How To Start A Feedlot In South Africa

Below is How To Start A Feedlot In South Africa

Beef cattle fattening a very profitable business to start in South Africa.

First off let’s just familiarise ourselves with what beef cattle pen fattening is.

Cattle pen fattening entails the feeding of beef cattle with a balanced protein-high diet for a period of 3-4 months under confinement.

This is done to increase the live weight of the cattle and improve the grade/quality of the beef so as to fetch higher prices when selling the beef cattle. Cattle fattening ensures that the cattle express their full potential for growth.

Confinement of beef cattle in pens is meant to ensure that the genetic coding of the beasts is fully expressed in their growth and to minimize weight loss through movement.

Land

You need land – this is where you will build the beef cattle feedlots.

The sustainability of the land must be thoroughly assessed beforehand.

The location must be very strategic i.e. near major road networks and near reliable water sources such as boreholes, rivers or dams. Alternatively, or rather as a buffer, water reservoirs must also be set up.

Beef cattle pen fattening is done with the cattle in confinement ie in pens/feedlots.

The cattle won’t graze for pasture.

This means that a beef cattle pen fattening business needs less amount of land as compared to a cattle ranching business.

Housing and equipment for beef cattle farming business

The beef cattle will be housed in feedlots/pens.

Feedlots are confined areas with feeding and watering facilities where the cattle are fed by hand or mechanically for the purpose of beef fattening.

That’s where the cattle will be resident during the duration of their 90-120 days fattening process.

Confinement of the cattle in feedlots is meant to minimize energy and weight loss through movement.

The beef cattle fattening feedlots must be set up in such a way that they protect the cattle from predators and adverse weather conditions.

The housing must promote ease of access to food and water, free movement, and adequate lighting for the beef cattle.

The necessary equipment for a beef cattle fattening business in South Africa includes feeding and drinking troughs.

Your commercial beef cattle farming business plan should include the costs of purchasing the equipment and the beef cattle feedlots.

Beef for cattle fattening

To start the cattle fattening business in South Africa, you need the beef cattle to fatten (also known as feeders). You can choose to either fatten your own cattle or you can purchase cattle for fattening from other farmers.

Purchasing cattle for fattening needs a lot of skill. You must be experienced in evaluating the potential for fattening of different types of cattle (maturity type, breed, age, gender) in relation to the market price of different grades of beef.

Different breeds of cattle have different growth potential, so you must be well-informed.

Some types of cattle are more suitable for cattle fattening than others. If you make the wrong decision in buying the cattle, you will encounter a loss before you even start the beef cattle fattening business.

It’s also important to have good negotiating skills so that you acquire the beef cattle at a good/low price. Buying expensive cattle will lead to losses in your beef cattle fattening business.

You can source your cattle from other farmers or from rural areas where it is cheap.

The prices of cattle vary throughout the year. You should always have money to buy cattle when the prices are favorable.

Lack of money when the prices are favorable is a lost opportunity for profit. Be wary of cattle farmers who dispose of their diseased cattle. Take time to do proper due diligence to ensure that you’re buying healthy cattle – don’t just be roped in by the low prices.

Feed for beef cattle fattening

As you can probably tell, feeding costs are high in the beef cattle fattening business.

The correct types of feeds and the right mixture ratios are critically important in order to produce cattle with high weights and high beef quality.

If these things aren’t done then the unfortunate result may be a failure to meet slaughter weight targets or beef quality targets.

Proper feeding techniques will enable the cattle to efficiently utilize the feed and thus gain weight and produce good quality beef.

Feeding can be done using a combination of complete commercial cattle fattening feeds and supplementary feeds eg maize.

Cattle fattening is done to achieve two major things, an increase in live weight (more weight results in more revenue when selling) and increases in the quality of beef (high-quality beef fetches higher prices).

A proper feeding regime will ensure that you achieve these objectives.

Your beef cattle fattening farming business plan should take into account the feeding costs.