Many youngsters have recently purchased a steer or heifer for a summer fair livestock show. It may be helpful to provide some feeding basics early in the game rather than mid-summer when the animal is too light and needs gains of 6 lb. daily to make the fair minimum weight.

A good starting point is to weigh the animal now. If this isn't possible, hopefully you have a weight when the animal was purchased so that could be used as the starting point or you can purchase a beef cattle weight tape from your local feed store. The next step would be to estimate the weight the animal should be at fair time. The goal for a fair animal, is choice, with a yield grade of 1 or 2. This weight varies among different breeds. A straight Hereford or Angus may be finished at 1100 lb.; while a straight charolais or limousine may finish at 1400 lbs. An average finish weight for commercial feedlot steers is 1250 lb. and heifers 1150 lb.

Once we have a starting weight and an estimate of finish weight, then we need to count the days between the day the animal was weighed and the date of the fair.

For example; our heifer weighed 700 lb. on March 1st. We believe she will need to weigh 1150 lbs. on August 10th. 1150 lb. minus 700 lbs. = 450 lb. This means the heifer needs to gain 450 lb. to reach our goal. Next, count the days between March 1st and August 10th. This equals 163 days. We divide 450 lb. by 163 days to determine how much the animal will need to gain every day. 450 divide by 163 = 2.8 lb./day.

One of the most common mistakes is to continue to grow the heifer or steer out by feeding very little grain and a lot of hay until 100 days before the show. Then we suddenly realize that the animal has to gain a tremendous amount of weight just to make the show minimum. Steers or heifers that only weigh the show minimum RARELY IF EVER are named first in class or champion. Those awards go to the animals that the judge believes will produce a carcass that will meet industry standards. This is Choice Quality Grade with a Yield Grade of 1 or 2.

Animals that weigh the bare minimum to qualify for a fair may have another ugly surprise when they are officially weighed at the fair. An animal loses a considerable amount of weight when it is hauled from home to the fair. The term used for this loss of weight is 'shrink'. The animal will lose at least 5% of it's weight, and possibly as high as 8% depending on how far it was hauled, weather, handling, fill (how much feed and water were consumed before it was weighed) and weighing conditions. Five percent of 1000 equals 50 lb. and 8% is 80 lbs. If the animal had barely made the minimum weight at home, we can be pretty certain that it will be too light when it is weighed at the fair.

In general, it is best to begin feeding a finish ration early. It is a lot easier to slow down rate of gain at the end of the feeding period, than it is to put on a lot of weight at the very end. Once the animal is finished growing muscle, then fat is deposited in the body. Fat is much higher in calories than muscle or lean tissue; therefore each pound of fat takes more feed calories than a pound of muscle.

Let's look at a feeding schedule that could be used to get an animal up on full feed. We will assume that the animal weighs 700 lb. for this example. We could start by feeding 6 lb. of grain. This should be 3 lb. in the morning and 3 lbs. in the evening. This amount of grain could safely be fed even if the steer was only getting hay. Next we need to increase the amount of grain so that the animal is being fed a 'finish' ration. This can be done by increasing the amount of grain 1 lb. every three days. The extra pound of grain should be added at the evening feeding. A schedule might look like this.

Keep repeating this sequence as long as the calves eat all of the grain and don't show any signs of distress such as a bellyache or diarrhea. If that happens, drop back one pound of grain and hold that until they appear normal, then begin to increase feed again.

Make certain that free-choice hay is available all the time…even in the morning when you go out to feed. The best hay is moderate quality hay, not dirty or moldy, but not a very fine-stemmed alfalfa. A grassy-alfalfa or grain or grass hay is excellent.

A supplement should be fed with this ration. Your choice depends on what is available from your local feed store. It most typically is a protein pellet or meal that is fed at the rate of 1 lb./head/day. I prefer a supplement that has the ionophore Bovatec or Rumensin (alphabetically) to help control feed intake, improve feed efficiency, and control bloat. Some show feeds have the supplement mixed in with the grain. You can use a single grain such as barley or corn or a mix of grains, and add your own supplement into the grain mix if this saves money.

As the steers get heavy I prefer to feed a minimum of 4 lb. hay in addition to all of the grain they will consume. The hay is quite important in keeping the gut healthy.

Feeding management is quite important to success. Feed at the same time and place every day of the week. Keep the feed bucket or manger clean and free of dirt, bird droppings, etc. Keep the water clean and cool. Check it daily to see that there is no algae growing or manure contamination. As a good rule of thumb, the animal should be eating about 3% of its body weight. That means an 800 lb. steer will eat 24 lb. while a 1200 lb. steer will eat 36 lb.

Copies of Mike Mehren's book 'Common Cents Livestock Feeding' are still available at $12.95 ea. Postpaid from Haywire Publ. Co., 32839 E Loop Rd Hermiston, OR 97838 Email: mehren@eoni.com

Michael J. Mehren, Ph.D. is a livestock nutritionist who has finished clinical trials on the Hard Water Diet™ guaranteed to beat all others hands-down! Email:

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