When finishing cattle, bulls are the most efficient animals at converting feed into lean muscle. They tend to grade higher than steers, and carcase weight can be increased without the animal becoming over-fat.

With limited fodder on numerous farms this winter, there are more farmers looking at finishing 2017 spring-born males as young bulls by next June.

Moving bulls on to ad-lib meals later this winter will provide considerable fodder savings, compared with steers eating 25kg to 30kg of silage per day.

Silage quality is another factor, with material made in late autumn offering little feed value.

Therefore, it will do little to increase weight gains on yearling steers this winter, making cattle that were destined for sale in spring less valuable.

TB

The other factor that could push more farmers to finishing bulls is the rising incidence of TB, especially if a farm that normally sells live cattle, comes under movement restriction.

With extra cattle on the farm, housing space could be at a premium, and grazing might not be available to carry additional cattle next summer. Finishing male cattle as bulls is potentially the answer.

High risk

But, while bulls are more efficient animals to finish, they require the highest level of management to fulfil their potential.

They do not respond well to a store period, and when cattle supplies are plentiful, processors tend to favour steers, therefore making bull beef a higher risk option.

But if well managed, bulls will return a margin, and in many situations it is a risk worth taking. Outlined are 10 steps which offer best practice for farmers feeding bulls this winter.

1 Cattle type: finishing bulls on ad-lib concentrates is high cost. However, on a well-managed system with bulls of high growth potential, the cost of 1kg of carcase gain from ad-lib feeding will be cheaper than that for steers on conventional silage and concentrate systems.

Selecting the right type of animal is crucial to making the economics stack up. You want cattle that have plenty of frame and are lean.

Continental breeds are ideal animals for ad-lib finishing and can be moved on to high levels of meal feeding when 200kg to 250kg below the target slaughter weight. This means bulls should be around 480kg to 520kg liveweight as a starting point in January.

Breeds such as Belgian Blue or Blonde d’Aquitaine can struggle to meet the correct fat scores, but this can also be managed though feeding.

Traditional beef breeds and dairy-bred bulls are still suitable for bull beef systems. However, they should only be moved on to ad-lib meal levels when around 150kg to 200kg below target slaughter weight as their feed conversion rates will drop off earlier than continental breeds.

2 Budget: as always, do your sums to see what it will cost to finish bulls. If the sums do not stack up, and there is a better margin in selling cattle live in the spring, then it is best to make that decision now.

A few simple calculations will allow you to budget how much meal will be required to finish cattle and what it will cost.

It will take 1.5t to 2t of concentrate to finish a bull from the moment they started creep feeding in autumn until slaughter.

Ideally, you should be regularly weighing cattle to make sure they are on track.

3 Ration type: to finish bulls at the correct fat score, they need high levels of energy and starch. During the final stages of the finishing period when cattle are moving on to ad-lib feeding, rations should be 12.5 to 13 MJ ME with starch levels of 35% to 40%.

Protein levels should be limited to between 12% and 13%. Any higher and the protein will encourage the animal to keep growing, rather than laying down fat cover. If bulls are below 480kg liveweight in early January, they can be offered a higher protein (16%) growing ration until they reach 480kg to 520kg, and can then be moved on to the finishing blend.

Finishing rations should be made up of 30% to 40% barley and the same for maize. The remainder of the ration should consist of straights that are high in rumen digestible fibre and minerals.

Keep the ration simple and use good-quality ingredients. Avoid blends that have a lot of dust as this will increase the risk of acidosis.

4 Feed rates: bulls should be built up to ad-lib levels gradually over a period of 10 to 14 days to allow them to adjust to the changes in diet.

On most farms, bulls will be on 3kg to 4kg/day at present. Increase to 5kg in early January and 6kg by the end of the month.

Split the meal into two feeds, one in the morning and one at night to prevent bulls from gorging on concentrates and developing acidosis.

By the end of the month, most spring-born bulls will be 120 to 150 days from slaughter date and ready to move on to ad-lib feeding. Increase meal levels by 1kg/day every four days until they are eating to appetite.

5 Do not let meal run out: once bulls are on ad-lib meal, they must have access to feed at all times. Ideally, it should be offered in a hopper as this reduces the risk of it running out and bulls going hungry.

If bulls run out of feed, it will increase the risk of digestive upsets and reduce performance. You will then have to build up to ad-lib levels again.

Farmers who feed bulls manually should ensure that animals are fed at the same time every day.

6 Keep feed fresh: keep the ration fresh to encourage higher intakes. Prevent birds from accessing meal and clean troughs regularly.

If feeding a blend and it separates, do not force bulls to clean up the remaining ration in the trough before refilling. Empty the trough and mix with fresh feed, or offer to lower priority stock.

7 Water: cattle on high levels of meal need fresh water and lots of it. As a rule of thumb, for every 1kg of concentrate fed to bulls on ad-lib meal, they require six litres of water.

A pen of 10 bulls eating 12kg of meal require 720 litres of water per day. Small drinking troughs that only fill once the animal places its muzzle in the bowl should be replaced with larger units. A lack of fresh water reduces intake, which means lower performance.

8 Fibre: when on ad-lib meals, at least 10% of the bull’s diet should be in the form of straw or hay to provide long fibre and prevent acidosis. Silage can be used provided it is not precision-chopped. Feeding 1kg to 2kg/head/day of straw will suffice.

9 Housing spaces: as bulls grow, housing space is reduced so make sure they have plenty of lying space from the outset. Bulls should be penned based on their final liveweight to prevent overstocking.

Having to remove bulls from a pen in four months’ time because of a lack of space should be avoided. Mixing strong bulls will increase aggression levels.

10 Talk to your factory: finally, keep in contact with your factory. Knowing what your factory wants in terms of weight range and conformation will help to maximise the return on bulls.