Beef Farm Production Is Agricultural or Business

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Intensive feeding systems for beef production in developing countries

P. Auriol

World demand for beef is increasing more chop-chop than supply, which grew at only 2.3 percent a year in the decade 1963–72. With few exceptions, this is true of both developed and developing countries. In the coming decade there is every reason to expect an increasing gap between supply and need for this commodity.

Associated with the growing world shortage, the progressive increases in market prices (4.5 percent per year over 1963–72) are offer meliorate opportunities to public and individual investors to commence on more intensive forms of beef production. Many of the traditional agricultural export commodities of the developing countries have been difficult to identify on the world market at fair and regular prices. These uncertainties have induced governments to expect for other exportable products, and beef is certainly one that offers a promising future.

P. Auriol is Beef Cattle Production Officer in the Animate being Production and Health Sectionalisation, FAO, Rome.

Systems of beef production

While in the adult countries production of quality beef is usually achieved through the feeding of high-energy rations to young animals (6 to 30 months old), the bulk of the beef produced in the developing countries yet comes from rather all-encompassing systems. The master systems of production, and diverse combinations of them, can be identified equally follows.

Eastxtensive systems

The breeding, raising, growing and finishing activities are operated by the same people on virtually the aforementioned grazings in extensive systems of beef product. This occurs in most of the pastoralist areas of Africa and is also adopted by some ranchers in Latin America. Under this system meat is often a past-production of milk product, and beefiness output may be as low as vii kg per hectare per year on a carcass basis; acceptable carcass weights (equal to or above 150 kg) can simply be achieved when steers are 5 years or older. The animals stay in skillful condition for only iii–4 months of the year following the stop of the rainy flavor. The minor proceeds accumulated in these months is often partly lost (upward to 25 percentage) when stock are trekked over several hundred kilometres to slaughterhouses, which are usually located virtually large urban centres. All the same, in such a arrangement the product costs, except those for watering the animals, are practically nil.

One thousandixed farming systems

In the past this was the traditional system of beefiness production in many parts of Europe. Minor farmers kept immature males and some culled heifers for feeding and finishing, and fed them on home-grown provender. Fattening and finishing of work oxen was also an important source of beefiness. Nether the mixed farming systems practised today, the feeder cattle are usually, but non always, produced on specialized convenance and raising farms located on poorer land or land unsuited to intensive farming.

Due southpecialized feeding and finishing systems

Under these systems specialists, not necessarily farmers, undertake the last phases of the beef production chain-feeding and finishing. The systems vary according to the principal feed ingredient used: grass, fodder, silage, grain, or industrial past-products. The operation of growingfinishing activities independently of breeding and rearing leads to chore specialization, which is usually accompanied by a zoning of the beef industry equally a whole. The breeding-rearing phase may be linked to dairy production.

Present situation in developing countries

With a few exceptions such as Argentina, southern Brazil and northeastern Mexico, there is no pregnant specialized growing-finishing beef manufacture in the developing countries. There are several reasons for this. One is that, until recently, traditional or nonspecialized beef product has been able to cope with the rather depression internal demand for meat, and sometimes besides with the demands of a significant consign market. Also, for social and historical reasons, livestock-keeping communities have often been kept apart from the full general run of country development, and in many cases are not used to farming. They generally inhabit areas where the climate precludes cropping. Likewise, traditional farmers are often not interested in livestock raising and could not produce, with their limited resources, both food for their family and feed for animals.

