Technical Points and Management Methods for Pasture Fattening of Thin Cattle

Pasture fattening of cattle is a fattening method that mainly uses natural pasture. The pasture fattening method has the advantages of low feeding cost, good fattening results, and easy promotion in vast agricultural and pastoral areas. During the pasture fattening period of about 150 days, thin cattle of local breeds gain 0.5-0.7 kg per day, beef crossbred cattle gain 0.8-1.2 kg per day, each head of cattle gains a total of 100-180 kg, increasing economic benefit by 300-400 yuan. The pasture fattening technique for cattle is introduced as follows.

1. Selection of fattening cattle: Select healthy, disease-free Charolais, Limousin, Simmental and other beef crossbred bulls aged 2-6 years with a large frame for pasture fattening. Culled bulls, infertile cows, low-yielding dairy cows, and draft cattle that have lost their working ability can all improve their meat production through pasture fattening before being culled for slaughter. Young and strong cattle have strong grass-gathering ability and good fattening results; old and weak cattle have poorer fattening results, but after proper conditioning can also achieve relatively good weight gain results; cattle that are too old, have no teeth, or have severe digestive system diseases and infectious diseases have no fattening value.

2. Deworming and stomach strengthening: Cattle should be dewormed and have their stomachs strengthened before pasture fattening. Because cattle come into contact with the ground frequently when grazing, the digestive tract is often infected with various nematodes, and the body surface is also prone to parasites, which can reduce daily weight gain by more than 35%. Therefore, before pasture fattening, internal and external parasites should be expelled, and at the same time the stomach should be strengthened to improve the weight gain effect. Chongkexing, developed and produced by China Agricultural University, can simultaneously expel dozens of kinds of nematodes in the bodies of livestock and poultry as well as external and internal parasites such as lice, mites, ticks, and @#@261@#@, with a significant fattening effect. Usage dosage: for every 35 kg of body weight, use 1 bag of powder or 2 capsules (containing 10 mg of active ingredient), administered orally or mixed into feed. Deworming is best carried out in the afternoon or evening so that the parasites are expelled during the daytime of the next day, making them easier to collect and handle. Before administering the medicine, it is best to withhold food for several hours and provide only drinking water to improve the efficacy. Deworming and stomach strengthening can be carried out at the same time. For cattle with indigestion and diarrhea, Jianwei San can be administered orally, once a day, 250 g each time, for 2 consecutive days. For individual thin and weak cattle, after administering Jianwei San orally, also administer yeast powder orally, once a day, 250 g each time, or 50-100 yeast tablets can also be given.

3. Pasture fattening: The pasture fattening period starts in late May and ends in late October. Small-herd grazing is mostly adopted, with about 10 head per herd being appropriate. In summer grazing, try to avoid hot weather, and adopt the grazing method of going out early and returning early in the morning, going out late and returning late in the afternoon, and resting more at noon. Graze for about 8 hours a day, and at noon drive the herd into a shed or tie them under tree shade to rest. After each return from grazing, provide water once, letting them eat their fill and drink enough. They should drink clean water and not drink water from stagnant pools; do not graze in low-lying areas to prevent infection with fascioliasis. In autumn grazing, watch the herd well, do not let cattle damage crops and vegetable plots, and prevent accidental ingestion of vegetables and crop fruits causing diarrhea and death. There should be no cows in the fattening herd, so as not to affect the bulls' feed intake and fattening. If there are many cows, they can be grouped separately. Fattening cattle must not be used for work, to prevent "fat loss."

4. Do a good job of supplementary feeding: Households with conditions @#@228@#@ can adopt the fattening method of grazing plus supplementary feeding, and the weight gain effect is better. Supplementary feeding can be carried out half an hour after returning from grazing in the evening. Each head of cattle should be supplemented daily with 3-5 kg of green grass, 05-1 kg of corn, 0.3-0.5 kg of cottonseed cake, 50 g of salt, 50 g of urea, and 20 g of growth hormone. When supplementary feeding, feed the green grass first, then mix the concentrated feed and various additives evenly and mix them into the green grass until they are full. Under the condition of grazing plus supplementary feeding, improved beef cattle gain 1.5-2 kg per day, and local yellow cattle gain 1-1.25 kg per day.

5. Timely marketing: Beef crossbred cattle are mostly born in March-May, and by May of the following year at one year of age their body weight can reach 250 kg. From the start of pasture fattening in late May to the end of the pasture fattening period in late October, the fattening cattle can be marketed when their body weight reaches 350-400 kg. If not marketed at this time, they can enter the barn-feeding fattening period from late October, and after 2-3 months of intensive fattening reach a body weight of 500-550 kg; marketing during New Year's Day or the Spring Festival is also very suitable, and the selling price is also high.