There are a number of factors other than forage and concentrates that will impact on finishing cattle.
Speaking at the DairyBeef500 farm walk on Pat Collins’ farm recently, Alan Dillon from Teagasc spoke about a few of these factors.
Finishing cattle
Dillon said that there are some considerations that are often overlooked when it comes to finishing cattle, with focus always placed on silage quality and concentrates.
The first factor Dillon spoke about was space in the shed. If a pen is 5mx5m he said, then 10 finishing cattle can be housed there.
Alan Dillon from Teagasc
For a slated pen, 2.5m2 is required for each of the cattle, and for a straw bedded pen, 4m2 is required.
“I know sheds are expensive, and the tendency we often have is to fit as many cattle as possible into the space to dilute our fixed costs and push as many cattle as possible through the system,” Dillon said.
“But overpacking sheds can have a very detrimental effect on livestock thrive; it can be fairly detrimental to their production and it does increase your feeding costs overall.”
Dillon said that farmers should ensure that they have enough feeding and lying space for cattle in their pens, to ensure cattle thrive is not hampered during this period.
Water
Dillon also said that water is often ignored on farms – not the quality, but the allowance.
Finishing cattle consume a large amount of dry matter in a day and this means they require a large amount of water.
For sheds where cattle are being finished, Dillon said that nose, or small drinkers should be avoided and larger troughs should be used.
Ideally, he said that farmers will have troughs that can be easily cleaned, such as the troughs that can be tipped over.
The next factor that Dillon spoke about was ensuring that sheds have adequate ventilation for the number of cattle inside.
He said for sheeting on the shed, Yorkshire boarding is the ideal material, as it is best for letting airflow in.
Vaccinations and controlling parasites were also noted by Dillon, to ensure that cattle are, and remain healthy during the finishing period.
He also reminded farmers to ensure that they are mixing up the products that are being used for dosing to ensure that resistance to products doesn’t build too strong.
Feed
The last factor Dillon spoke about was feed management. He said that on some farms, there is old silage in front of cattle with new feed put on top.
He said that this gone-off feed is heating and producing an odour which is going to reduce intakes from the cattle.
“When you have these cattle in the shed you want them to eat as much feed as quickly as possible to grow as fast as they can,” he said.
“This means the cattle are out the door sooner, during an expensive time to be feeding.”
He said that it is important to remove the old or leftover feed each day, before feeding out for the day.