Beefcakes - Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge 2020 Group 2

If you missed this morning's episode of Plaas TV, click here: https://bit.ly/3hZ7UHh

Simparica South Africa NUTRI Feeds Zoetis Allflex Livestock Intelligence South Africa Standard Bank - South Africa Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge Forrest Rump OP Feedlot Challenge Grp 1 Beefcakes - Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge 2020 Group 2 Cowabunga _ OP Feedlot Group 3 Risk It For The Brisket - Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge 2020 Group 4 Heifin' Big Steaks Farmer's Beefly The Beefy Bunch Hakuna Mootata

‘n Nuwe graderingstelsel vir beesvleis is tans in sy ontwikkelingsfase en kan volgens Rudi van der Westhuizen van , gehalte vleis aan verbruikers waarborg. Verbruikers sal ook bereid wees om meer hiervoor te betaal. Is dit ‘n wen-wen situasie en kan produsente hierby baat? Moenie vanoggend se episode van Plaas TV misloop nie wanneer ons oor dié opwindende onderwerp gesels. Dr Andy Hentzen bring ons ook op hoogte van waar sake nou staan met die Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge.

NUTRI Feeds
Allflex Livestock Intelligence South Africa
Simparica South Africa Zoetis
Standard Bank - South Africa

. Kyk dit Woensdag om 8:00 hier: https://bit.ly/2U9qIcr SA Feedlot Association Faculty of Veterinary Science, Onderstepoort

Yesterday, the Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge prize giving marked the very end of our Feedlot Challenge journey 💛

The places were as follows:
1st - Forrest Rump OP Feedlot Challenge Grp 1 🥇
2nd - The Beefy Bunch 🥈
3rd - Farmer's Beefly 🥉
4th - Risk It For The Brisket - Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge 2020 Group 4
5th - Hakuna Mootata
6th - Cowabunga _ OP Feedlot Group 3
7th - Heifin' Big Steaks
8th - Beefcakes - Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge 2020 Group 2

We would like to congratulate all the other groups on their achievements and excellent results in the Challenge. It was fascinating yesterday to hear everyone’s statistics alongside industry standards - our cattle did well ☀️

Huge thanks once again go to our dedicated lecturers, particularly Dr Hentzen, who kept the Challenge going through unprecedented adversity; and our sponsors, Zoetis and Beefcor, as well as Vleissentraal Onderstepoort and Plaas Media for helping make the auction and Challenge as exciting as possible. 🐂

Although Group 2 didn’t place high up on the list, the Beefcakes had an amazing experience as a team, and it is with happy hearts that we walk away from the Challenge each with 20 new friends and the fondest memories to look back on. 🌈 All 21 of us will always be proud Beefcakes. 🥩💪

OP Feedlot Challenge puts its best hoof forward - AgriOrbit The 2020 Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge is still charging ahead, with the final prize-giving ceremony just around the corner.

Last week, the Onderstepoort Feedlot Challenge for 2020 came to a quiet close. Although we were not there in person for the last portion of it, our group is still proud of the outcome and how much we learnt during this Challenge 🤓

In case anyone was curious, here are some interesting figures 🐮

👉 Our group were winners of 3 categories at the "On the Hoof Evaluation": the best group of 4 heifers, the best individual heifer overall, and the best group purchased at auction.
👉 All 15 of the heifers bought at auction survived until the end of the Challenge.
👉 The overall average daily gain was 1.61 kg/day.
👉 Percentage gain since placing was 76%.
👉 Average dressing percentage was 56%.
👉 The heaviest (and winning) heifer in our group was purchased at 291 kg and had a final weight of 525 kg (see pictures 🐂)
👉 In total, our heifers gained 2826 kg.

We are all very grateful for not only the practical experience gained during the Feedlot Challenge, but also the friends we've made within our group and the fun that was had during the activities related to the challenge. ✨

Thanks must go to Zoetis and Beefcor for their generous sponsorship; the Faculty of Veterinary Science and our dedicated lecturers who remained committed to ensuring that the challenge ran from beginning to end in spite of the challenges that were faced; and to everyone who has followed and supported our journey through this Challenge 💛 @ University of Pretoria Faculty of Veterinary Science

More pictures coming soon from the “on the hoof” evaluation that took place today 😍🎉 For now, this is 204, the champion heifer on the hoof. 🐂

Our group won 3 prizes:
👉 Best group bought at the auction,
👉 Best Group of 4 heifers,
👉 Champion heifer on the hoof.

