Feedlot

Most feedlots require some type of governmental approval to operate, which generally consists of an agricultural site permit.

Feedlots also would have an environmental plan in place to deal with the large amount of waste that is generated from the numerous livestock housed.

[4] The Environmental Protection Agency has authority under the Clean Water Act to regulate all animal feeding operations in the United States.

Certain provinces are required by law to have a nutrient management plan, which looks at everything the farm is going to feed to their animals, down to the minerals.

[10] The cattle industry works in sequence with one another, prior to entering a feedlot, young calves are born typically in the spring where they spend the summer with their mothers in a pasture or on rangeland.

Once transferred to a feedlot, they are housed and looked after for the next six to eight months where they are fed a total mixed ration[12] to gain weight.

Typically the total mixed ration (TMR) consist of forage, grains, minerals, and supplements to benefit the animals' health and to maximize feed efficiency.

Some rations may also contain roughage such as corn stalks, straw, sorghum, or other hay, cottonseed meal, premixes which may contain but not limited to antibiotics, fermentation products, micro & macro minerals and other essential ingredients that are purchased from mineral companies, usually in sacked form, for blending into commercial rations.

[15] In the American northwest and Canada, barley, low grade durum wheat, chick peas (garbanzo beans), oats and occasionally potatoes are used as feed.

[citation needed] In a typical feedlot, a cow's diet is roughly 62% roughage, 31% grain, 5% supplements (minerals and vitamins), and 2% premix.

These entrance protocols are usually discussed and created with the farm's veterinarian, as there are numerous factors that can impact the health of feedlot cattle.

[17] One challenging but crucial role on a feedlot is to identify any sick cattle, and treat them in order to rebound them back to health.

[20] Too much grain in the diet can cause cattle to have issues such as bloating, diarrhea and digestive discomfort, which is why close monitoring of the animals, as well as working with ruminant nutritionists is very important for farmers.

Increasing numbers of cattle feedlots are utilizing out-wintering pads made of timber residue bedding in their operations.

Controlled grazing methods of this sort necessitate higher beef prices and the cattle take longer to reach market weight.