Key Technical Points for Fattening Cattle Farming in Autumn and Winter

In autumn and winter, crop straw and other forage and feed resources are abundant. If you buy a few thin cattle at the market and put them through two to three months of intensive feeding, you can sell them around the Spring Festival when market prices are high.
　　
I. Selecting Feeder Cattle
Requirements for feeder cattle fattening. Feeder cattle usually refers to bulls or steers weighing over 250-350 kg and around 1.5 years of age. They gain weight quickly, are easy to fatten, and can be used to produce high-grade beef. However, not just any thin cattle can be fattened. The cattle suitable for fattening are best feeder cattle, that is, cattle that are thin in build, large in frame, and poor in condition due to poor feeding management, a single-type feed, nutritional deficiencies, and lack of deworming and stomach-strengthening. Those draft cattle that have lost their working capacity, culled breeding cattle, low-yielding dairy cows, and old and weak cattle can also achieve relatively good fattening results after proper conditioning. Never introduce sick cattle from epidemic areas.
(1) Breed: The feeder cattle used for fattening should preferably be crossbred cattle, which are convenient for intensive fattening and producing high-grade beef.
(2) Age: Should be 1-1.5 years old, not yet fully mature.
(3) Sex: Non-castrated bulls or steers. In the past it was generally believed that steers had the best fattening results, but research has found that young bulls (under 24 months of age) have the best fattening results, gaining weight quickly with a high lean meat rate, and the meat quality is unaffected. In general, bulls are superior to steers, and steers are superior to cows. (4) Weight: Feeder cattle weighing over 250-350 kg have uniform growth and development, making it easy to adopt a unified feeding method and easy to manage. Once body weight reaches over 500-550 kg, the rate of weight gain will decline.
　　
II. Preparatory Work
Relevant preparatory work should be done before fattening. This includes letting the cattle adapt to the environment and feed, castrating the cattle, deworming, and strengthening the stomach, which takes about 7-15 days. After purchasing fattening cattle, they need about 7 days to adapt to the environment and feed. Castration can be performed only after the cattle have been stable in the pen for 2-3 days, mostly using the drug castration method, castration clamp method, or epididymis removal method. Use Chongkexing to expel internal and external parasites from cattle; the oral powder dosage is 0.1 g per kg of body weight, or injectable subcutaneous injection at 0.2 mg per kg of body weight. Deworming should be carried out within 5-7 days after castration. The main purpose of stomach-strengthening is to use stomach-strengthening drugs to stimulate the cattle's taste receptors, promote the secretion of digestive juices, enhance their appetite, and promote the absorption of nutrients. Stomach-strengthening is usually carried out 3 days after deworming, giving each cow 60-100 g of artificial salt orally or 450 g of stomach-strengthening powder orally.
　　
III. Patterns of Body Tissue Growth
(1) Patterns of body tissue growth: Body tissue growth is greatly related to the cattle's breed, age, sex, and body weight. Generally, young cattle and calves that have not reached body maturity gain weight faster, have good feed conversion, and are effective for fattening, and can often be used for intensive fattening. Adult cattle gain weight slowly and are not suitable for intensive fattening. The order of body tissue growth in calves and young cattle is internal organs--bones--muscle--fat, while in adult cattle it is mainly muscle and fat.
Generally speaking, bulls or steers aged 1-1.5 years and weighing over 300 kg have good fattening results.
(2) Compensatory growth: This is a temporary growth stagnation shown by cattle at a certain stage of feeder cattle growth by controlling the feed supply amount or feed quality. When nutrient supply is restored at an appropriate time, the cattle will show a growth rate exceeding normal, making up for the previous loss, or even exceeding normal growth levels; this phenomenon is called compensatory growth. This is an important means often adopted in beef cattle fattening to improve the economic benefits of cattle raising, reduce feed consumption, and lower feeding costs. However, note that the growth restriction period cannot exceed 3 to 6 months, and the restriction stage should be carried out after the cattle have grown to 3-6 months of age, and must not be carried out during the embryonic period or within 3 months after birth. Improper use will cause greater losses. The nutrient control amount is generally about 75% of the normal amount.
　　
IV. Scientific Fattening
In addition to insisting on feeding high-quality hay, silage, and micro-storage feed every day, fattening cattle should also have their feed formula adjusted according to breed, age, sex, and body condition. Reference concentrate formula: corn 50%, soybean cake 22%, wheat bran 25%, calcium bicarbonate 1.5%, growth hormone 0.5%, salt etc. 2%. Fattening is divided into the following three stages:
Stage one (6-8 days): Mainly to train the cattle to adapt to compound feed. The method is to first mix a small amount of compound feed into straw feed and feed it; after 2-3 days the cattle can automatically come to the trough to eat.
Stage two (10-12 days): Mainly to restore body condition. Feed each cow 700-750 g of compound concentrate per day; feed in 3 portions, with forage freely available.
Stage three (35-40 days): This is the key stage of intensive fattening. Feed each cow 1000 g of compound concentrate per day, and supply sufficient high-quality green hay, silage, or micro-storage straw feed. When conditions permit, feed night grass.
　　
V. Careful Management and Timely Marketing
During the fattening period, provide the cattle with a warm, dry, quiet, and comfortable living environment. The rope for tying the cattle is generally set at about 35 cm to limit their movement. On good-weather days, let them bask in the sun after daily feeding. Brush the cattle's body once a day to keep the body clean, frequently clean the feed trough, remove leftover feed, and prevent feeding moldy or spoiled forage.
When the cattle's body shape is broad and full, the back and waist are straight, the thighs are thick, and when you touch the back, rump, shoulder blades, ribs, and other parts with your hand, the muscles are full; when you touch the base of the ears and the front and rear ribs and feel a large amount of fat deposition, this indicates good body condition and the cattle can be marketed.
VI. Straw Must Be Added to the Daily Ration
Straw must be included in the cattle's daily ration formula; it is an essential component for healthy digestion in cattle. In the late fattening stage, the proportion of concentrate in the daily ration increases. If a certain amount of straw is not maintained, the cattle's digestion will become abnormal, causing rumen stagnation, or even wear of the stomach papillae, and serious phenomena such as the cattle stopping eating and even dying. During the beef quality improvement period, 2%-3% straw should also be included in the daily ration. In order to make cattle eat more straw, dust should be removed, and softening is the most feasible method, while grinding straw into powder is not advisable. Chopping straw short, to 5-7 cm, is best; rice straw, wheat straw, and corn stalks can be passed once through a rubbing machine to achieve the purpose.
Straw processing techniques: First, washing: soak the straw briefly, lightly rinse to remove dust, and also soften it, mainly used for wheat straw and rice straw; second, rubbing: as mentioned in the previous section, this also softens it, mainly for coarse stalks such as corn stalks; third, saltwater moistening: use 1% warm salt water to sprinkle, mix, and press the straw to be fed, cover with plastic sheeting, and feed after 1 day; fourth, ammoniation: treat straw with water in which urea has been dissolved to increase protein content, which can be promoted when urea prices are low.