Management Practices in Cattle Fattening

Introduction    Backyard cattle fattening or on a large scale production can be profitably undertaken. This project has become popular b...

Introduction

   Backyard cattle fattening or on a large scale production can be profitably undertaken. This project has become popular because of the following advantages: 1. It augments the farmer's income; 2. It requires less space for the housing; 3. It allows the use of cheap and plentiful farm by-products such as corn stovers, rice straw, copra meal, rice bran, and sugar tops which ordinarily go to waste; 4. It helps meet the high demand for high-protein foods in the Filipino diet.

Guides in the Operation of Cattle Production

A. Selection of Fattening Cattle

   To ensure a profitable income from fattening cattle, here are several factors to be considered.

1. Age. Younger animals require longer feeding period while older animals take shorter for fattening. Feeds are utilized for maintenance, growth and fattening. two to three year-old animals are preferred for cattle fattening. older feeder stock need less time in feeding and will eat a wider variety of roughage than the young stock.
2. Sex Steers ( castrated males) are preferred than heifers [unbred females] because they are easy to manage and available in the community. Steers also grow faster and have the capacity to gain weight.
3. Health condition. A healthy animal is alert and active. It has bright eyes, smooth hair coat and moist nozzle. Avoid animals that are restless and with rough skin.
4. Breed. There are several breeds of cattle raised in the Philippines.

      a. Philippine cattle have Spanish and Chinese origins. The native cattle is hardy, resistant: and prolific. This breed has a dual purpose: they are used for work and for meat purposes.
      b. Improved breeds and cross breeds gain weight faster than the native cattle. Tropical breeds are more adaptable to local conditions than temperate breeds. Some of the tropical breeds are:

• Brahman. This breed is developed in the United States. Its color is silver gray, some are reddish. It is also resistant to diseases and withstand heat better. This animal has a large hump over their shoulders, drooping ears and horns turned upward. Brahman is characterized with sweat glands that make the animal withstand intense heat.
• Ongole or Nellore. This breed belongs to the group of humped oxen. it is white in color with dark gray neck.
• Red Sindhi. This is a dual in purpose breed good for meat [beef] and milk. It is red in color, easy to tame, and produce 5 liters of milk daily.
• Tharparker. This is like a Red Sindhi in appearance except in color. The meat is good and make better steers for work purposes. 

B. Housing Facilities and Equipment.
   Proper housing and equipment are important in a successful backyard cattle raising. Cattle should be protected from extreme heat or cold conditions. Although cattle is not as complicated as chicken in housing requirements, they should be provided with shade. A cattle shed may be made out of a local materials such as bamboo and nipa and wood. Never use wire to enclose the coral for it might injure the animals. For intensified cattle raising the use of housing facilities and other equipment are necessary to protect the animals from inclement weather.
The type of housing depends on the size of the ranch.

1. Backyard corral. this type of house is good for 1 to 7 heads of cows. A feeding trough in front of the corral should provided.
2. Cogon-shed type of housing. This type of housing is made of cogon, bamboo, and lumber. The size of the house depends on the number of cattle to be raised. The flooring, feeding trough, and water trough can be made of concrete.
3. Rectangular-shaped housing. This is the most popular cattle shelter used for commercial raisers in the country. The manager is placed at the center and the sheds on the sides are open. The flooring, feeding trough and water trough are made of concrete.

C. Cattle Nutrition.

  Feed is the key to profitable cattle production. Cattle need food nutrients for growth, maintenance, and production. The animal raiser must formulate feeds based on the animal's age, sex, and weight gain desired and the availability of roughage and feeds. Cattle can be fattened on all roughage ration or roughage-concentrate ration. Give good quality grass legume mixture in the form of pasture land. Cattle are better raised during dry summer eating dry grasses than during rainy season when the animals are allowed to eat large amount of concentrate feeds.

The following is a sample cattle feed concentrate ration for cattle fattening.

Ingredients	Percent by Weight
Ground dried corn cobs Rice bran Copra meal Molasses Poultry manure Urea Limestone Salt	10 40 6.3 25 16 .6 1 2
Total	100

All rations for growing fattening cattle requires 12% crude protein content.

Utilization of Farm By-Products for Cattle Feeds

1. Rice straw. Chopped rice straw can be fed to growing-fattening cattle up to 40% of the total ration. Rice straw should be properly stored to supply the needed feeds all year round.
2. Corn cobs. Coarsely grounded and fed to cattle up to 45% of total ration. It contains 45% digestible nutrients and 3% crude protein. Corn cobs are more digestible than rice straw.
3. Silage or Forage crop as feeds for cattle. Forage crop is very important in cattle raising. Animal raisers depend mostly on forage to save on feed cost. Silage, on the other hand is also important feeds for cattle. Silage is preserved by pressing extra feeds during the dry season. Forage crops such as rice straw, corn stalk, sugarcane tops and legumes are preserved as dried material or hay by pressing them tight in a silo ready to be used for feeding. Grazing or foraging is the cheapest way of providing feeds for cattle. The grazing land should be properly managed to supply the nutrients requirements of the herd.