Under these circumstances it is not surprising that very few mixed farming systems accept evolved in the developing countries. The lack of contact and of mutual conviction between pastoralists and other people has non encouraged the development of a specialized beef-fattening industry based on store cattle bred on the semiarid rangelands. Send difficulties (young animals cannot be trekked as easily as mature ones and the road network is often bereft to permit cheap trucking) have also considerably impeded such development. The absence of regular surpluses of cereal grains, low local prices for beef, the lack of whatsoever carcass grading arrangement and of the expertise needed to operate big feedlots take been further contributory factors. However, over the past ii decades at that place has been considerable modify in the developing countries. Many have seen their beef imports increasing from year to year; in others, beef exports accept been decreasing at a time when they needed more foreign exchange. Steady increases in prices take pushed beef to the forefront in earth markets, while many other agronomical commodities take passed through critical periods. Agro-industries accept grown apace and a much higher percentage of raw materials is now transformed locally leaving quantities of valuable by-products. With the present price trend on the market place for such by-products every bit oilseed cakes it is indeed tempting to export them, and certainly easier than transforming them locally into meat. Yet, because the added value that could be obtained through this transformation, governments could aim at a gradual reduction of these exports, while supporting their local use. More efficient techniques for beef production have been evolved(Antic, 1972; Campion, 1973; Creek, 1971; Huebl, 1973; Laurie et al., 1973; Preston et al., 1967) and are set for mass application.

Two kinds of country may be recognized in the context of these developments: those where rangelands and natural pastures are near total exploitation or are already overgrazed, and those where large tracts of land even so be where beefiness production could exist introduced and developed. In the latter, the problem of increasing beef production is relatively simple and would involve the expansion and evolution of the necessary infrastructure in the course of a network of roads, provision of water, so on; there would exist no immediate need for the introduction of new techniques for intensification of the manufacture. Parts of Argentina. Brazil and Republic of peru are skillful examples of this kind of state of affairs. Just where traditional pasture lands are already well-nigh over-exploitation, equally in many African countries, and where they are shrinking every year due to erosion and the unjustified expansion of marginal rain-fed cereal product, equally in the Well-nigh Due east, or due to the expansion of food crops as in parts of Africa, an increase in beef product under traditional systems is no longer possible.

Improve management of existing rangelands would certainly pb to increased production of fodder and meat, simply it must be recognized that this is a long-term approach nether prevailing socioecological conditions. In any case, information technology is difficult to envisage improved range management without a decrease in the present livestock populations. The introduction on a large scale of industrial systems involving feedlot techniques seems to exist the merely way to solve the dilemma: how to increment beef production while reducing cattle numbers grazing the rangelands.

The beefiness cow/dogie functioning: a long and risky ane… for a minor profit.

Calf product under low rainfall-in this function of northeast Mexico average rainfall is approximately 280 mm. Yet with very sound management the owner of this ranch, specialized in the production of weaned calves, obtains an 85 pct calf ingather with purebred Hereford cows sired by Hereford bulls. First calving takes place at 24 months, without supplementary feeding… but there is only one cow per 20–25 hectares.

Advantages of industrial feeding systems

Where appropriate, the introduction of industrial feeding systems on a sufficiently large scale will unremarkably make the whole beef manufacture more efficient. Increased efficiency of the convenance-rearing phase would exist achieved if weaners were sold to intermediate growers or directly to feedlot operators, thus leaving the usually limited amount of feed available on the range for the beef cow/ dogie operation. This would facilitate the maintenance of larger convenance herds and increased production per beef cow; more than calves and heavier weaners could exist obtained. There would besides be increased efficiency in the growing-finishing phase, due to higher daily liveweight gains, better feed conversion and the shorter period involved. Various combinations of these three factors are shown in the graph below.

In traditional extensive systems where animals are killed at six-7 years of age at a liveweight of 400 kg, as much as 85 percent of the feed is used for maintenance. In slightly more intensive systems, combining a less archaic convenance and rearing phase with an intensive feedlot period (say, for 150 days achieving a terminal weight of almost 400 kg at 36 months), ii thirds of the feed is used for maintenance and one third for growth.

