Need for Feed

Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge 2022: Farm TV - 30 May 2022 The annual Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge availed again this year. The purpose of the challenge is to get fifth-year veterinary students interested in and i...

🥉THIRD PLACE🥉
And that's a wrap on the OP Feedlot Challenge 2022!
Need for Feed placed third overall, and we are incredibly happy with the results!
Congrats to .king and for coming 2nd and 1st respectively.
This challenge has been hard work and long hours but the knowledge and hands-on experience we gained made it all worth it.
Here's to the long hours mixing, early morning feedings and the friends and memories we made along the way🥂

Thank you for coming on this journey with us, and we hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about our beefy friends🐮

🥇NO 1🥇
Introducing Need for Feed's champion of the Feedlot challenge.....817!
This bull managed to put on 247 kgs in just 104 days!!
Despite his battle with BRD, he left his fellow competitors in the dust, and ate his way to victory🐮
We are so proud of him!

🥈804🥈
Second and third place were tight, with only a 1kg difference between them. 804 managed to narrowly beat our on-the-hoof champion 811, as well as 802, our bronze bull!
He gained 214kg throughout the challenge! 🐮
Stay tuned for tomorrow to see who the Biggest Gainer was... Can you guess how much he gained? Leave it in the comments below👇

🥉3rd place is awarded to 802🥉
He gained 213kg within the 104 days, the equivalent weight of an upright piano🎹!

What a beaut!💪👏

And... in 4th place we have No. 811
He gained 212 kilograms over the course of the challenge!
👏👏👏👏

Only 5 more days to go before the 2022 OP Feedlot challenge winners are announced!🐮
For the next 5 days we will be showing off our top 5 bulls who packed on the most pounds throughout the challenge.
In fifth place: 806
This handsome guy put on a whopping 193kg in 104 days!

It's time to say goodbye to our wonderful bulls. Going into this challenge, none of us could have predicted how much these magnificent animals would teach us. We are incredibly grateful that we had this opportunity to learn more about looking after the health and welfare of our little herd and we look forward to being able to make a difference for other herds in the future. Until then, herd 8, you have our hearts ❤❤

🥈ON THE HOOF EVALUATION🥈
We are extremely proud of number 811, who placed second at the on-the-hoof evaluation! He has done the Need for Feed team proud❤ All of our bulls were looking their best today and it shows. Here are some pictures of our top 5🤩

🐮Meet the team pt5🐮:
1. Jacques is in charge of monitoring procedures to ensure that we treat any and every disease that crops up as soon as possible. He makes sure our boys stay health and strong throughout the challenge.
2. Prishni will accompany our boys to the abattoir at the end of the challenge and evaluate their health and efficiency from there.
3. Danico researched the best Implant strategy for our bulls and how we can maximize their growth during this 104 day challenge.
4. Riddhi put together our gastrointestinal disorder management sheet, which helps us to treat any GIT diseases that crop up quickly and efficiency. We want to make sure our herd's rumens are in tip top shape to help them pick up those pounds.
5. And finally, it's me, Jenna. I'm the one filling your feed with cattle pictures galore and videos of us throwing large bags of food around. I'm hoping to give our group good social media visibility, and also show you all a little bit more about the whole Feedlot process🐄

#²

🐮Meet the team pt4🐮:
1. Lieketso -besides from monitoring the boys' Feed intake to make sure they keep packing on the pounds, Lieketso is reliable team member, always working hard at feed mixing and feeding.
2. Tumishang is one of our main muscle men, who makes lifting 60kg bags of feed look easy. His research is on interaction of animal traits with growth promoter efficiency.
3. Anja is looking at the bench marks of population health. She also helps to organize the team when we become a little scattered!
4. Katleho is researching water intake of feedlot animals. She helps to keep an eye on the water trough and water levels to ensure our boys are getting fresh, clean water.
5. Margaret aka, Meg is our secretary and record keeper. You will most likely spot her standing by the scale on weighing day, clipboard in hand. She assists in keeping the team on top of all the paperwork.

