Early March is a good time to review cattle performance over winter, then make a final call on which animals will go back to grass, be sold live this spring or finished out of the house.

When making such a decision, the starting point is to weigh cattle before completing a budget based on what the animal is worth now, how much meal is needed for finishing and final beef price.

At €3.70/kg and a finishing ration costing €275/t, the economics are extremely questionable for finishing stores out of the shed.

Weighing

If you decide to finish stores out of the shed by early to mid-June, then at the start of March, these animals should weigh no more than 100kg below your target finishing weight.

Therefore, steers with a target finishing weight of 700kg to 720kg should weigh at least 600kg to 620kg in early March. Move these animals on to the finishing diet as soon as possible.

Options

If cattle are more than 100kg below target finishing weight in early March, at current beef and ration prices, the best option for these animals is to go back to grass or sell live this spring.

Cattle can continue to be stored on silage and 2kg to 3kg/day of ration until they are in a saleable condition, or ground allows turn out to grass.

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Beef management: time to make a call on finishing or grazing store cattle

For farmers with forward store cattle on farm, early March is a good time to make the call on whether these animals will be finshed out of the shed or go back to grass.