In more than intensive systems, with improved feeding in the first year followed by a 12-month raising phase on better pastures and a 3-month intensive feedlot menses (animals killed at approximately 29 months when weighing some 435 kg), maintenance requirements are around 63 percent. Intensive feeding commonly permits a considerable increment of the dressing percentage, which rises from 45 to 55 or even 60 percent in some cases. Expressed in feed units, the energy requirments for producing i kg of carcass are, in the higher up examples, 39, 15 and 13 feed units respectively, using like genetic material. This means that efficiency of meat production, on a carcass basis, can be increased threefold. With some improved beefiness breeds or suitable crossbreds it should be possible to increase this efficiency even further. Differences between various breeds in their feed efficiency, under the same weather condition, tin be as large as one to three. When ane considers the ability of animals to transform feed into red meat, which is what actually matters, and then this difference is even greater. A specialized large beef breed is able to produce one kg red meat with half as much feed as a brood like the Friesian (when animals are killed at 15 months and 420 kg liveweight) although the latter does achieve the same growth rates (Beranger and Malterre, 1972). Until recently there were doubts regarding the power of many local breeds, especially of the zebu blazon, to convert feed into meat efficiently. From various studies conducted in the 1960s it now seems articulate that these doubts were not justified. With few exceptions, local cattle are capable of achieving satisfactory growth rates with acceptable feed conversion efficiencies. However, at that place is a bully potential for progress in the utilization of genetically superior animals, although practical considerations brand the introduction of improved genetic stock difficult in the harsh environments prevailing in many developing countries.

In highly intensive systems even shorter production cycles tin be achieved, through a combination of high genetic potential with optimum feeding and management. A adept case of this is the production of the Italian vitellone, a 13 to 15-month-old bull weighing some 450 kg using only 7 feed units to produce ane kg of carcass (see graph).

Effects of feediot feeding on growth pattern and feed conversion efficiency.

A. Primitive extensive beef product (natural pastures without any feed supplementation, unimproved breeds); age at slaughter: 6–seven years; 85 percent of feed needed for maintenance just; feed conversion rate: 39 feed units/kg carcass.

A₁. As above, simply 180 days in feedlot starting when animals are 2.v-3 years old (Mokwa cattle ranch system, Nigeria).

B. Archaic breeding, slightly improved rearing, unimproved breeds; feedlot for 150 days; age at slaughter approximately 35 months; 66 per centum of feed needed for maintenance only; feed conversion rate: xvi feed units/kg carcass.

C. Improved breeding and rearing (based on improved pasture, unimproved breeds); feedlot for 150 days; historic period at slaughter: 30 months; 63 percentage of feed needed for maintenance but; feed conversion charge per unit: xiii feed units/kg carcass.

D. Very intensive product (Italian vitellone - early weaning, no pasture phase, high energy ration from birth to slaughter; specialized beef breeds or crossbred bulls); historic period at slaughter: 13–14 months; 54 percent of feed for maintenance; feed conversion rate: seven feed units/kg carcass.

Finishing of N'dama steers on natural pasture on a land ranch, key Cote d'ivoire.

A further advantage of industrial feeding systems is the possible utilization of agro-industrial by-products and crop residues which would otherwise be misused or wasted. Thus, sugarcane molasses used in a beef feedlot can be worth twice every bit much as when exported, and steam and pressure-treated bagasse would be worth four to six times more when fed to beef cattle than when used as fuel.

Industrial feeding systems also assistance to regulate meat supplies through the year and ensure greater homogeneity of the finished product, easier marketing of finished cattle, and considerably reduced assembling costs. Feeder cattle are easy to control in feedlots and the system fits well into the illness-costless zone concept.

Another important consideration is that feedlot projects are likely to concenter more individual and external financing, not just because they tin can be operated every bit purely industrial projects merely also because coin turnover is relatively rapid, and there is fiddling need for big investments in buildings and equipment. Indeed, climatic weather condition in many developing countries allow building investments to be reduced to a minimum.

