Feedlots???

[sben222]

What are feedlots and what purpose do they serve? Yeah, I know...I'm a green-horn. :roll:

 

[MikeC]

What are feedlots and what purpose do they serve? Yeah, I know...I'm a green-horn. :roll:

Well, you don't know til you ask.

Feedlots are where cattle are "Finished" prior to slaughter.

 

[Aero]

this is where young cattle are fed until they are in prime condition to be slaughtered.

i dont know what the percentage of slaughter animals that go through a feedlot, but its gotta be very high (95%+ ?)

 

[Brandonm2]

What are feedlots and what purpose do they serve? Yeah, I know...I'm a green-horn. :roll:

Simply a lot full of cattle. They have room to move around, a water trough, and a feed bunk. Traditionally a pen would be 30-40 head; but now 50 and 100 head pens are probably more common. The cattle arrive there a@~650-850pounds and finish out at ~1200-1400 pounds (@~13-16 months). They eat grain, grow bigger, and get fat. After 180 to 270 days in the feedlot. The cattle are butchered at a processing. Historically a conventional diversified farm would have 1-3 such pens and the farms would sell the calves at the stockyard (historically at Chicago). The packers would buy the fat cattle by auction and process the fat calf the next day. Today most feedlots are big businesses with many many pens, full time staffs, and they sell on the rail to beef processing plants based on a grid (based on quality, yield, and weight).

Here are some pics from a smaller feedlot...
http://www.jsfeedlot.com/cattle.shtml

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

One HUGE feedlot operation is Brookover's in Garden City, KS. Think they feed several thousand head at one time, maybe more.

 

[msscamp]

What are feedlots and what purpose do they serve? Yeah, I know...I'm a green-horn. :roll:

I wouldn't say you're a greenhorn, just inexperienced when it comes to feed-lots. Can't learn without asking questions. Towards that end here is a link for one of the larger feedlots in my area. Happy browsing!

http://www.dinklagefeedyards.com/html/f ... ington.php

 

[sben222]

What are feedlots and what purpose do they serve? Yeah, I know...I'm a green-horn. :roll:

I wouldn't say you're a greenhorn, just inexperienced when it comes to feed-lots. Can't learn without asking questions. Towards that end here is a link for one of the larger feedlots in my area. Happy browsing!

http://www.dinklagefeedyards.com/html/f ... ington.php

Thanks everyone! Now I know what I needed to know. Great hearing from some of the experience out there!