Terminology Tuesday brought to you by two of our student workers, Alli and Nathan!
This week’s terms define what a bunk call , slick bunk, and finish ration is! 🌾📞🐮
A bunk call is an assessment of the feed bunk for each pen, in order to decide how much feed the feeders need to put in the bunk that day. At SAY, our student workers make this judgment of how much feed is in the bunk in the morning before feeding, mid-day, and in the evening before their second feeding. Our manager takes this information and decides if the steers need to receive more ration or less ration in their bunk dependent on the bunk call for that day and the days before.
In many cases as the steers grow and eat more feed, their bunks may be “slick.” Meaning there is little to no feed left in the feed bunk. The bunk call will then reflect that. Since that pen had little to no feed left in their bunk, they are ready and (in a perfect world) should be able to eat more poundage of feed that is delivered to their bunk.
A finish or finishing ration in cattle is given to them during their final phase of growth before going to harvest. This diet contains roughly 70-90% of concentrates like corn and/or wheat, 10-30% roughages like silage, grass hay, and/or straw, and other ingredients like an ionophore, minerals, vitamins, and a source of more protein. The main purpose of a finish ration is to grow fat deposition in forms of marbling and signature places that show us the cattle are finished. This is not a ration that you would feed to calves that were just weaned due to this is a ration targeting fat deposition and finalizing growth, not to go into muscle and bone growth.
Let us know if there are any terms that you have always wanted to know and understand more within a feedlot or general agriculture sense!
EAT BEEF 🥩
University of Idaho Steer-A-Year Program
Share
The Steer-A-Year program allows participants to donate a steer to the University of Idaho with the final proceeds going towards student scholarships.
The Steer-A-Year program allows participants to donate a steer to the University of Idaho with the final proceeds going to Animal Science and Athletics scholarships and beef research. Donated steers—usually 50 some a year—are also used in a variety of hands-on animal science courses and for 4-H and FFA judging contests. If you don’t own a steer, you can purchase one from the University of Idaho. D
Another week of Feedlot Terminology brought to you by two of our student workers, Alli and Nathan!
This week’s terms explain what a Hot Ration is and Ionophores 🌾🫀🌽
If you are ever on a feedlot and a producer says that the ration is “too hot” they are referring to the ration has too much rapidly fermenting energy/starch components like corn, wheat, barley, etc. Cattle producers feed “hot” rations to provide a lot of energy to promote growth, weight gain in the animals, improve feed efficiency, and more factors.
Feeding ionophores like Rumensin (or also known as Monensin) helps manage some of the risks associated with a hot ration as long as the ration is still properly formulated. Ionophores help reduce methane production, improve feed efficiency, and reduce the risk of digestive disorders.
Let us know if there are any terms that you have always wanted to know and understand more within a feedlot or general agriculture sense!
EAT BEEF 🥩
This week we will be starting a new segment brought to you by our student workers, Alli and Nathan, explaining feedlot terminology!
This week’s terms are Steer and Stocking Density. 🐮🛻
Most commonly people refer and mix up cows, steers, heifers and bulls. The difference between all four of these terms are very important. Steers are castrated at a young age in order to produce high quality meat that does not have the taste and quality altered due to the testosterone that would be present if they still had their testicles. At SAY, we typically only have steers donated to us. But we have been very blessed to feed out a few heifers in the last couple of years.
Stocking density has a plethora of meanings that all depend on what it is referring to. In this case, we are referring to the stocking density of cattle/ animals on a trailer. But there is stocking density to be accounted for when we figure out how many steers the facility can hold, how many should go into each pen, how many can fit in our snake and tub, etc.
Let us know if there are any terms that you have always wanted to know and understand more within a feedlot or general agriculture sense!
EAT BEEF 🥩
07/14/2026
Welcome to the west side of campus: the Beef Center and Steer-A-Year feedlot. 🐮
On this end of campus, you'll find both Charolais cattle grazing in the field and a variety of breeds being fed at the feedlot. The managers in charge are Makayla Harrison and Elisha Johnson.