D. Breeding Management

   The performance of cattle is measured by its ability to produce offspring, milk and meat. The ideal cow is one that can produce a calf every year.

Types of Breeding

  Bulls can be used for breeding when they are 18 months old or weigh 280 kilograms which ever comes first when they reach sexual maturity.

1. Hand mating. The bull is confined in a separate quarter. When the cow is in heat, he is taken to the breeding corral where it is mated with cow with or without the help of an attendant.
2. Upgrading. It is a system of breeding bulls with unrelated cows to upgrade the off-spring.
3. Cross breeding. This is the mating of purebred animals or crossing two superior animals of different breeds.

Herd Management Practices
   For successful cattle production the following desirable practices should be observed.

1. Give palatable feeds to animals such as succulent forage or molasses. The feeding trough should be kept clean to insure good sanitation.
2. Deworm newly arrived animals and spray against external parasites.
3. Train the animals to eat in feeding troughs.
4. Keep the animal and stall clean. Collect manure every day. Dry the manure and use it as fertilizers of plants.
5. Provide good housing.
6. Select good stock. Select an improved breed that can gain as much as 500 to 1,000 grams daily with balance ration.
7. Vaccinate the animals against Foot and Mouth disease.
8. Water should be available at all times. Salt should be available at the rate of 30-50 grams per head daily.

E. Control of Pest and Disease

 Prevention and Control of Contagious Diseases.

1. Disinfection. Disinfect the barn and other facilities before stocking the animals.
2. Isolation. Isolate suspected animals with pests and diseases from the rest of the herd to prevent the spread of any disease.
3. Quarantine. It is the process of isolating healthy but newly purchased animals before mixing them with the other herd to make sure that these animals are pest and disease free.
4. Vaccination. This is the process of immunizing the animals against specific infections diseases by injecting biological agents called vaccines.
5. Eliminating of carriers. Animal recuperating from any disease are still considered carriers of the disease; therefore, these animals should be carefully watched to ensure recovery. On the other hand, dead animals should be disposed of immediately. They should be burned or buried deep into the ground.

Common Parasites and Diseases of Cattle

Parasite	Mode of Transmission	Symptom	Control
1.       Roundworm	Contaminated food, water, pasture land	Rapid and fatal anemia, loss in weight, swelling under the jaw and near the brisket	Periodic deworming, clean and dry shed of animals.
2.       Liver Fluke	Drinking water contaminated with fasciola hepatica	Loss of weight, watering swelling on the different part of the body	Avoid dirty pools and ponds.
3.       Fly	Flies living around animal houses	Lesions in lungs and brown urine	Proper sanitation and manure disposal
4.       Tick and Mite	Dark corners crevices, cracks in wood and walls	Loss in weight, irritability due to parasite bites	Proper sanitation and manure disposal

Disease	Causes	Symptom	Control
Hemorrhagic septicemia or shipping fever	Pasteurella multocida	High fever and sudden attack, bleeding, swollen throat and neck	Segregation, avoid contaminated pasture, feeds and water sources
Anthrax	Caused by bacteria known as Bacillus Anthracis. Direct contact with sick animal	High fever followed by chilling, swelling in hind quarters; difficulty of breathing	Immunization. Clean and dry houses and proper hygiene.
Foot and mouth diseases	Small filterable virus	Salivation, sores on foot, tongue, and inside mouth	Proper vaccination segregation of animals
Tuberculosis	Mycobacterium tuberculosis	Chronic cough, swelling joints, loss weight	Periodic vaccination and proper sanitation.
Coccidosis	Eimeria zeria	Mucous, blood clots and bad odor	Proper sanitation, segregation of affected animals

F. Marketing and Record Keeping

    Six months after the date of purchase, fattened cattle should weigh approximately 275-300 kilograms and therefore, ready for market. Improper handling of animal's before and during transport to livestock markets may cause serious injuries to animals. Over loading or under loading of truck cause crippling and bruising of animals. See to it that the animals are loaded quietly and gently.

The market for beef cattle is classified into three groups.

1. Direct to consumer trade. The cattle slaughters the animals and sells them to the community as beef.
2. Selling the live animals through middlemen.
3. The slaughtered animals are delivered to hotels, restaurants, fats food chains and market outlets. Animal products are sold through processing plants.

G. Keeping the Records

   In any business endeavor, it is advisable to keep records in evaluating production, farm input and output. From a set of records the animal raiser can determine whether the enterprise is gaining or losing. records need not to be complicated. With these records, the animal raiser can plan for the future.

  The type of records to be kept:

1. Records of expenses and sales. Records of income should not only include profit from sales but also the goods consumed by the family or those given as gifts.
2. Inventory record. Those include the estimated cost of all valuable things in the farm such as buildings, housing facilities, feeds and the animals as well.
3. Production record. These records reflect the management and production aspect of the project. the records should include the following.

• Number of bulls, cows, calves, steer
• amount of feeds consumed
• breeds records that include the age, sex, and condition of animals.