How do you guys that have done this before do it. I have been told several different ways just wondering what you think is the best way to do it. Thanks for any input

Haven't done one in years but my Grandfather used to lock them up in a really small pen where they didn't have much room to move and give them all the sweet corn/grain feed he could eat for about 6 weeks. Make sure he is still on the incline when you butcher him out, the worst thing you can do is load him up and take him to a butcher to slaughter and he has to wait around 3 or 4 days until he can get to him. If the food supply is reduced for several days and he quits gaining it will significantly lower the quality of the meat. I've never met anyone who could produce the quality of beef that my grandfather could with plain ole mixed up half breed stock. He never had any pure bred stock but always produced the best tasting steak you've ever put in your mouth and because he kept them penned up where they couldn't move much you could cut it with a butter knife.

A co-worker and I grew an angus steer and slaughtered him last month. Just over 1300 pounds live weight with 63% yield. I am really pleased. We already started the next calf.

I havn't fed one out in years. Last one was about 1200 pounds when we butchered him, smaller size pen and feed him good feed. I figured out what I had in him in wrapped meat and picked up a Winn Dixie ad and it figured out better to buy from the market as needed. I had a lot of time in him besides having to haul him to the butcher. We don't eat enough meat, just two of us, to try another one.

As of last year, your results were still holding true. Don't know about this year. I have one now that loves kids and dogs but will run down a donkey just to run over it.

Don't know a thing about it but would love to split a cow with someone one day

Let him grow slower on grass then finish him last 8 weeks on feed. Then make the locker let him hang for 2 weeks on rail before processing. Best beef you will ever have this way. We used to do it every year when I had a place and we came out everything for about the price of hamburger.

Thanks for the replies so far. I figured buy the time it was all said and done it would be pretty much the same cost as going to the grocery store if not a little more. It has been a while since I had a home grown beef but I remember how good it was. My dad wants to go in with me and split one so I told him we will do it one time to see how it turns out. So how big should I let him get on grass before I put him in a confined space and feed him? What should I feed him and for how long? Thanks

My mom and dad deal in show calves. Last few years they have slaughtered a show steer. Finest beef I've ever had. All they do is lay up under fans all day. It makes for some tender steaks.

Grow them up to around 1000-1100 lbs on grass and supplemental feed. Put them up for the past 6 weeks and feed them a good quality feed, we use a mix from Ogle feed in Elora, TN. Feed them nothing but a finisher feed and hay.

We use to custom mix our own "Auburn Bull Test" feed and fed them out on that.

If you can't use a whole one, contact your extension agent. If they have kids showing calves sometimes they would sell all or half a show calf for meat. You can also contact them about where they are buying their feed.

One thing to remember that my inlaws don't understand is yes it is grain fed and all natural but not fresh. The meat you buy at the store is fresh and hasn't been frozen. They bring hamburger down here thats been frozen for 8-12 months and call it fresh.They tell me that off taste is because it's fresh Last time I told them it was freezer burnt and gave it to the dogs.

My dad and my grandpa grew one each every spring when I was a kid. Two stories stand out from that time.
My pa had one break out and elude him and dad for about 2 weeks. Dad borrowed a tranquilizer gun from a vet, caught up to him in some rough terrain and put him out.
They were trying to figure out how they were going to get him out and Dad felt a burning horrible sensation on his, umm, manhood (he used a different term). He said an ant had set down on it and set him on fire.
The other one was one Paw made a pet of. He'd call him and he'd come over to the fence and Paw would rub his head.
He may have called him "Buster" or something like that and he fooled with him every afternoon.
He didn't enjoy those steaks a bit.
They got out of raising em not long after that.

Precisely how I grow out mine. It is delish! Grocery store meat is not in the same class.

Feed him a gallon of sweet feed a day for a couple weeks so he can build up enzymes to digest the sweet feed. Then lock him up and pour the peanut hay and sweet feed to him. I add a cup of trace mineral or salt to the feed a day. Once I run a ton thru him/her they make the final trip. Only worry about ribeyes, T-bones and roast. Grind everything else. I've seen folks get all the steaks cut like London or flank. Keep in mind they are tougher to begin with and your gonna have then sit in a freezer for a few months so they ain't worth it. Just grind them. FYI- a bull/Steer/Cow over 30 months old has to be cut boneless.

Find someone with a grinder mixer or find a place that will mix feed for you. Get about a ton mixed. I grind about 1200-1300lb of corn, 50lb bag of yellow mill (hot mix, to make them eat) 100lb of dried alfalfa, 3 square bales. Cotton seed, corn ears and stalks, soybeans, sunflowers and about anything you can get your hands on that you think cows will eat, you can throw in a grinder mixer and make feed.

I'm fixing to grind about a ton and feed a steer out. Put them on a small dirt lot. It's better to feed out 2 at a time so they will compete better for feed. KEEP OUT PLENTY OF FRESH WATER.

I still remember when I was 8 which is 40 years ago the butcher called us in to look at our steer we had butchered. My dad had foundered it. Are only choice was to have it all ground up. I still to this day do not eat meat loaf or hamburgers fried in a skillet.

Buy a weaned steer that hasn't been creep fed. Main thing is don't start with a fleshy steer and I would feed a steer. Most heifers will be dark cutters by the time you kill them. Start with a high roughage diet and heat it up as they get bigger