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Southern Oregon | I am looking for suggestions regarding custom feedlots. My family raises Salers cattle (ours are gentle I swear!) in Southern Oregon. We have been sending our steers to the feedlot and finishing them out and selling them on the rail on the grid.
For three years we sent them to a yard in Kansas where they stayed healthy (one year we had zero steers visit the hospital), converted well, dressed out good, yielded mostly 1 and 2, and graded okay until we had problems on the third year that made us want to find a different feedlot. We were also hoping to find a feedlot closer to home so the steers wouldn't have such a long trip.
This last year we sent the steers to eastern Oregon. They converted well, dressed out well, yielded mostly 1 and 2, and graded okay (except we got a no roll and a few canners which hasn't happened before). But they did not stay healthy. Pen conditions were less than ideal, leading to respiratory problems. There were some other things I did not like as well which I think is mostly the differences between doing business with a bigger company vs. finding a smaller outfit.
Any suggestions on a good custom feedlot to do business with or how to find a good custom feedlot that would be interested in feeding our kind of cattle? We would love to find a feedlot to feed our cattle year after year that would treat us and our cattle right. I'm looking for a feedlot that prioritizes keeping animals healthy, clean pens and bunks, feeding a good ration that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and generally cares about the job they are doing. It'd be great to have the steers terminal sorted so they go to slaughter as they are ready. Anything else that I should be thinking about when looking at custom feedlots?
Attached are the kill sheets from the first two groups that went to slaughter this fall just to give an idea of our cattle. The no roll and the canners we haven't experienced before, but the rest is about how our cattle have been performing. The 52 head sheet included 13 heifers. The 43 head sheet were all steers.
Edited for grammar.
Edited by Susantheredhead 11/6/2020 22:09
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IMG_20201106_191945 (full).jpg (75KB - 177 downloads)
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Custom feedlot suggestions.
