Justin Waggoner, Ph.D., Beef Systems Specialist
“Feedyard Receiving Protocols”
Receiving cattle management and the process of adapting cattle to grain-based finishing diets are important components of managing feedlot cattle that can ultimately impact cattle performance for the duration of the finishing period. What does a typical industry receiving protocol look like and how do commercial cattle feeders transition cattle to a finishing diet. A survey of consulting nutritionists conducted by Samuelson et al., (2016), summarized responses from 24 consulting nutritionists (servicing more than 14,000,000 head annually) and reported that 66% of the feed yards they service allow cattle to rest 12 to 24 hours prior to initial processing, and approximately 30% allow cattle to rest more than 24 hours. The majority of the consulting nutritionist (64%) suggest that cattle be provided access to hay for 4 days after arrival. Approximately 56% of the nutritionists surveyed used multiple step -up diets with an average forage concentration of 40.7% roughage. On average 4 transition diets were used with diets being fed for 6 days before moving to the next diet. Thus cattle on average are transitioned to the finishing diet within 24 days of feeding the first step-up diet. Alternatively, approximately 40% of the nutritionists utilize a 2-ration blending program to adapt cattle (effectively a starter and finisher diet). Those that used a 2-ration program recommended 38% roughage in the starter ration and cattle adapted to the finishing diet within approximately 27 days.
For more information, contact Justin Waggoner at jwaggon@ksu.edu.