Prerequisites to the establishment of a feedlot industry

The creation of a sound feedlot beefiness industry calls for various prerequisites. The offset is the availability of store cattle at a toll that is off-white to both the breeder and the finisher. It would be too easy, although information technology has ofttimes been the case, to base a feedlot industry on abnormally cheap store cattle. Such a policy would lead sooner or later to a diminution of breeder activities and to their eventual disappearance. The ideal is to have a regular supply of shop cattle throughout the year; it would then be possible to feed several batches of steers a yr on the aforementioned premises, which can essentially reduce overhead costs. Where a rather long feeding flow is envisaged, all the same (a twelvemonth or more), regularity in the supply of store cattle is far less of import.

In this key African country the problem is how to avoid overgrazing, which precludes any improvement of the cattle industry. These Ankole cows start their productive life at well-nigh four years of historic period, and barely produce one dogie every 2 years. A specialized fattening industry in areas of the country where better pastures exist would provide at least part of the solution.

To have a skillful mother is non enough in a harsh environment. This calf, born to a local zebu cow and sired by a Hereford bull, has a 25 in 100 probability of dying before 12 months of historic period.

A second prerequisite is the availability of suitable feeds at low prices. Information technology is more often than not accepted that feed lone may business relationship for upwardly to 70–80 percentage of total inputs in intensive feedlots. Whatever significant subtract in the cost of feed has a direct effect in decreasing the price of meat product. The quality of feed has to be such every bit to allow a maximum voluntary intake, and to have the minimum permissible fibre content to avoid metabolic disorders acquired by rumen misfunctions. This minimum is 8–ten per centum, equivalent to 15–18 percent of roughage in the dry matter. A tertiary prerequisite is to have a differential price for high quality beefiness compared with standard quality; that is, at that place must be a quality-payment system operating in the country. A well-managed feedlot must produce high quality beef, and under normal circumstances steers passing through a feedlot should not merely put on weight but besides produce carcasses of a college form. This has to exist taken into account when studying the economic feasibility of a feedlot performance. Unfortunately, quality-based payment systems for beef are nonexistent in many developing countries.

Information technology is as well necessary to have animals suitable for feeding and finishing. As mentioned before, the efficiency of animals equally converters of feed into red meat is a cardinal factor in determining the profit of whatever feedlot functioning. As feed conversion rates subtract apace with age, it is also important to have animals of an age suitable for the type of beef production selected. The phase of development of store cattle and their potential for growth accept besides to exist considered; this is where experienced buyers are irreplaceable. Concluding, only not least, the animals must be healthy; bloodshed rates and morbidity in the feedlots have to be kept as low as possible.

Structural and organizational problems

Due to the strong interdependency between the growing-finishing and the convenance-rearing sectors, it is of primary importance to establish adept working channels between the 2. It would exist necessary for governments, if not the feedlots themselves, to contribute to the organization of store cattle producers' associations; information technology would be much easier to contract for the regular supply of feeder cattle with these associations than with a multitude of small producers. It could also prove advantageous to have the producers financially involved in the feedlot phase; improving the quality of their feeder cattle would so exist to their own directly advantage.

Liasion with the processing industries would also have to be organized. It may be worth while to integrate feedlot slaughtering with ageing, cutting and packaging operations; some feedlots are integrated with warehousing and distribution, principally in the U.s..

Feed supply needs conscientious study. Where feedlots are based on agro-industrial past-products, it would be an advantage to have the feedlot sector incorporated in the institute, or established as an associate society. In any instance, the cost of by-products increases rapidly with ship costs, and it is strongly recommended that feedlots be built in the immediate vicinity of the plant. When applicable, the drying of the raw material allows much more flexibility in the use of by-products, specially from the point of view of transport costs, handling facilities and storage life. The drying and pelleting of sugarbeet pulp is a good example of this development. Integration of the feedmixing industry with the feedlot industry is at present a common design.

It is time to transfer these Boran zebus to a feedlot where they could easily put on an actress 100 kg liveweight, instead of losing some 50 kg on drying natural pastures.

