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LAKE, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) Cattle will be accepted at the Turtle Lake weighing station before 11 a.m., then exhibited as groups of three or four head. The spring-born steer calves consigned to the show then will be fed to market weight at the North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center’s feedlot.
The NDSU Extension Service is partnering with the Dakota Feeder Calf Show on the
show and feedout project to give cattle producers an opportunity to experience
retaining ownership of cattle beyond the cow-calf phase of production. Producers
who consign their calves to the feedout program will receive performance and
carcass data.
Extension livestock specialist Karl Hoppe at the Carrington Research Extension Center says, “This cattle feedout project will give producers information on how their calves perform in the feed yard and on the calves’ carcass value.”
Cattle producers have used the feeding and carcass information to select bulls that will improve the feedlot value of their calves.
During last year’s feedout, the calves gained an average of 587 pounds in 212
days, with a total feeding cost (excluding interest) of $1.08 per pound of gain.
The average sale weight was 1,224 pounds. The calves were fed with a market
weight breakeven of $132.89 per hundredweight.
In the 2012-13 feedout, the spread in net return per head between the average of
the top and bottom five herds was $113.53. The spread becomes more noticeable
between the top and bottom herd: The top-profiting herd made $102.49 per head,
while the bottom herd lost $105.36 per head. Weight gain per day of age was 3.13
pounds for the top-profiting herd and 2.73 for the bottom herd.
Feedout project staff will gather data on rate of gain, feeding costs and other
characteristics during the trial. After the calves are marketed, the staff will
collect and provide information to the entrants on carcass weight, meat quality
and value.
Producers will be assessed an entry fee of $20 per calf. Dakota Feeder Calf Show
officials will present awards to producers at the end of the trial.
For more information or to preregister calves, contact Hoppe at (701) 652-2951;
Darwin Chesrown, Turtle Lake Farmers Union Oil, at (701) 448-2356; or Irene
Graves, McLean County Extension office, at (701) 462-8541, ext. 208.
Cattle may be registered the day of the show, but the feedout is limited to 180
head.