We couldn’t be prouder of our chunky ladies today 🎉

Today, our cattle are being evaluated 🐂 and as well as wishing we could be there today, we’re hoping all the hard work (most of the time) that went into mixing our feed was worth it 😍🎉 @ University of Pretoria Faculty of Veterinary Science

Happy Tuesday 🐂

We don’t get to see our large ladies in person anymore, but luckily some essential workers who make their way onto campus are also good cow photographers 😉 We are pleased to share these progress pictures of one of our heifers, to show how far she’s come since January ⚖️

Throwback to before social distancing 😂🐂 Even though we aren’t able to see each other or our cows, our team has continued to communicate with each other throughout the lockdown. We receive regular updates on how all the cattle are doing in our absence; they’re being looked after by a team of dedicated lecturers and we are so grateful that they’re being kept safe and healthy while we’re away 💛

How we are looking during this lockdown 😂
Stay home and stay safe, folks 🏡💛💫

It’s frustrating to watch these little ladies eat because the ratio of what they spit out while they’re chewing to what they retain is so high 😂

Maybe it’s just us, but cow pics are > “you up?” 😂 during this time when we are all staying at home, let’s spread love in the form of sharing our bovine content 🥰

You’d be forgiven for mistakenly thinking these ladies were about to drop the hottest album of 2020 🔥

Hmm, smells like some much needed me time 🍫🍷😂

In all seriousness, please stay safe and wash your hands 🧼💦

Cool cow picture for attention (G210 is a model), caption for reading 👇

South Africa has gone into crisis mode this week. Universities and schools are stopping contact activities. We’re no exception - the veterinary faculty has closed until at least mid-April, university residence has shut down; and that meant that our Feedlot Challenge was at risk of ending early. But the challenge coordinator and students have pulled together, and a plan has quickly been put into motion. Although mixing may not be able to continue, feed is going to be ordered and brought in, and several students in each group have volunteered to keep feeding and caring for the cattle.

No one could have expected this situation, but we are so happy to let everyone know that our cows are still safe and being well looked after for the foreseeable future, and it is all thanks to the doctors who are so determined to keep things going even in adversity, and the students who are committed to doing the work 💛

🐮 Teach Yourself Tuesday 🐮

Have you ever wondered why we're one of only two groups with heifers? 🤔

Traditionally, steers tend to do much better in the feedlot situation. In real life, the cattle are in the feedlot for 120 days.
Because our challenge is for a slightly shorter period of time, we got the inside scoop and we were advised to go with heifers, as history has shown that they pick up more weight in the shorter time period. The downside to this is that they don't put on as much lean muscle as a steer would, so we have to concentrate on controlling their fat levels; and that's where our awesome ration comes in 😉

Due to the 'unpopularity' of heifers, we managed to get them for a really good price at the auction because many of the other groups weren't prepared to take the risk. This gave us a margin of comfort in terms of finances.

Another added bonus is that our girls distract the neighbouring steers, who end up eating less because they're worried about the ladies next door 😏

Happy Monday, here’s G212 either really enjoying her feed or pulling a tongue at whoever was walking past at that point 🤪😂

On Friday night we had quite a lot of rain ⛈ We’ve explained why the rain isn’t ideal for our cows, but what we left out was the effect it has on us humans 😅 Pushing a wheelbarrow through mud is more difficult than it sounds, and our pen just happens to be at a dip in the path which means that a little pond develops after the rain, right where we need to stand to put the feed into the trough - needless to say, our group members on feeding duty feel quite sorry for themselves 😂

