Iowa Farmer Today
04-22-06
Hoops hold promise for cattle feedlots
By Jeff DeYoung, Iowa Farmer Today
LEWIS -- From a distance, it might resemble an oversized greenhouse but Iowa
State University researchers are proving cattle can grow just as well in hoop
buildings as they can in a semi-confinement feedlot.
“The performance we have seen in the hoop building is statistically equal to what
we have seen in semi-confinement,” says Shawn Shouse, ISU Extension ag
engineer near here in Pottawattamie County. “It’s really done what we expected
it to do.”
The structure was erected in 2004 at the Armstrong Research and
Demonstration Farm here, with the first set of cattle placed late in the year. The
hoop building is 50-feet wide by 120-feet long, with pre-cast concrete feed bunks
outside of the building posts and along a side wall.
The building has a capacity of 120 head, with three pens of 40 cattle each. Total
square footage allowed for 50 sq. ft. per head in the building, with one linear foot
of bunk space per animal. The structure was built to face the north and the south.
A 10-inch wide ridge vent helps with temperature control during the summer. The
west wall is lined with lumber to further reduce summer heat.
The initial group in the hoop building had 72 steers and 34 heifers. Steers
weighed an average of 652 pounds, while heifers weighed an average of 611 lbs.
The steers spent 138 days on feed, with a final weight of 1,166 lbs. and an
average daily gain (ADG) of 3.74 lbs. Heifers spent 133 days on feed, weighing
an average of 1,064 lbs. with an ADG of 3.43 lbs.
About 75 percent of the initial group was black-hided. Eighty-nine percent of the
steers and 100 percent of the heifers graded low Choice or better.
The control group in the semi-confinement nearby spent 141 and 137 days on
feed for steers and heifers, respectively, with nearly identical ADG compared to
the cattle in the hoop building. Seventy-one percent of those cattle were blackhided, with 79 percent of the steers and 87 percent of the heifers grading low
Choice or better.
“We have some data from a couple of semi-confined feedlots in the area that
have seen a three to five percent improvement in gain over outside lots,” says
Darrell Busby, ISU Extension beef specialist. “Some of that is going to depend
on the weather but it looks like performance is going to be better when there is
some confinement.”
Shouse says similar rations were used with both groups, comprising whole corn
and ground hay, with some ground cornstalks and supplements.
He says with the smaller calves, feeding areas were cleaned weekly. The rest of
the pen was cleaned out between groups. Cornstalk bedding was added every
two weeks for calves.
The second and third groups of cattle have been yearlings, Shouse says. With
the large cattle, feeding areas are cleaned every five days and bedding is added
weekly. Cattle are kept outside during the cleaning process.
Shouse adds cornstalk bales are kept for windbreaks to the north of the hoop
structure.
“We haven’t had a real bad winter lately but there have been occasions where
some snow gets into the building,” he says. “But, the cattle don’t seem to mind
and they haven’t gotten cold enough where their performance would be affected.”
The hoop building has also held up well structurally, Shouse says.
The building also provides producers with an effective manure-management tool,
he says.
“We are seeing an increase in enforcement of the Clean Water Act, and open
feedlot runoff is becoming much more of an issue,” Shouse says. “With the
bedded confinement building, you do not have to build costly deep pits.”
Used bedding and manure are composted for use with organic plots at another
research farm. Shouse says the bedding could safely be applied to a field and
incorporated much like manure but would have to be stored in a building or have
protective storage until it is applied.
Shouse adds the hoop building cost about $44,000, approximately $370 per
head of capacity.
Busby says producers who have feedlots near a creek or other waterway could
use a hoop structure to reduce the risk of manure entering the water.
“If you think of some of these older feedlots building near a creek because of the
water source, I think you could retrofit a hoop over the lot and help you comply
with regulations,” he says.
Busby adds early data from the hoop building and semi-confinement feedlot
reinforce the importance of animal comfort when it comes to performance.
“If they aren’t comfortable, they aren’t going to perform in any kind of lot.”