Feedlot visit

The visit to a feedlot today was certainly an eye opener for a number of reasons. Firstly just to see this number of cattle all in one place. But also to see the efficiency of the system and to see how healthy and content the animals looked. They said the animals health is determined by the high quality animals bought in and the environment. There are four different systems, varying in the time they are there from 90 days to 250 days and finishing from around 600kg to 800kg. They are predominantly Angus supplying the Japanese market. They are all weighed as they come in and allocated to one of the four programmes and fed accordingly. They are all inspected twice a day. When they are checked they are also risen onto their feet. If there are any signs of ill thrift they have a hospital system where they are observed and temperatures taken. If they are treated with antibiotics they are taken out of the system. All animals are antibiotic and hormone growth promoter free. They calculate when they are ready to go by the weight when they came in and their feed intakes. Overall a very efficient system.