How to plan a pre-sale feeding programme

Proper feeding of animals before a sale can help producers catch the eye of buyers and increase profits, but it is important to choose the right ration.

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It's time. You have done all the work to produce your livestock, you have made your selection and you have circled the auction date on your calendar. Now you need to get your stock fat and shiny for the sale – but where to begin?

Do you just bring the animals in from the veld and start feeding them raw maize by the bucketful? No, say the experts.

There is a recipe when it comes to getting an animal auction-ready and this varies depending on whether you are selling breeding or slaughter animals.

Manus Putter of Putter Voere in Theunissen in the Free State says one of the cardinal errors seen among farmers trying to finish animals ahead of a sale is feeding the wrong ration.

“A performance or feedlot ration is perfect for a slaughter animal that won't live past the age of two, but a breeding animal needs a recipe that will not harm long-term productivity or reproduction,” says Putter.

Putter Voere has been in the business of consulting on rations and finishing recipes for 25 years. According to Putter, they have been the preferred service provider for the ration fed to bulls undergoing Phase C testing at the Agricultural Research Council over this period.

Rations provided during this period are known as ‘evaluation’ rations, which are designed to gain a measure of the animal's performance potential.

When it comes to prepping livestock for an auction, one of the primary deciding factors when choosing an appropriate ration is what the end-goal is for the animal.

“You would not feed a performance (or feedlot) ration to stud or commercial breeding stock. This (feedlot ration) has a high starch content that can have negative long-term impacts on production and fertility,” he says.

With slaughter stock, the emphasis is on maximum growth in the shortest time frame at the most affordable rate.