Valley to Valley to Valley: Part II

On the second day we took a thirty minute bus ride to a nearby feedyard. This was my first time stepping foot into a feedyard.

The feedyard is owned and operated by Cactus Feeders(website). They operate eight other feedyards in the country too. The president and manager spoke as we took our bus around the feedyard. I’m not sure how many acres we were looking at but over 200 easily. The night before it rained 1.5 inches and everything was muddy, which was not a common event around those parts. Our view driving in was a large custom granary facility. We past the main ingredients for their ration which included distiller grains, rolled corn or wheat, and silage (triticale or corn). The ration also includes mineral pellets, gluten pellets, and if I recall correctly a protein supplement too. I’m not sure what type of antibiotic they also include in the ration. There was a mentioning of feeding some type of low-level antibiotic, but don’t hold me to it. Beta agonists are also fed during the last 20-30 days (brand names Optaflex and Zilmaz). A Cargill product, called RAMP (Video), is used early on in the ration.

Before us were 60,000 head of cattle, quite an expansive view. The yard is made up of pens with so many cattle per pen. There are regulations that dictate so-many-feet per head too. In long rows the pens unfolded and along one side was a “bunk,” trough like structure for feeding their ration. This feedyard feeds to appetite and uses GPS to determine when cattle are fed and when they have cleaned up their bunks. This reduces waste or spoilage. Each pen had a set of sprinklers to reduce dust and cool ambient temperature, when needed.

Something was emphasized as we drove around was The cowboy is responsible for checking on each cow at least once a day and being able to see a sick steer or heifer before they show any real visible signs—that is an art.

the use of the cowboy as their first line of defense against sickness.

This facility, we learned, supports 50 families. They emphasized their community outreach and support.