How to fatten up thin cattle? These fattening techniques must be mastered

1. Selecting thin cattle. Not just any thin cattle can be purchased for fattening. Only thin cattle that have become thin due to poor feeding management, heavy work, and other such reasons can be rapidly fattened through careful feeding and management. Great care must be taken when selecting thin cattle, and one must absolutely avoid purchasing thin cattle that are too old, extremely weak in constitution, or suffering from chronic digestive tract diseases or infectious diseases.

2. Disease prevention and deworming. Newly purchased thin cattle must undergo a comprehensive examination, and only after being vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease, brucellosis, and Clostridium welchii disease can they be admitted to the barn and mixed with other cattle. Before formally fattening thin cattle, they must first be dewormed and their stomachs strengthened. Chongkexing capsules can be given orally at 4 capsules per 100 kg of body weight. In addition, because newly purchased cattle are prone to stress reactions due to environmental changes, transport, fright, and other reasons, 0.5% salt and 1% brown sugar can be added to their drinking water and given continuously for 1 week. When starting fattening, first feed high-quality green grass and dry hay; after 2 days, add a small amount of wheat bran, then gradually transition to the fattening feed.

3. Fattening in stages. The fattening period for thin cattle should generally be controlled at 50-60 days and can be divided into 3 stages.

Stage one (6-8 days): The main task is to train the cattle to come to the trough and learn to eat mixed feed. The method is: first let the cattle go hungry continuously for 1-2 days, then mix a small amount of compound feed into ammoniated straw and feed it. Generally, after 2-3 days of training, the cattle can come to the trough and eat.

Stage two (10-12 days): The main task is to restore the cattle's body condition. During feeding, gradually increase the amount of compound feed. Each head of cattle can be fed 700-750 g of compound feed and 100-120 g of urea per day (when using ammoniated straw feed, there is no need to add extra urea), divided into 3 feedings, with forage provided for free feeding.

Stage three (35-40 days): This is the key period for rapid fattening. The daily compound feed amount per head of cattle should be increased from the original 750 g to 1000 g, and urea from 100-120 g to 150 g, with forage provided for free feeding. If conditions permit, an appropriate amount of night grass can also be added at around 11 p.m. each night to further improve the fattening effect.

4. Careful management. During the fattening period, try as much as possible to create a warm, quiet, and comfortable living environment for the cattle. It is best to use short ropes to tether the cattle so as to reduce their movement and lower their energy consumption. Regularly brush the cattle's bodies once every morning, which can promote blood circulation and metabolism and enhance the cattle's appetite. During the fattening process, pay attention to observing the feed intake, excretion, and mental condition of the herd, and promptly treat any cattle found to be ill.

In the late fattening stage, pay attention to observing the cattle's growth condition, and regularly carry out weighing and body measurements. When it is found that their fat is showing, there are back grooves, the rump has become round, both the scrotum of bulls and the udder of cows have fat deposits, and the market conditions look good, they should be quickly sent to market for slaughter so as to achieve better economic benefits.