Early Webster County Beef Weigh-in December 12

The early-bird Webster County 4-H/FFA Beef weigh-ins will be held December 12 in Blue Hill. Exhibitors wanting to show market steers or market heifers at the Webster County Fair, Nebraska State Fair, and/or Ak-Sar-Ben must identify and weigh in their projects. This weigh-in is designed for exhibitors who want to attend early progress shows with their animals and need the weigh-in information, tags, and identification on their animals. The beef will be weighed in Blue Hill at the Blue Hill Livestock Sale Barn on Sunday, December 12 from 9:30 am till 3:30 pm. There will only be one weigh-in site this year. The Webster County UNL Extension office asks that all exhibitors have their animals identified and tagged by that date if at all possible and that the affidavits are filled out and signed prior to, or at weigh-in, and are not to be taken home. Exhibitors may download their ownership affidavit from the internet or pick one up from their 4-H leader or our office and have it ready to go for weigh-in. 4-H tags and market beef affidavits are available from the Extension Office in Red Cloud. FFA tags and affidavits are available from agriculture education instructors. For those that cannot get the tags or affidavits prior to the weigh-in, they will be available at the weigh-in sites. Electronic Identification (EID) for all beef will be done at each weigh-in. This will be a second tag in addition to the 4-H/FFA tag. EID is voluntary, but highly suggested. We further request that if you put your tags in before weigh-in, that you reserve the one-third of the left ear closest to the head for the EID tag. 4-H exhibitors are reminded that if they intend on going on to State Fair or Ak-Sar-Ben, they must have their animals DNA sampled. FFA requirements are somewhat different, for instance beef going on to State Fair must have either a nose print or EID tag, as well as their FFA tag. We will also be asking again this year that each exhibitor tell us at weigh-in if the animal is for the “PB Breed Steer” competition, and also if it is “Bred & Fed” or “Bought & Fed”. “Bred & Fed” animals mean that – “You or your family owned the cow or heifer, which is the mother of the steer, at the time of the calf’s conception, and that it was born and fed on your farm or place of project care”. Conversely, “Bought and Fed” means that you bought the steer from somewhere other than your family operation. We will also need to know the place and date of birth of the market beef. As far as we know, the Webster County Fair dates are July 10-16, 2011. In planning for a market beef enterprise, exhibitors should match the size of the calf that they pick out to match their intent. If it is the intent to “dead-end” the calf at the county fair then you should figure from December 12 to July 12 for time on feed, which computes to 212 days. Exhibitors should not just go out in a lot and pick out the biggest calf. That calf may just be too big to get to the county fair or beyond successfully. On the other hand you don’t want too small a calf, that can’t possibly make weight by county fair. Beef exhibitors will need to do some research and get a weight on the calf if at all possible when they choose it. How will you know how big a calf you need to bring to weigh-in? Figuring that you want the calf to gain at least 2.5 lbs a day (2.2 is required) then assuming a county fair weight of 1300 lbs, then the biggest calf that and exhibitor should weigh in on the first December weigh-in would be about 730-780 pounds. Now that is considering the July 12 fair date, so the exhibitor would have to adjust accordingly if it changes. If you figure 3 lbs. per day ROG, then a 650-700 lb steer would be about right. If an exhibitor plans to go to State Fair with the 1300 pound calf then they would have 260 days to feed and at 2.5 #/day the calf should not weigh more than 650 on Dec. 12. If a 4-H or FFA exhibitor waits till the late January weigh-in then they have about 160 days until the Webster County Fair and figuring 2.5 lbs/day, then the calf, for a 1300# finish weight, should be no more than 880 lbs and 800 lbs on January 30 if you can get 3#/day gain. The second, more traditional Webster County market beef weigh-in for all others who need to weigh, tag, and ID their cattle will be held on January 30 in Blue Hill with the same location, and time frame. Please contact Dewey Lienemann at the Webster County Extension office in Red Cloud at (402) 746-3417 for more information.