Although these facilities can seem like hidden gems, they've been a longstanding part of the university. Beef cattle research began at U of I in 1892 when the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station was established and Steer-A-Year dates back to 1988. The iconic white barns have been part of the university skyline since 1919. Despite the programs having many similarities such as both raising beef cattle, providing research opportunities across campus, hosting local 4-H and FFA activities and providing hands-on experiences to student employees, they also differ in many ways.
The Beef Center has a focus of breeding and raising purebred Charolais cattle. The center manages a breeding herd of 50 mature cows used for research, cattle experience, and courses within the Department of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences. The cattle raised at the Beef Center are sold and marketed as breeding bulls and heifers to beef cattle producers across the northwest. Students also exhibit the Charolais cattle through the Block and Bridle Club. In total, the facility consists of about 200 acres, 120 acres of which are pasture ground. The primary hands-on experiences for students includes cattle breeding, feeding and nutrition, handling, vaccinations, branding, calving and cattle marketing.
Steer-A-Year shows a different side of the cattle industry with feedlot practices. The cattle are fed-out over an eight month time period. While many students and community members glean hands-on experiences from cattle at Steer-A-Year, the program reach is much different. This starts from the cattle's first moments as they are born elsewhere then donated to the program. Those donating steers can include producers or general public that purchase cattle on behalf of the program through the Nancy M. Cummings Research, Extension and Education Center. The cattle are then fed a finishing diet and sold when they reach market weight. Over that time, the program is evaluating the performance of each steer to later award producers within categories including Average Daily Gain, Carcass Cutability, Lean Gain per Day and Most Valuable Steer. CALS students are involved in every step of the day-to-day operation to learn how a small-scale feed-lot is run. The cherry on top - all revenue funds go directly to programs including student scholarships, beef industry research and Vandal Athletics.
Of course, we can't celebrate the success of the programs, especially on National Cow Appreciation Day, without recognizing the incredible animals that make this all happen. We'll be sure to give them an extra scratch or two today.
Here's to many more years of advancing beef in Idaho. 🥩
07/04/2026
Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸
250 years later, America’s farmers and ranchers are still feeding the nation. Although farming and ranching may look different compared to 1776, the passion and grit for agriculture is still the same. ❤️
Eat some steak, hamburger, brisket, and so much more to celebrate America! 🥩
06/27/2026
Don't forget the next meeting in our Livestock Evaluation Series is Thursday, July 2, at 6PM at the Latah County Fair and Events Center. Come learn how to evaluate sheep and goats this week!
*These meetings are open to all 4-H and FFA youth and adults in Latah and surrounding counties.
Your cattle fact for the day brought to you by our lovely vet, Dr. Christensen! 🩺🐮
Did you know about this fact?! 🥔
EAT BEEF 🥩 University of Idaho
06/02/2026
Steers can have photo shoots too, right? 📸
Have a great week everyone! ☀️
EAT BEEF 🥩
As the semester comes to a close, we wanted to share some of our employees favorite things at Steer-A-Year (SAY!)
We are very fortunate to have a few of our student employees sticking around the Palouse to continue feeding the steers, taking lots of pictures, and eventually shipping them off!
We hope everyone has safe travels and a wonderful a summer! ☀️🎓✌🏼
EAT BEEF 🥩
Last Friday we did our annual branding along with our monthly weigh in! 🐂
Branding has been around for over 4,000 years - used for proof of ownership, identification of the animal in the field, sorting management, and continuing a tradition.
There are a few methods you can use when branding; hot iron brand, freeze iron brand, or chemical branding.
At SAY we use hot iron branding due to its quick application, high visibility, and it heals very well on the steers! We are very lucky to have the opportunity to be able to learn about history and partake in the tradition of branding at SAY.
EAT BEEF 🥩
Click here to claim your Sponsored Listing.
Location
Category
Contact the school
Website
Address
Moscow, ID
83843