Livestock farming is a traditional occupation of thousands of people around the world. In many cases, only breeding beef cattle helped people survive hunger, providing them with complete animal protein.
And breeding bulls for meat as a business these days makes it possible to get huge profits, since the demand for high-quality and natural food products is growing from year to year. This is especially true for the southern regions of our country, where almost all year round livestock is allowed.
We get the young
To get young stock that will be suitable for fattening, you will first have to purchase at least 300 cows that will make up the core of your herd. It is best to acquire heifers who are ready for insemination.
Of course, many people prefer to buy already covered heifers, but in this case you will not have any guarantee that the seed used was of proper quality. The cost of this number of goals will be approximately 1.5-2 million rubles.
Simply put, you can slip animals that were covered with ordinary dairy bulls. In this case, one does not even have to dream of high growth.
All cows are inseminated. Attention! Livestock specialists and veterinarians should plan the insemination process so that after 9 months the young growth does not begin to come into the world at once, but in batches of 5-6 calves per day. This will avoid the big problems associated with a huge load on staff during poorly planned tour calving.
Which breeds are better to choose?
If you are interested in raising bulls for meat as a business, you should be aware of the general provisions of this process. By the way, what breeds are best to choose for beef cattle breeding?
In our conditions, the Kazakh white-headed, as well as sharole bulls, which are not bad adaptable to domestic conditions, have proven themselves best. In general, raising bulls for meat as a business will only be beneficial (!) Provided that specialized animals are used.
Livestock
It should immediately be said here that there are two main types of content: on a leash and free (paddock). In Argentina, Brazil, and other countries with a mild climate and a lot of available pasture, animals are kept outdoors all year round, but in our conditions this is impossible for obvious reasons.
So leash. The method has many advantages. To begin with, the animals move little, and therefore increase their mass faster.
In addition, it is convenient to monitor their condition and take measurements to approximate the gain.
Of course, it is easier for inseminators in this case to identify hunting and cover animals, which greatly facilitates the breeding of bulls for meat.
Of the minuses, it is worth noting the mandatory presence of a manure removal system, as well as the risk of injuries to maintenance personnel. Gobies, already one year old, reach a mass of about 300 kg and are often aggressive, so all leashes should be as strong as possible.
The method of fattening in pens is good at a low level of stress for animals. The mass is added slightly more slowly, but the muscle tissue itself is obtained much better. Bulls are transferred to corrals when they are six months old.
Before this, calves are kept under cows (recall, we are talking about meat breeds). During this period, the intensive formation of skeletal and muscular systems occurs, so increased attention should be paid to feeding cows.
In our conditions, it has traditionally been the case that breeding bulls for meat as a business involves the use of corral content. The reason is simple: such a method is cheaper. In particular, manure needs to be cleaned only after the pasture of each batch of animals, and maintenance personnel need much less.
Livestock feeding
It is generally believed that for quick weight gain, livestock should be fed exclusively with concentrates. Stupid and extremely dangerous mistake! The fact is that cattle, by their nature, are not adapted to feed solely with grain.
This is fraught not only with blockages of the book and inflammatory phenomena in other parts of the gastrointestinal tract, but also the appearance of ketoses. And this is 70% of mortality and huge losses. A typical diet should look something like this below.
- At least (!) 70% - succulent feed. It is necessary to include root crops in the diet: they not only contribute to satisfying the animals' thirst, but also increase appetite. In addition, tubers contain a large amount of easily digestible carbohydrates. They have a beneficial effect on the state of gastric microflora, without which animal health is unthinkable.
- About 20% - high-quality hay. It is preferable to use those varieties that have a green color. This indicates the perfect observance of the technology of its procurement, in which most of the vitamins and minerals are preserved.
- Finally, about 10% of concentrated feed is included in the diet.
But breeding bulls for meat as a business is unthinkable without the proper amount of experienced staff.
What kind of staff will be required?
It will take at least five laborers, a machine operator, a livestock specialist and a veterinarian. Pay special attention to the zootechnical service, since it is from it that the correct and competent preparation of animal feeding diets will depend. Since young animals of meat breeds are kept under the cow almost all the time of lactation, there are no problems with feeding young animals in the initial period.
An experienced specialist for insemination of animals is definitely needed, since the amount of young animals you receive that are suitable for fattening will depend on its efforts.
Equipment and facilities
Unlike dairy cattle breeding, multi-million costs are not required. It is necessary to rent premises suitable for animal husbandry.
It is easiest to use abandoned complexes for this purpose, of which there are plenty of them in our country.
Of course, breeding bulls at home is possible in less adapted conditions, but there is no reason to hope for high profits.
In addition, you will need to mount a system of leashes, removal of manure, watering livestock. You need at least one feed distributor, a pair of tractors, and livestock transport equipment.
A minimum set of medicines for feeding animals, a Dewar vessel for storing seed material will be required.
Cost and Profitability
What are the costs of our business plan? Breeding bulls, as mentioned above, suggests that at least one and a half million will have to be spent on the initial broodstock. For all the above equipment (especially equipment) it will take about 2-3 million more. Do not forget about the salary fund, from which you will have to give out salaries to employees for at least one and a half years, as your business will become profitable by this very date.
Thus, you can open your own bull breeding business only by investing in it at least 6-7 million rubles. The profitability of beef cattle breeding is estimated at 45-55%. It is best to take livestock for meat after it reaches the age of about one and a half years and weighs 450-500 kg.
