Beef steer stats

[Mark Bowles]

I have sat down and calculated my steers deadweights and ages at slaughter for the last number of years, these are not my total steers since I starting keeping dexters just the ones I have on record. All these animals are grass fed all year and have been taken to slaughter when I thought they were finished, I think 2 were over thirty months. The averages include some runts and heifers, I have not cherry picked just included all animals.

My last 15 short steers averaged 150.27kg deadweight with an average kill age of 24.73 months
My last 26 non short steers averaged 181.35kg with an average kill age of 24.71 months.

I didn't realise but the average ages work out the same for either short or long.I would have thought on average shorts would be killed at an earlier age than non shorts.
If I look at the steers I have sent in for the last 3/4 years the stats are higher, ie bigger weights and slightly older.
If you look at the last 3 to 4 years years there is a difference.
Last 9 short averaged 149.44kg with an average age of 27 months
Last 10 non short averaged 193.7kg with an average age of 26.3 months.
I have been running them on longer and achieve a better weight with non shorts but not with the shorts.

I just thought I would share this info as it is averaged over a reasonable amount of cattle to make it worth doing.

[Mark Bowles]

Interesting that there has been no comments, people seem to be more inclined to talk about politics than the breed recently on here.
Are my weights equal to some kind of national average, or lower, or higher or do people not actually bother to record their weights and kill ages. It would be nice to hear from some of the people who do keep records to make some kind of comparison.

[Louisa Gidney]

I book my steers in for the last week in November that the abattoir accepts them so that the beef is ready for the first week in December. Consequently, the staff are rushed off their feet and aren't predisposed for queries about deadweight etc. Every packet of meat has its weight on the label but life is too short to do the math.

[Jac]

I just thought I would share this info as it is averaged over a reasonable amount of cattle to make it worth doing.

Perhaps folk thought that the weights of their small herd didn't merit a comment.

[Rob R]

I'm a bit too busy to discuss politics or beef at the moment but your averages look pretty ideal to me. The weights seem to be creeping up beyond the effect of age - is that a result of a difference in feeding or breeding? I'm assuming you already had some good grass.

[Louisa Gidney]

The only recent weight I have is for a 3 year old short leg bull who went through the cull ring in Nov at 433kg live weight @ 90p/kg.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

All of mine are non-shorts, but my figures are more in line with your shorts Mark. Maybe not surprising since I have been trying to produce non bulldog carriers the size of short legged Dexters for about 20 years. Mine are totally grass fed and I suspect a lot poorer grass than most. No fertiliser, no re-seed some of it for over 50 years.

Duncan

[Saffy]

That is interesting Mark I would have thought the shorts would have gone earlier. Good figures.

Stephanie

[SteveM]

have a 30 month short legged steer away at the moment, will see how we compare when he is picked up next weekend.

A second similar animal reaches 30 month in april. as we don't have a home for him at moment thinking of turning him out to grass for summer and freezing in the autumn. is he likely to put much weight on if killed around 40 months old?

[Boofarm]

have a 30 month short legged steer away at the moment, will see how we compare when he is picked up next weekend.

A second similar animal reaches 30 month in april. as we don't have a home for him at moment thinking of turning him out to grass for summer and freezing in the autumn. is he likely to put much weight on if killed around 40 months old?

Yes - I transported some 48month animals in the summer as a favour and i believe one of them hung up at over 300 Kg - no idea on condition but they looked pretty fat to me.

These were non shorts mind you

Cheers

[Mark S]

Hi Mark,
Thanks for posting your steer stats. It's nice to read something different for a change as opposed to people's concerns on the running of the society.
Detailed below are our deadweight carcass stats compiled since 2012.
The carcass weights are mostly steers and are a mix of homebred and bought in animals. The majority have been finished off grass, or haylage in the winter, and a small number have also received up to 4lb/head beefnuts per day when finishing inside when we have had to ensure the required level of finish to meet target dates for the butcher. With the exception of two animals for home freezer sales all the rest have been sold to a butcher who specialises in traditional and rare breeds.
Short legged: Four averaged 141 kg deadweight at 20.5 mths old.
Non short: Fourteen averaged 176 kg deadweight at 21.7 mths old.
We are probably selling our animals at a younger age than some breeders however all have been sold with the desired level of finish and it suits our system to sell the animals when they are ready. This entails booking animals in with the butcher up to two months in advance. Prices attained since 2012 have ranged between 340p/kg and 380p/kg deadweight.
Mark S Brereton Dexters

[Mark Bowles]

Thanks for the stats Mark, yes your killing ages are young but as you say it needs to work for you. I would imagine if you took them longer you would be the same as mine give or take for grass fed animals.

[Boofarm]

I've just been updating a little project of mine to predict returns from a beast in terms of products, and pricing necessary to achieve a target return.

7 steers and heifers included to date ranging from 178 to 239 Kg Dwt overall average 200Kg - all killed just sub 30 months, all grass fed with a sniff at a bucket as it goes past.

[SteveM]

two steers back today

short legged at 48 month old 208kg dw, came out around 138kg collected from slaughterhouse
long legged at 36 month old 240kg

[Mark Bowles]

I took a steer in today 210kg graded R3 , nearly 24 months old, wish they were all like that. This chap wintered out as well.