Here is a partial reply to the above questions and an overview of the system from a post I did on another forum. I am not going to share exact ADG numbers at this point because I have a number of animals to pu the beef yet and I have not worked up all the numbers. I am happy to share the overview but at some point I think exact numerical data becomes proprietary information. Here is an overview in response to another question:

Calve in March, fenceline wean in November, put weaned steers and non retained heifers on standing unharvested corn Jan 1, harvest them in April just prior to need to spring strip till for corn again. I am looking at moving the corn-in date up to maybe mid Dec. I am concerned about taking calves from mama's milk and throwing them into a corn field. I think they need a hay transition period. Harvesting at 12-13 months they will be a little lighter than usual.

The key is to be able to raise good corn at low cost/low inputs. I strip till continuous RR corn very successfully (near 200 bu/a) but that is not easy and takes the right equipment. I have no idea on bushels but I do know I can get about 300 cow days grazing from and acre. But if finishing probably want them to graze a higher percent of ears than stalks so I'll probably keep that down around 200 CD for the first wave through.

I am considering a sequential grazing system where animals to be harvested get first crack at the standing corn then the retained cows and heifers can come in and clean up, in addition to their primary hay, after most of the ears are gone. This will help toward my original goal which is to use my own production corn to reduce the amount of expensive purchased hay I need to buy to get through the winter in WI. I don't/can't make my own hay.

Main lesson learned: do not have retained animals (bull, cows, retained heifers) grazing unharvested corn. It's just too rich for them. Hooves grow too fast, calves too large, etc. Harvested stalks are ok, unharvested with grain is not. My first winter went OK, problems started showing up in retained animals the second winter. Ear corn is basically for young animals to be harvested only.

I don't know that my ADG and weight data is for public consumption. The numbers are not really comparable to other systems. I will say that I am aiming for a harvest weight of 950-1050 lb as a target. My hanging weights on the first group picked up are surprisingly a higher percent of live weight than I have seen previously with older, heavier animals. Box to carcass is also higher than usual although I do trim heavily with almost no bone.

Caution however - most things are not as easy in practice as they sound reading it on a computer screen. This seems to be a system however that allows a small operator to produce lightly corn finished beef at home. Whether it is economically attractive or not may depend on many local factors.

Another caution: having them graze unharvested standing corn is very different from loading a steer stuffer with purchased grain.

Jim at Dawn

Here is a picture of one steer a few days prior to processing. He was right about 950 lb. In the future I won't have the steers to be harvested "cleaning up" a field like this.

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