🐮Meet the team pt 3🐮:
1. Kershel researched the best way to prevent and treat cases of BRD in our herd. Bovine Respiratory Diseasw is a very important disease complex in feedlots, and good management is crucial to success.
2. Wiandré's topic looks at the social responsibility of a feedlot in communities today. Beyond that she is always ready to help out with whatever task is needed.
3. Michelle is a vital member of our team. She helped to arrange our wonderful shirts and caps from our sponsors and is an organizational wizard. Her topic looks at the cost of lameness in a feedlot
4. Nokonwaba tackles the food security and how feedlots play a vital role in providing accessible protein for many people. She can also pile a wheelbarrow higher than any of the rest of us and push it with ease!
5. Last but not least, we have Nina. She is keeping a detailed record of our group's learning experience as we go. She is also a mastermind for creative videos, and keeps all spirits up during long mixing afternoons.

🐮Meet the team pt 2🐮:
1. Sibusisiwe is our animal welfare warrior. She keeps an eye on our bulls to continuously make sure their welfare is well taken care of.
2. Jade - metaphylaxis. Although her research is on the value of metaphylactic treatment in a herd, she also keeps track of the daily health evaluation forms that we fill in each day, so that we pick up on any health issues rapidly and can fix them.
3. Faheem is responsible for helping us to minimize the carbon footprint of our Feedlot cattle, as this is a major concern with this type of farming.
4. Next we have Bianca. In addition to analyzing our herd's health, she is always there, ready to help out wherever needed. Be it cleaning, mixing, or anything else that needs doing, she is ready to jump in.
5. Neliswa - Implant strategy. Implants are very important to make sure our boys grow big and strong, and Nelly plays an important role in looking at when and how is the best way to administer the implants.

It's time to meet the team behind our good looking group of bulls🐄
1. Renaldo - group co-ordinator. He makes sure everything runs smoothly and we all work together to ensure our boys only get the very best!
2. Andrew -assistant co-ordinator. Andrew assists Renaldo in ensuring everything runs smoothly, from mixing to feeding to cleaning - he is always there.
3. Kerri-lyn - financial guru and accounting wizard. She keeps track of all of our medical expenses, as well as anything else we may need.
4. Nate - community engagement. Nate is our link to the community, which includes going out to start-up feedlots and providing tips and tricks to help them to acheive the best production levels that they can get🐮

Stay tuned to meet some more of our team members over the next few days!

🐮Appreciation post for all the companies who generously sponsored the Need for Feed team🐮

Thank you Feedtek Animal Feed Solutions for sponsoring our shirts, and to Thabagolo for our buffs and hats. We are now kitted out and ready to take on the 2nd half of this challenge🏆

And once again, thanks to Makulu Beef for our trace blocks and acid-buff, we are all (bulls included) really appreciative of these sponsorships!

To say our boys love their trace block would be an understatement!
Thank you Feedtek Animal Feed Solutions and Makulu Beef, your sponsorship has really made a huge difference for our little herd🐮❤

🐮BOVINE RESPIRATORY DISEASE COMPLEX🐮

On Thursday morning we had to pull number 817 because he was showing signs of breathing difficulty and was looking a little dull and depressed.

BRD is the most prominent disease in feedlot cattle all over South Africa. Luckily we picked up on 817's difficulties and were able to treat him.
Treatment included:
1. Long acting Antibiotic
2. Anti-inflammatory to help him feel a but better.

We then released him back in with his pen mates and we are continuing to monitor him daily☀️.

A BIG thank you to Beefcor, another one of our main sponsors for the Feedlot Challenge.🐮

Not only did they sponsor these fantastic bulls that we are raising, but they also allowed us to go and visit their feedlot on Tuesday.
It was so interesting to see how a commercial feedlot works, and wow, can we learn a lot from them!

Thank you Beefcor for this wonderful opportunity!

The data for the second period, day 16 to 22, has been published. Check out Need for Feed's progress🤩 (Group 8)

Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge 2022 The Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science proudly presents: The 13th Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge 2022 Sponsored by Zoetis South Africa, Beefcor, Plaas Media, Vleissentraal, and SA Feedlot Association.

Happy faces all round because it's the WEEKEND!
And what better way to start it off than with a joke?

What do you call a rude steer?
Beef jerky.

Feed mixing: 🎬 TAKE 3

6 tonnes of feed in one afternoon? Enough said....

Our team was absolutely exhausted after mixing yesterday, but seeing how much our boys picked up during the weighing was enough to lift even the lowest spirits🌾!
We are so proud of how the steers are growing❤