Lynn and Ann Below and their son Justin operate a livestock and crop farm just outside Waseca, Minnesota. Since 1992 the Belows’ have been raising Holstein steers in their feedlot. The self-feeding whole-corn-pellet program was a preferred approach initially for taking 400 lbs steers to market weight. Market fluctuations and inconsistency in feed intake and efficiency prompted a change to a daily TMR bunk feeding program which they have continued to perfect, especially in the last 5 years. The current feedlot contains two 72-ft x 200-ft open front south facing buildings with curtain sides on the north wall. Each barn houses 4 pens of 100-120 head. Steers are fed from inside feed bunks and alley on the north side. The inside of the barn is a manure-pack bedded several times a week as necessary with chopped corn stalks. A 74-ft outside concrete alley in both barns where water fountains are located, provides additional pen space plus access to an outside dirt mound pen which has a 12-ft concrete perimeter for cleaning. In the center of each barn is squeeze chute, weigh scale and loading area. Recent additions to the feedlot have required feedlot run-off control with manure scrape lanes accessible to a manure-storage area linking both barns. The Belows’ feed steers from 300 lbs to market weight working with their feedlot consultant to continuously monitor performance. Attention to detail has resulted in a successful program. Records for the last 3,456 head indicated an average of 1375 lbs market weight, daily gain just under 3 lbs and feed/gain of 6.3 lbs over 312 days on feed. Feed costs of gain averaged about 54 cents/day. Death loss was just over 2% and realizers (steers that were chronic doers that had to be culled) about 8%. Bedding costs have been running $2/head. Steer comfort is very important. What are the key control points for this program?

Consistent feeding management from the time steers arrive has been critical. A key has been to be patient and read the cattle and the bunks very carefully everyday. Pens are walked twice daily. Managing the system begins prior to transferring to Below’s when Holstein calves are sorted into as uniform a group as possible. Groups of steers arrive to clean well-bedded pens. The feedlot is managed as an all-in all-out pen system. Upon arrival all steers are weighed off the truck and a sound health conditioning program initiated. Steers are offered starter diets (0.52 Mcals/lb NE g ) for up to 12 days to adjust to their new environment. Diets include a TMR of a high quality grass hay, dry corn, wet gluten feed and an ionophore-mineral-vitamin mix. Wet gluten is an excellent feed with 17% protein, dry matter basis (60% moisture), low in starch (about 20%) and high in digestible fiber. The wet gluten is delivered every 3-4 days from the corn wet-milling plant in Marshall, Minnesota to keep a good quality product on-hand.

Diets are fed to a slick bunk management system. Amount of feed is increased if bunks are slick prior to feeding over 4 consecutive days. The TMR is adjusted to increased energy intake from 0.52 Mcals/lb NE g starter diet up to a 0.61-0.62 Mcals/lb NE g finishing diets over incremental periods. Between 10 and 14 lbs of wet gluten feed is offered/steer over the feeding period. Daily feed sheets are kept for each pen and continuous track records maintained for feed, health and growth. An aggressive implant program is implemented when steers are well established on feed. The steers are marketed on-the hoof and each load consistently attains over 70% choice grades. With high feeder cattle prices, margins for finishing-out Holstein steers are tight but the Belows’ have demonstrated a way to meet the market challenges head-on to maintain their return.