The first-ever large-scale modern cattle feed yard in China. Unique as far as feed yards go, the 30,000 cattle are ALL Holstein Bulls bottle-fed at the feed yard and raised their entire lives until finishing. The sentence takes on more meaning when considering that Holstein Bulls are the most dangerous domestic animal. Adding to the challenge, Hoof and Mouth Disease (FMD) is endemic in China. Strict bio-security controls started at the dairies, monitoring all traffic and people, and extended to the feed yard. An 8-foot-high concrete wall- six and one-half miles long enclosed the feed yard with one closely monitored entrance.
Getting started on the right path was essential to establish firm guidelines for raising the bulls, so they don’t become aggressive toward people and are properly socialized with other bulls as they grow. Constant fighting is metabolically costly to the bulls and monetarily costly to the feed yard. Death losses, injuries, lost weight, sickness, and meat quality loss are just a few. During the learning curve, some bulls fought so consistently that they lost 25% of their body weight.
People often ask, “Why not just castrate the bulls like everyone else?” The answer surprises most people. The fact is, throughout Asia, castration of male cattle is rare. For one, a ban exists on growth hormones in most Asian countries. Bulls grow larger when left intact. In the Asian way of thinking, why replace what nature provides with an artificial substitute? Besides that, it’s commonly believed that bulls can’t live together crowded in feeding pens or pastures, but this is incorrect- I have seen thousands of bulls in feed yards in China, Indonesia, South Vietnam, Japan, Mexico, South America, Turkey, and some European countries. The secret is to raise bulls together from a young age. They push each other around as calves and establish dominance hierarchies when they’re too small to hurt each other. After that, they settle in to get fat.
Another challenge is that feed yards in Asia are primarily inside covered barns on concrete floors. Raising cattle on concrete floors can be and is a problem worldwide. Concrete floors without deep straw or sawdust bedding cause foot and hock injuries. When cattle kneel on hard concrete to lie down, their hocks and knees develop lesions and become inflamed. Washing concrete floors daily makes the animal’s feet soft and easily injured by walking on concrete. Cattle standing on concrete may look fine, but the lameness becomes apparent when someone goes into the pen and makes the cattle get up and walk. In Asia, I’ve seen 30-40% lameness in some confinement feed yards.
Another challenge is that feed yards in Asia are primarily inside covered barns on concrete floors. Raising cattle on concrete floors can be and is a problem worldwide. Concrete floors without deep straw or sawdust bedding cause foot and hock injuries. When cattle kneel on hard concrete to lie down, their hocks and knees develop lesions and become inflamed. Washing concrete floors daily makes the animal’s feet soft and easily injured by walking on concrete. Cattle standing on concrete may look fine, but the lameness becomes apparent when someone goes into the pen and makes the cattle get up and walk. In Asia, I’ve seen 30-40% lameness in some confinement feed yards.
Animals with these types of injuries reduce activity (it hurts to walk) and lay down less often, and when they do, they tend to splay out their legs and not lay in the sternal recumbency position (upright). The effect on weight gain is substantial. Pain and inflammation have a vast metabolic cost, taking resources meant for making meat or milk. Fortunately, this feed yard in the Yello River valley had plenty of sand nearby for bedding. The bedding was deep and and changed often.
Bull calves are delivered to the feed yard daily from four 10,000-head dairies locally owned by the same company. When they arrive, the calves are housed alone in calf hutches for the first couple of weeks to ensure they’re healthy and gaining weight. Nannies (young Chinese women) feed over 3000 bull calves twice a day, and people who feed calves from a bottle naturally also want to pet and caress the baby bull. The nannies had to learn that playing with and spoiling the calves has social ramifications. They may inadvertently reward bossy behavior by feeding the calf when he pushes for his milk. The biggest mistake is patting the calf on the forehead, which the bull may interpret as a challenge. Bull calves butt heads to establish dominance.
From the individual hutches, the calves move to small group pens, and as they age, the pen sizes get bigger, so at the finishing stage, each pen holds 150 Bulls. Early socialization goes a long way toward reducing aggression. Still, outliers exist, so sorting aggressive bulls into “criminal pens” reduces the risk of injury to other bulls and reminds workers to be cautious near these animals. From my observations, aggression toward people took two forms: fear-motivated and no-fear aggression. Broadside threats and vocalizations are a sign of fear-motivated aggression and “in your face” a sign of no-fear aggression-the most dangerous kind.
From the individual hutches, the calves move to small group pens, and as they age, the pen sizes get bigger, so at the finishing stage, each pen holds 150 Bulls. Early socialization goes a long way toward reducing aggression. Still, outliers exist, so sorting aggressive bulls into “criminal pens” reduces the risk of injury to other bulls and reminds workers to be cautious near these animals. From my observations, aggression toward people took two forms: fear-motivated and no-fear aggression. Broadside threats and vocalizations are a sign of fear-motivated aggression and “in your face” a sign of no-fear aggression-the most dangerous kind.
Manipulating the social environment of the bulls was the key to making this feed yard profitable. It started with a disciplined but compassionate approach to the baby calves, early socialization, and the slow mixing of larger and larger groups to form social cohesion. This protocol reduced fighting, injuries, death losses, and increased weight gain. Keeping the peace meant constantly monitoring and sorting “bully” bulls into pens with other incorrigibles. It was crucial to keeping the peace. Interestingly, the pens full of criminals eventually settled down and finished faster with heavier carcass weights. Go figure!
Bulls that live together from a young age “learn” to get along when provided proper environmental intervention.
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