Give Your Show Cattle the Best Start Possible
Dec 02, 2024
Purina® Honor® Show Feeds from Key Cooperative
Starting your new show animals on Show Feeds is critical for the success of your projects. Our thorough line of Purina® Honor® Show products will help set the tone for achieving consistent intakes. They contain the necessary ingredients to maximize daily gain and are beneficial for "curing many evils."
All Species
Alleviate® is a supplement that we recommend for all species. Alleviate is a unique product that helps regulate the pH in your animal’s digestive tract. It helps keep them on feed and avoid roller coaster intakes. Supporting feed intake is crucial with show animals because every single day is important!
We recommend feeding Alleviate when starting your animals on feed. As a benchmark, our recommendation for calves is 24 ounces per day for 7-10 days. For sheep and goats, we recommend 6-8 ounces per day for 7-10 days, and for show pigs we suggest 8-10 ounces per day for 7-10 days.
Show Cattle
Starting your show calves on feed and developing feeding consistency is crucial! Many customers utilize Precon® Complete when starting calves. A nice “ballpark” feeding recommendation for Precon is 1.50 to 3 percent of their body weight.
All of the Honor Show Cattle products contain Amaferm, Tasco, Availa 4 mineral package and Diamond V to ensure consistent intakes and performance development. Two main complete feeds for young cattle are Full Range™and Fitters Edge®. Full Range is a “do it all” feed that is very flexible and promotes bloom and fill. Full Range works great on market steers and heifers, including breeding heifers that need more energy. Fitters Edge is a higher protein, high fiber product with moderate energy. Fitters Edge works great for breeding heifers, especially those that are moderate framed and “easy keepers” that need be fresh.
Finishing Touch® is another option for young calves that need to be pushed for winter shows when extra bloom and body condition are needed. On the other end of the spectrum, Under Control® is a perfect option to hold easy fleshing breeding heifers or market animals until weigh-ins are completed.
Other key management tips are to provide clean, fresh water, grass hay and QLF Ignite Stress tubs. We also recommend consulting with your veterinarian about vaccinations and a complete health care protocol.
Good luck with your 2025 projects!
Questions about feed products or recommendations can be directed to our Lifestyle Feeds sales team:
Kelcie Carpenter | Key Cooperative, Gilbert Feed Sales | 515-520-1962
Jim Hawkins | Lifestyle Feed Sales | 641-990-8964
Joel Edge | Purina Sales Specialist | 319-331-3667