Colin, with your two steers, was the difference in weight just the age and the one had grown more, or were they different sized animals from the outset?
Age was the main difference, although the older one was a heavier frame, but not much taller. He also had the benefit of our best spring grass. He was the first from my own bull. The younger was not from my bull.
Just as a note, when I finish my animals, I am usually told that I go slightly over the top with plenty of fat cover. So this time when I sent three steers recently, I sent ones deliberately that I thought were not quite ready. I had to force myself to do this. But they were, in fact, not quite ready and a bit too lean!!! Getting it right for grading is quite a fine dividing line. I think I'm going back to just plenty of fat cover.
