Many farmers build their business on cattle breeding, in particular, they feed bulls for meat. To get a good profit, you need to properly organize the whole process. The keeping of animals, as well as their diet, is subject to compliance with certain requirements, which must be followed. What is the correct fattening of gobies, read the article.
Recommendations for raising animals for fattening
There are certain rules. Their compliance allows you to get good results when fattening gobies for meat at home:
- Inspection by a veterinarian is a prerequisite before purchasing animals.
- Gobies should have all vaccinations by age.
- They need to be accustomed to walking from birth, but this should be done at a time when there will be no dew on the grass.
- In hot weather, animals should be kept in the shade.
- In corrals, sanitary standards must be observed: keep floors clean, which should also always be dry.
- Organize a regular walk for the bulls, otherwise they will show aggression and grow painful.
- Observe the temperature regime in the stall, it is considered optimal about 10 ° C.
- When puberty occurs, walking should be stopped. This is due to the fact that during this period the animals are extremely aggressive. It is possible that they will mutilate each other.
What types of foods do animals feed?
The nutrient medium of gobies for fattening should contain all the necessary vitamins and minerals for good growth and weight gain. Feed can be of the following types:
- Grain fodder - cereals should be given in fragmented form. Gobies at the age of two to three months a day are fed half a kilogram, six-month-olds - three and a half, one-year-old - nine. If calves are fed according to this scheme, they will weigh 500 kg each when they reach the age of one year. You can use a mixture of wheat and barley in equal proportions or cereals of the same species. This type of feeding is characterized by great efficiency and benefits.
- Pulp - using this technology, you can achieve a good gain: 800-1000 g per day. Use pulp from grain hay, straw, molasses, bran, legumes. Salt (30-50 g) and feed phosphate of 60 g are also given to animals.
- Silo - the use of this type of feed also gives a good increase in muscle mass: 950-1000 g per day. Depending on the type of silo and stage of fattening (initial, average, final) and the rate of its use is different.
If the breeder prefers the products available on the farm, then calves can be fed:
- Fresh feed with a high liquid content.
- Green mass with hay, in the summer - grass.
- Special additives, such as Lactobifadol. This drug should be added to the food of animals throughout the entire period of life, until the slaughter.
From the age of six months you can feed the bulls with waste from your table, but start with a small amount. This method of feeding is beneficial, it is used mainly by private farmers.
Use of feed additives
For fattening animals for meat along with food, they are given premixes specially designed to increase body weight per 150 g (per calf). Superpremix is one of such preparations. The exact dose depends on the weight and age of the animal and is given in the instructions. If you regularly feed gobies with such an additive, they gain weight faster by increasing muscle mass, and the time of calf feeding is reduced by 42 days. It is important that the feed is consumed much less, and this benefits the farmer.
The use of cereals in the diet
The use by animals of the fruits of crops related to legumes and cereals promotes rapid weight gain. The meat of gobies grown on this feed, which contains a lot of fiber and vitamins, is very soft and tender. Diet based on cereal crops allows you to use an intensive method for growing gobies.
Prebiotics
Growing gobies, especially on large farms, cannot do without such additives. “Re-starter” has a good recommendation, which contains many additives from vitamins and minerals. When it is taken in gobies, immunity increases, the digestive system works better, growth increases. The supplement begins at the age of four days. First you need to mix it with milk, later - with other food. Prebiotic is recommended as an additive to food throughout the entire period of growth of the calves, before they are slaughtered for meat.
Goby Fattening Technology
In order to raise pets and get delicious dietary meat from them, you must follow the technology of fattening. There are several ways to do this:
- Short - young animals are grown up to one and a half years with intensive feeding. The live weight of the bull reaches 400 kg.
- Middle (intermediate) stage of fattening - the diet should be moderately plentiful for five to six months. Animals reach a weight of 400-450 kg.
- A long period of fattening - lasts seven to eight months. The diet should be moderate, then the meat will be juicy and fat. With this fattening of calves, their weight will be 500 kg.
The composition of the diet
There are various feeding schemes. They are used for fattening gobies from birth. If they are observed, the desired result can be achieved in a short period of time. This is especially important for getting beef, which is called "marble". Specialists have compiled various diet formulations. If they are not suitable, each breeder based on them can develop something of their own from the ingredients on the farm.
Feeding is summer and winter. For the warm season, the basis of the diet is mainly green grass, and concentrates are also added. During winter cold weather, of course, no fresh grass. But animals need to eat something. How to feed gobies in winter? To do this, use:
- Hay or straw.
- Dry grass that has been harvested since the summer. Only feed species should be mowed.
- Roots.
- Various supplements, which must necessarily include vitamin complexes.
- Compound feed.
Animals are given only quality products. If they are spoiled, the gastrointestinal tract function is disrupted, poisoning may occur. Gobies will begin to hurt, weaken, their fattening will not bring any results.
Daily feed rate
Animals should feed their body, but not pass. Therefore, there are approximate norms of products that one goby should eat per day:
- Hay - three to four kilograms.
- Root crops - in the amount of four kilograms. If the vegetables are too large, they are cut into pieces.
- Concentrates - two kilograms.
In the process of growth, the mass of animals will grow, so the daily diet will have to be adjusted in the direction of increase in the number of products.
How to feed?
The diet for gobies is selected individually, depending on the conditions of detention:
- First, the drinker is filled with liquid with concentrate.
- When the animals drink, they are fed fresh, juicy food.
- Then fresh grass is added to the hay or straw.
In the process of feeding, the diet should not be completely changed, it can only be adjusted by gradually introducing new products in small quantities. In pursuit of profit, fattening animals should not harm their health. Gobies should be fed with a frequency of eight hours. In order to prevent obesity during fattening, you need to correctly calculate the rate of feed intake per day.
