Commercial pen of heifers- who all here does it or has done it?

[Sticks&Strings]

My girls are doing it. I thought it was all about their knowledge, test, record book, and healthy but profitable heifers. Well I am just now learning that being able to be profitable with them isn't a thing. My vet who is in a different county told me I need to feed them hay, plus 2 bags of feed per day for them (we have 5). Do yall do the same thing?

[TeamAmerica]

Sounds expensive!

Good luck and hope it is a learning experience. Are these for show or just an ag/FFA project?

[jmoore2006]

My girls are doing it. I thought it was all about their knowledge, test, record book, and healthy but profitable heifers. Well I am just now learning that being able to be profitable with them isn't a thing. My vet who is in a different county told me I need to feed them hay, plus 2 bags of feed per day for them (we have 5). Do yall do the same thing?

Dang..... Roughage here is almost 24$ a hundred. You'll have 10k in these heifers this year

[jmoore2006]

This may be different from the popular opinion but i feed a gallon of 16-18% "whatever is cheaper" per head daily to my heifers. I keep a roll of coastal out for them and 2-3 buckets of mineral tubs. This last batch that came from the sale barn in poor poor shape rebounded in 3-4 weeks. Now they have almost layed off the coastal hay and just pick and graze between rations.

[Sticks&Strings]

Sounds expensive!

Good luck and hope it is a learning experience. Are these for show or just an ag/FFA project?

4h project for the county fair. If they dont make auction ill probably keep a couple and sell the others to fund the project for next year. Hopefully if i feed them on this plan, they will make auction. If they do, they will bring around $8k each minimum.

[TeamAmerica]

$8k! That is impressive

[Javelin]

yep, sadly the show industry in general is all a money game these days and not about producing a profitable product. The pigs that are shown are not the same pig that we go to walmart or the butcher shop and buy, they are all bred at farms who specialize in show animals, not food animals. Heifers shown are so "finished" that a large percentage of them have issues calving, they are not what a beef producer would want in his pasture, at least not in the condition they are being shown.

showing animals can still teach kids responsibility, and work ethic, but to be competitive you have to play the game these days and most (not all) of the time you have to pay big to be competitive. I miss the days of county shows having a bunch of steers or pigs or whatever and basically drawing straws for which kid got which animal and everyone payed the same "entry fee".

[waffles]

Did it for 12 years, last year was our last, my daughter always did Tigerstripes, we would by a pen of 4-5, and sell 2. The others we would hold back and sale at a special sale to try to recoup some money back, she usually did pretty good at the county sale with hers. As far as feeding we bought ours in bulk(2000lb sack) and feed them every other day.

[dclifton]

What county are you in? You will probably need to ask whoever is heading up the 4H chapter or county fair what the expecitations are. We are in Smith county and they just voted out heifers all together. I hated to see it i was trying to get them to do commercial pens.

Something buyers can come bid on to keep. Steers are good for the butcher and thats it. I have just never understood the point in paying for an overpriced steer to just butcher. Yes i understand the money is for the kids ive bought some thats not my point. I primarily try to buy heifers to keep. You would think this would be more attractive to folks.

[BRUTE 23]

It depends on the rules in your county. It's a good deal but in our county quality means nothing. The "judging" is a joke. How much the heifers sells for depends 100% on bringing your buyers or getting some there. "Last place" heifers can sell for 10x "first place". If you dont already have a buyer, get those girls some pictures and things to hand out out to potential buyers and crank the charm to 10. Being nice and communicating with potential buyers will make way more money than breed or feed and that can be to the tune of 5K+ per animal.

Most place in the south an F1 will always sell, especially tiger stripes.

We didn't push feed like show cattle. A lot of parents pay the feed bills and they push feed to them. It doesnt effect the sales price . My son secured the land to keep them on grass, he fed some sweet feed to make them gentle, but they only got hay and wcs through the winter. They were raised just like we raise our heifers to go in to the cattle herd. We made him learn how to produce profitable cattle in a real operation, which is how it is supposed to be.

A lot of those heifers that get too much feed have issues later down and it sours the deal for buyers down the road.

The nutrition will be dependent on the stage the calves are at when you buy them. If you have to wean them then yes you may have to pen them and feed and a ground feed. If you are buying them weaned and have good grass, they shouldn't need much. Keep salt and fresh water out 100% of the time. They need a good loose mineral also or consider and quality molasses tub.

[Dusty Britches]

^^ This is how it is done.

My area, the Brangus Baldies do the best.

[BRANDW]

How much you feed should be based on animal maturity and body condition, which is highly dependent on how much grass & forage you have available. They need to be in good condition, but not halter heifer fat. PM for my number if you would like, have a ton of experience in a neighboring county, happy to chat.

[Randy]

Humble brag, but my kids have shown commercial steers and commercial heifers for a long time. We've won every major Texas commercial steer show and our county heifer show numerous times. Not to mention, I have judged several county comm heifer shows for cattle, record books, and interviews.

Comm heifers are a cattle development marathon. You want to build rib and gut power through feeding. Just throwing a sack or two of feed to them a day won't cut it they'll put on fat where you don't want it.

Mostly, to be competitive, you have to start out with high-quality cattle that best fit your area but will also bring value and sustainability to a cow herd. In recent years, there has been a shift from big, broody females to a more moderate type.

The idea is to have a cow that you have to feed less and have less input cost, so that you can use that feed and those inputs to feed her calf. There is a beef shortage, so we are feeding cattle longer to make up for the short supply. Carcass weights have been constantly on the rise since the 70's, but even more so post-COVID. Not to mention you can stock more 1,000 lb cows than you can 1,500lb cows on our pasture land that is being constantly fragmented.

They absolutely need to be as close to a matching set as possible. I generally feed 6-8 heifers per kid, trying to make the best set of two possible.

Your record book must be perfect, those are free points you cannot afford to lose. The interviews are best when the kids are conversational and have a deep knowledge of their cattle. I prefer interviews in front of the cattle. You find out really quickly the kids who put in the work and know their cattle.

If you ever have some specific questions, feel free to reach out to me.