How to handle your beef cattle Part 10:
Planning and design of individual facilities F
eedlots are the epitome of intensive handling of commercial cattle. Each individual component of a feedlot facility must be well thought-out and designed. Last month we started a new section, namely commercial cattle handling and how to choose an adequate site. This month we start discussing the lay-out of some of the most important components. We focus on feeding troughs and shading. Feeding pens Although interior feeding pen systems hold definite benefits, the lower cost associated with an open pen system is usually the conclusive factor and therefore very little interest is shown in other types of housing in Africa. The cattle are kept in limited areas where they receive carefully formulated rations and can be rounded off as fast as possible for slaughter. In some foreign countries, the double
line trough lay-out is more prominent because it is a compact and cheaper system. This system, however, causes
drainage problems and in Southern Africa a single line feedlot lay-out is used generally. Figure 1 shows such a typical single line trough lay-out. Site incline A moderate incline of between 1% and 6% should keep trough areas dry and will be acceptable to the animals. Such an incline will also drain well, without allowing an excess of solid manure to run off during a flood. A single line trough is therefore placed parallel to the contours so that the pens can drain vertically against contours and in one direction only, away from the troughs.
Figure 1: Single line trough lay-out.
ProAgri Botswana / Namibia / Zimbabwe 11
Pen sizes The sizes of the pens are determined by the number of cattle in a group and the surface of trough space allowed per animal. The accepted practice is to place about 100 to 200 cattle per pen. Depending on the average rainfall in 5
