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Where farmers are moving store cattle into the final 70- to 100-day intensive finishing period, making sure animals have adequate lying and feeding space is crucial to get high levels of weight gain.
As cattle grow over winter, space requirements increase and it is easy for animals to become overstocked.
Take a group of eight bulls weighing 580kg gaining 1.5kg/day. Each week, the group gains 84kg of liveweight.
After seven weeks, the combined weight gain of the group is the equivalent of adding one extra animal to the pen. As cattle become overstocked, weight gain can be impeded.
Lying space
Finishing cattle should have a minimum space allocation of 2.5m2 on a slatted floor, increasing to at least 4m2 on a straw-bedded court.
A sign cattle have adequate space is when all animals in each pen can lie comfortably at the same time.
Feed space
As well as lying space, it is important finishing animals have plenty of room at the feed barrier once meal is offered, unless cattle are on ad-lib feeding.
When feeding a set meal rate, such as 3kg/head in morning and again in the evening, there will be bullying at the feed rail if space is limited.
Dominant animals will eat more than their allocation. Less dominant animals will be underfed, delaying slaughter date.
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