Feeding the young
Animals should be fed three times a day at the exact time set. On the farm or in each household, a specific nutritional scheme is used. Much attention is paid to the development of a diet for fattening gobies for meat. If everything is correctly calculated, each animal can add 600 g in weight in just one day. Such results on increasing body weight are very good with home calves.
From birth to two months of age, babies need to be fed milk and products made from it. But gradually a little high-quality hay, cereals from wheat, dried grass are added to the diet. With this menu, the calves will grow rapidly, and their stomach will develop.
When fattening gobies for meat at home, a large amount of protein should be present in their diet. Therefore, when they turn three months old, they need to be fed, among other things, crushed grain, chopped vegetables, hay in a small amount. Such a diet persists until six months of age. The results will not keep you waiting long: muscle mass will increase rapidly.
From seven months to nine months of age, the diet is enriched with grass, if it is the summer period, or hay, but in large quantities, if it is winter. Over the three months before slaughter, animals need to be given more products, but gradually increase their number. How many gobies for meat grow to be lean and tender? For slaughter, the optimal age of the calves is considered to be 1.3-1.5 years, although it happens earlier if there is any reason for this.
How does castration affect meat, its quantity and quality?
This procedure, first of all, pacifies the calves in the period when they reach puberty. As a result, the number of injuries inflicted on each other is reduced. You should know that castrated individuals have an increased appetite, but at the same time, muscle building is slower. Therefore, when deciding to perform an operation, you need to understand that animals will need more food to gain weight. It should also be borne in mind that due to the weak development of muscle mass, obesity occurs. Lean meat from such animals can not be obtained.
But this problem can be partially solved if castration is performed when the animals turn one year old from the moment of birth. The fat in the meat will be contained twice as much as that of uncastrated gobies, but it will be tender and juicy, its taste will not suffer. In addition, the development of the torso of castrated individuals is proportional, the skeleton becomes lighter. If a decision has been made to perform castration, this should be done at that time until puberty has come, not earlier than the six-month-old age of the gobies. This procedure is carried out in the spring, before going to the pasture for walking.
The cost of bulls in Russia
When breeding animals for meat, farmers are interested in how much a goby costs. The average cost of a calf in our country is three to seven thousand rubles. But the price can be much higher, in other cases it is 60 thousand rubles. This is due to many factors. The difference in price, first of all, depends on the breed of the animal. Calves with a pedigree certificate, that is, thoroughbred, are more expensive. The price is affected by the age of the calves. But one should not rely solely on this indicator, since the bulls born at the same time can be different in size. For this reason, the cost is most often determined by weight, sellers sell bull-calves as meat.
Types of meat breeds
The meat breeds of gobies certainly have common features. But each species has its own distinctive features, thanks to which the farmer can choose one or another variety that is more suited to specific conditions of detention and nutrition. Based on this, the farmers formed a list of popular meat breeds of gobies. Some of them are presented below.
Shorthorn breed
The scientists of England worked on its derivation, starting from the 16th century. Cows of the given area and Dutch bulls were taken for crossbreeding. The result was excellent: the animal's body has a rectangular, barrel-shaped shape with pronounced hips. The muscles are well developed, the chest is deep. An adult goby can weigh 1200-1300 kg. Pure meat output is 70%.
Calves are born within 35 kg, differ in daily weight gain up to 1200-1700 g. An eight-month-old goby weighs 250 kg, one and a half year old - up to 600. 81% of the total weight falls on muscle mass, 8% on fat, but it is evenly distributed in meat , therefore, it is considered "marble". The minus is high demands on feed and increased susceptibility to infections. Thanks to these qualities, the breed’s popularity has declined.
Charolais
Bulls of this meat breed were born in France. They quickly gained popularity among farmers, and therefore became widespread throughout the world. These bulls are heavyweights, their body is large. An adult animal weighs 1200 kg, in some cases - 1500-1800. There is very little fat in meat; its palatability does not change with the age of the animal. Calves are born large, up to 45 kg each. Their height and weight gain is very fast. Even during intensive fattening, fat does not accumulate in meat, therefore this breed is not suitable for breeding for fattening in regions with a cold climate.
Salers
This breed was also bred in France. But in the past, bull-calves were considered not only a meat breed, they were also used as labor. Today, 95% of the total number of bulls is grown only for meat. The body of the animals has a rectangular shape, the rear and front parts are very well developed. Calves are born weighing 40 kg, by four months of life they reach 160, by eight months - 280. For a day they give an increase of about 1100 g. The mass of an adult goby is 1300 kg. In our country, representatives of this breed are grown mainly in Tyumen and Belgorod farms. The impact of unusual climatic conditions on productivity was not affected. Gobies quickly adapt to any conditions of detention, unpretentious to feed and care.
In the climate of our country, the most adapted breeds are:
- Hereford.
- Aberdeen is Angus.
- Kalmyk.
- Kazakh white-headed.
Conditions of detention
An important factor in obtaining good weight gain is the conditions in which animals are kept. In a room where fresh air does not enter, bulls should not be kept. Cowsheds should be equipped with special ducts. If the farmer wants to make a profit, he must provide the bulls with good conditions. And this means that they need to build a separate room that will protect from heat, rain and frost. Animals of any age need a lot of water and free space. Therefore, they should have a large pen, in which there are always drinkers. Particular attention is paid to the diet.
In addition, you need to keep the stall clean, in which the bulls spend a lot of time. It needs daily cleaning of the litter, which should be completely changed once or twice during the month. It is important to clean the stall immediately after feeding the gobies so that the smell and pathogenic microbes do not spread. The room needs regular treatment from insects, otherwise they will disturb animals. The optimum temperature is 10 ° C above zero.