In that location are other reasons in favour of siting feedlots near the source of by-products. Store cattle can be transported on the hoof to feedlots with negligible losses, when trekking is well organized, while in many instances information technology would be virtually impossible to truck feedstuffs to the extensive breeding areas. Also, agro-industries are usually located nearer the major consuming centres than the traditional breeding areas, and and so losses which occur during the transport of finished cattle are decreased.

It is recognized that large feedlots are a definite advantage (Hopkin, 1958; King, 1962). For instance, to employ full time a competent director and a resident veterinarian, both essential to the success of a feedlot enterprise, it is estimated that 10 000 to thirty 000 cattle take to be fattened each yr. Costs of feed-mixing and send facilities do not increase proportionally with the capacity of the feedlot. However, it must exist noted that large units have their own issues of manure disposal, illness risk, then on.

For social and political reasons governments may prefer projects that offer more than employment opportunities and of course this would affect both the size of feedlots and their degree of mechanization. Also, where the farming system produces crop residues which plant the bulk of the feeding ration, minor on-the-farm feeding units may exist favoured considering information technology would not be physically or economically feasible to ship crop residues. In this situation some kind of grouping of the small producers may prove an advantage, specially for ensuring improve and cheaper supplies of concentrate feed, for providing a regular supply of store cattle if cattle are not bred on the farms, and for grouping the finished animals. Production contracts can exist entered into between producers and abattoirs, as well as between producers and a feed-mixing visitor, which tin also provide technical aid. A credit system would be of considerable assistance in the implementation phase.

Local breeds can produce good carcasses when animals are well fed, equally can exist seen from this carcass of a young Azawak steer at the Niamey slaughterhouse.

Conclusions

In many developing countries a rapid expansion of beef production can just be achieved through the implementation, on a significant scale, of intensive growing and finishing schemes. Economic circumstances are now much more favourable (if the present increment in prices for cereals and oilseed cakes is a temporary miracle) for the development of this type of production. Recent trials conducted in the developing countries themselves have opened the way to the adoption of new techniques.

Feedlots will not just increase meat production just besides get in much more efficient. They will also produce a ameliorate quality meat, all through the year.

A well-planned feedlot industry must act as a catalyst to the overall evolution of the beefiness industry. of which it is merely a function. In other words, feedlot projects have to be advisedly integrated into the rest of the manufacture for a maximum render at the national level.

At that place are several important prerequisites which have to be fulfilled earlier implementing whatsoever feedlot projection, and each project will call for detailed technical and economic feasibility studies. Technical noesis and proficient management will be decisive factors in determining the success of the feedlot manufacture.

References

Antic, A. 1972. Engraissement de taurillons et croisement d'absorption. Rome, FAO. FAO/UNDP TUN 17. Rapport technique 8.

Beranger, C. & Galterre, C. 1972. Varations du poids, de la composition des carcasses et des quantités d'énergie ingéréés, selon les différentes races. In Les races bovines françaises pour fifty'accroissement de la production de viande. ACTIM. 25 p.

Campion, E. J. 1973. The part of molasses in the intensification of livestock production in the Dominican Republic. Rome, fao. fao/undp dom/65/503.

Creek, M. J. 1971. A zebu feedlot in Kenya. SPAN, 14:iii.

Hopkin, J. A. 1958. Economics of size in the cattle feeding industry of California. J. Fm Econ., 40:417.

Huebl, K. 1973. Beefiness feeding based on molasses, Mokwa ranch cattle, Nigeria. (Personal communication)

Ging, G.A. 1962. Economics of scale in big commercial feedlots. Berkeley, California Agricultural Experiment Station, Giannini Foundation. Inquiry Report No. 251.

50aurie, C.G., James, L.A. & Mayers, J.M. 1973. New perspectives for sugar cane. (Mimeographed)

Preston, T.R., Due eastlias, A. & Due westillis, Chiliad.B. 1967. Intensive beef production from sugar cane. 1 Unlike levels of urea in molasses given ad lib. to fattening bulls every bit a supplement to a grain nutrition. Rev. Cubana Ciene. Agric. (English ed.), one:33.

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