Automatic cattle sorting
Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Larry Stalcup
Many agricultural producers are extremely peeved about $5 to $6/bu. corn prices. They're livestock producers. And cattle feeders are among those trying every angle to improve their feeding efficiency.
A unique cattle feed intake system that helps identify efficient sires in the feedlot should help beef up those efforts. GrowSafe Beef from GrowSafe Systems, Alberta, Canada, is designed to help feeders and producers market cattle based on their determined optimal market end point and provide information to improve herd genetics.
GrowSafe Technology installed on the ranch, the feed yard or dairy enables continuous individual animal monitoring. Other systems designed to provide individual animal management include Accu-Trac electronic cattle management (ECM) from Micro Beef Technologies, Amarillo, TX, and the Calan Broadbent Feeding System from American Calan, Northwood, NH. All aim to help cattle get the most from their ration and help producers enhance their genetics.
Alison Sunstrum, GrowSafe vice president, says that, in three separate commercial feed-yard studies involving several thousand head, cattle managed on data provided from the GrowSafe Beef system showed $12.48 to $19.34/head more income than cattle fed under normal conditions. She says returns could be better, because those results were gained when corn was $2.60/bu.
At a cost of about $5.00/head, the system is set up at pen watering areas. As animals come to drink, their front legs activate the system. The system scans the animal's partial body weight, which is converted to the full body weight.
“In a typical day, at least four to six weight points are measured by the GrowSafe Beef system when an animal gets a drink,” Sunstrum says. “As soon as the animal comes into the feed yard, the system begins monitoring it to determine when the point of cost of gain begins to exceed the value of gain. This provides the feed yard with a unique growth curve and prediction into the future. It also monitors an animal's frequency to and duration at the trough for water. We can get a better idea if it is becoming sick.”
University of Missouri professor Monty Kerley is providing validation of the GrowSafe system. The system also is being tested at five commercial feed yards in the United States and three in Canada.
“With this system, we can calculate average daily gain (ADG) after 15 days on feed, then project that growth accurately 45 days into the future,” Kerley says. “We've never had a chance to say ‘When is that calf ready to go to market?’”
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