How to prepare for the fattening period?
Fattening livestock is no easy task. To obtain quality meat in the required quantity, farm owners must pay close attention to the balanced nutrition of their livestock. Properly organizing the feeding of cows is a whole science. After all, every product that goes into livestock feed performs its own specific function. So, before starting to fatten livestock, let’s look at what needs to be done to create favorable conditions for keeping them.
The main thing is a ventilated room, cleanliness and temperature within normal limits.
► If the room is poorly ventilated and the humidity level is high, ammonia poisoning occurs; ammonia is released from urine and manure. This leads to reduced immunity and appetite in animals and to inflammatory processes. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a ventilated room and a humidity level of 40 to 75%.
► In winter, it is recommended to strictly maintain the temperature regime at fattening sites for young animals: not below 10 °C.
► To prevent the risk of respiratory (lung) diseases, barns should have bedding. The bedding can be made of straw, and it is important to change it as often as possible.
► It is necessary to divide livestock into pens by age and sex. Young animals should be separated from the adult herd, and heifers from bulls.
► Livestock often return from pasture in a weakened state and suffer from various diseases, so it is necessary to carry out preventive deworming, vaccinate against endo- and ectoparasites and, if possible, wash particularly dirty areas of the body with warm water.
Driving and transporting livestock is stressful for the animal. And under stress, animals release the stress hormone cortisol. The AL KARAL feed additive is a great help in regulating precisely this cortisol. The components of AL KARAL block excess hormones, preventing them from reaching the receptors in cells. As a result, it increases stress resistance and improves the overall well-being of animals.
After livestock are moved from pasture, they should first be fed hay, because the switch from succulent to dry feed causes them difficulties and leads to weight loss. Then an oat-barley mixture is gradually added at 0.5–0.7 kg per head (and 0.5–1 kg in the form of bran for small ruminants) until the animals have fully adapted to the new diet.
Also, the main focus in fattening livestock is putting together the right diet. After all, nearly half of the cost of fattening is spent on feed. The diet should be tailored to the animals’ age. Feeding every day in the morning and in the evening is recommended.
At the same time, increasing the amount of feed does not guarantee weight gain, especially if the feed has low nutritional value and digestibility. Therefore, it is recommended to add various feed additives, minerals and vitamins to the diet.
For example, the AL KARAL feed additive contains all the elements needed to increase your livestock’s productivity and ensure 100% digestibility of feed.
When pathogenic microorganisms multiply in the body, they release poisonous toxins and thereby reduce the animal’s appetite. The AL KARAL feed additive, thanks to the humic substances it contains, increases the ability to resist bacteria and viruses. As a result, pathogenic microorganisms in the animal’s body are weakened, feed is fully digested and diarrhea stops.
Sources:
[1] Your Farm, “Fattening livestock”, 2020.
[2] Azhmuldinov E.A., “Efficiency of fattening bulls depending on the quality and composition of the diet”, 2014.
[3] Fermer Biledi, “Preparing feed for livestock”, 2019.
[4] V.G. Ryadchikov, “Fundamentals of feeding and fattening farm animals”, 2012.