At least the puddle makes for a pretty picture 🏞

On the first few mixing days, our group was running around like headless chickens. 🥴 We would have still been running around like headless chickens now, if it hadn’t been for the expertise and assistance of these two champions - our forklift driver, Tebogo, and Marius, who operates the mixing machinery. 🚜 Quite often when we mix, there is some sort of delay and they have ended up having to stay after hours - they are always willing to do this so we can finish up with our mixing. We are so grateful for their help. 😁
Also, aren’t their hats cool? 😂

You have to read this poem out loud to appreciate the full effect. Thank us later 😂💛

🐮Teach Yourself Tuesday 🐮

This week, we're going to talk about how we feed our cattle. In a feedlot, the goals are to get our calves eating feed as soon as possible; build their immune system; try and get them to gain lean muscle in the beginning and put fat on in the later stages, because we have been taught that fat cows don’t eat; adapt them to what's known as a ‘hot’ ration – a ration high in carbohydrates and low in fibre; and obtain maximum gains whilst keeping feed costs as low as possible. 🤓

There are different stages of feeding that take place in the feedlot:

👉 Background feeding: here the calves are getting used to eating concentrates instead of grass, eating from the feed trough and settling into their new environment. We want them to build a strong immune system and for their bones and organs to grow.

👉 Next is the starter diet: we need to feed this diet for a minimum of 2 weeks to allow for rumen microbes to adapt. This is still a high roughage diet that aims for skeletal and muscle growth and avoids the girls putting on too much fat.

👉 Grower: we feed this diet for the longest time period of the diets. We mainly aim for muscle growth here and allow for our cows to gain a small amount of fat. We also expect our cows to eat more per day on this ration.

👉 Finisher: here we are in the final stretch we want our cows to be eating as much as possible and the diet to contain small amounts of fibre. Here we want the cow to gain muscle as well as fat. Our finisher might be containing Zilmax which should further boost our girls, but it's important to note that it does have a minimum 3 days withdrawal.

We believe that our cows are always right and that is why we monitor them closely to see what they think of the diet we formulated. Some signals that our cows can give us are: body condition score, manure colour and consistency, rumination and rumen fill. 🐂

All sweaty and smiling for mixing day 💪 As the Challenge has progressed, we’ve started to learn how to get better at handling these exhausting feed mixing sessions. The secrets, we think, are keeping as cheerful as possible through the afternoon, helping each other to carry out each task, and holding on for dear life when you go up on the forklift 😂

We're playing the long game 😉 follow the link in the post to check out our progress so far!

Check out the first movement on the graphs @ https://opfeedlotchallenge.co.za/index.html

Proud to take home the bronze 🥉 thanks Cowabunga for hosting such a cool competition 👏😍🎉

Wholesome content for your feed, courtesy of our group’s traditional celebratory wheelbarrow pictures at the end of a feeding shift ✨

We take feeding shifts 5 days long, in pairs. By the end of the Challenge, each pair of people has done two shifts of about 5 days each. That’s 5 days of early sweaty mornings and late sweaty afternoons in your greens and gumboots, and sore arms all day from lifting, weighing and carting food from the store to the pens - it’s no surprise that by the end of that, they look pretty chuffed to be done 😂

🐮Teach Yourself Tuesday 🐮

Vaccination vs Immunisation

As you know, we vaccinated our cattle a few weeks ago. Last week we gave them boosters. A booster is an extra-dose of the vaccine to help get immunity back to protective levels.

It is a common misconception that vaccinating against a disease means that the vaccinated individual will never get this disease. This is not actually the case! Vaccination is introducing a vaccine into the body in order to mount an immune response. Immunisation is the body actually mounting an immune response to the vaccine by producing antibodies against it. This does not always happen. The reason could be incorrect administration of the vaccine, expired vaccines, or lack of an immune response from the individual.

However, even when vaccines work perfectly, some individuals still get sick. The purpose of vaccinating is to expose the body to a weaker form of the disease so that the body is able to make antibodies against it. If the individual is ever exposed to the actual disease, the immune system recognises it and even if it does get sick, it will be much milder and the body will be able to fight off the disease much faster and get back to being healthy again!

2020 Feedlot Challenge: Students beef up their skills - AgriOrbit During February, the 5th year veterinary students participating in the 2020 Feedlot Challenge visited Beefcor, a fully integrated beef company.