herd sire, you will want to look at their carcass weight, marbling, intramuscular fat, ribeye, and back fat EPDs,” Elmore said. “Additionally, there are also selection indices that incorporate carcass quality EPDs with economic values. The names of those EPDs will vary from breed association to breed association, but they can be very helpful in selecting a bull to produce feeder cattle.”

It's not all about EPDs though, selecting feeder cattle should also include keeping good records. Recording yield and quality grades from past feeder cattle and keeping frame score records are good places to start. The more you know about past calves from a specific mating, the more information you have to produce and select better quality feeder cattle. 

“Keeping good production records will also help producers select feeder cattle that will perform well,” Elmore said.

In short, the better quality the feeder calf, the better quality the beef will be. Your dogied bottle calf may make decent ground product, but it probably isn’t going to grade prime. If you want to market quality freezer beef, select quality animals.

Kim Mullenix, Extension Specialist in Beef Cattle Systems at Auburn University, said once calves are weaned, around seven to eight months of age, they should be transitioned into a backgrounding phase. This is when calves selected for future freezer beef will start learning to eat feedstuffs.

“Getting those calves used to eating a higher grain-based diet is going to be important as they transition into that freezer beef readiness phase,” Mullenix said. “Sometimes there is a transition period associated with getting calves used to eating feedstuff, especially, for those calves who have been freshly weaned. It may take a two-week acclimation period to get them familiar with having a combination of feed and hay in front of them. During that time, it’s important to provide feed that is very palatable to them. They need something high in energy, and a good quality forage. This will also provide a good start to support gain as they progress towards finishing.”

It's also important to make sure feeder cattle are meeting their macro and micro mineral needs for growth.

“A complete mineral supplement will make sure they are meeting those needs,” Mullenix said. “Then, depending on how you want to market your beef, you may want to consider using ionophores added into your mineral supplement. Ionophores will improve feed efficiency. Implants are another tool to consider if you plan to market a more traditional commercial beef product. If you are wanting to market all-natural beef, then those tools would not fit your marketing goals.”

When building a finisher ration, Mullenix said producers should establish their goals for the ration first.

“Establish your production goal,” Mullenix said. “The first step is to know what their nutritional demands are. You can refer to one of your Extension publications on beef cattle nutrient requirements. You can use the weaning weight of the feeder calves to determine your starting point and determine your end point based on their frame size. The second step is to build a nutrition program to meet those demands. Using your beef cattle nutrient requirements, you can calculate how much energy and protein you need to achieve two pounds of gain per day.

“Typically, that is going to start with a forage base. Even in a finishing ration, a quality forage base is important for maintaining their rumen’s health through the finishing phase. You need at least half a percent of animal body weight per day of forage or roughage in their diet. Then, the remaining portion of the diet can come from a grain ration or other high-quality forages.”

For those who don’t want to build a ration themselves, most feed companies will offer a finisher ration that meet those grain energy and protein requirements. Local Extension specialists and beef cattle nutritionists with your feed company of choice, are also great resources when selecting a finisher ration.

When planning your finishing system, you should consider the time requirements to finish cattle which will vary based on mature frame size and finishing system. Typically, grain-finished cattle will finish considerably faster than grass-finished cattle. Grass-finished beef will also have a different flavor from traditional grain-finished beef and a more niche market.

“A grass finishing system, will take additional time to meet the same endpoint as a grain finishing system,” Mullenix said. “Both systems are good options, it just depends on your available resources, target market, and end goals. A lot of times we focus on traditional grain finishing, but here in the southeast we have enough quality forage to meet grass finishing requirements. It all just comes down to your production goals for your market.”

Mullenix said most cattle are ready to be harvested based on a finishing weight of 1100 to 1400 pounds. That range accounts for mature frame size variations across different breed types.

“Think about the size of mature cows in your herd,” Mullenix said. “How big are they? In general, your feeder cattle should be close to the average mature cow weight of your herd when they are finished.”

Whether you’re finishing a calf for your family freezer or trying to start a freezer beef business, do the industry a favor and prioritize quality in each step of the production cycle. Start with good, moderate frame size cows. Use registered bulls so you know what you’re getting. Use bulls with solid terminal traits and good performance numbers. Keep accurate records each year. Establish a backgrounding and finishing protocol. Make sure those cattle reach finishing weight for their frame size prior to harvest. When we feed our cattle, feed our family, and feed our country, the focus should always be quality.