Meal or no meal?

For a start we need to decide if an animal needs concentrates or not. Because regardless of whether they will be finished off the grass or out of the shed, if an animal is going to need concentrates, they should start concentrate feeding on the grass.

Looking at the breed of the animal we are finishing is the first port of call. Continental breeds (eg Charolais, Limousin, Simmental) are later-maturing and can be very difficult to finish off grass alone.

These will likely need concentrates to reach the target weight and level of fat cover in time, given grass quality and weather conditions will be in decline.

However, traditional, early-maturing cattle (eg Hereford and Angus) are more suited to forage (grass/silage) based finishing diet and, after a good grazing season to date, should soon be showing a good cover of flesh.

These should get away out without concentrates. That said, backward animals may still need concentrates to compensate for declining grass quality and weather conditions later in the year.

Grass or shed?

Once you have established whether an animal will need concentrates, you can then decide if they will be finished off the grass or out of the shed.

As grazed grass is considerably cheaper than grass silage (or concentrates), early finishing of cattle at pasture in autumn, before housing becomes necessary, is obviously less costly. However, there are limitations.

The type of animal is important.

Research to date indicates that it is preferable to finish bulls indoors on a concentrate-based diet

Steers, heifers and cull cows all have the potential to be finished off grass. However, research to date indicates that it is preferable to finish bulls indoors on a concentrate-based diet.

Timing is also a big one and it can often be the biggest issue farmers run into. You have to ask yourself "is this animal going to be fit to go before it needs to be housed (20 October to 5 November, depending on land type)?"

As mentioned, if the animal is going to need concentrates, they should be started at grass. This is called the "build-up period". But you can only go so far into the build-up period before you need to make a decision on a grass-finish or a shed-finish.

Planning to finish off grass and then being forced to house with only two to four weeks of finishing left is a bad scenario. Performance will be seriously impinged with the change-over to the shed.

Your decision needs to a practical one too. How feasible will it be for you to feed cattle at grass? Have you a stand-off pad or a hard base on which to place troughs? Can you establish a safe way to feed a group of large beef cattle?

Energy, rather than protein, is the limiting factor in autumn grass so supplementation with concentrated energy sources is required.

Meal at grass

Feeding rates of 0.5kg concentrate per 100kg live weight are recommended for grazing animals near finishing. Therefore, a 500kg animal would require about 2.5 kg/head per day. However, where grass supply is poor or low quality, double this rate should be allocated to achieve the finishing targets.

Studies at Grange have shown that at adequate grass allowances in autumn, feeding 0.50-0.75 kg of concentrate per 100 kg live weight resulted in carcase growth responses between 30g and 110g carcase per kg concentrate.

In practice, feeding this moderate level of concentrates will likely result in carcase growth responses at the upper end of this range.

Concentrate feeds should be high in energy, at least 30% starch and sugar, with 12-14% CP in the DM. Energy, rather than protein, is the limiting factor in autumn grass so supplementation with concentrated energy sources rather than protein is required.