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Being creative, adaptive with feed rations

In the cattle business the stocker is the link between the cow/calf operator and the feedlot. One operation is thinking outside of the box to get the most out of its high volume/tight margin business.

Jake Cowen with the Cowen Cattle Company, says skyrocketing corn prices and tighter margins have forced him to explore other feed ingredients. “Right now, we are experimenting with bakery waste. Hopefully, we can utilize this to supplement some of our corn requirements to mitigate our feed costs.”

He tells Brownfield he’s also looking at emerging technologies like the SenseHub Feedlot from Merck. “The number one challenge is labor. If there is anyway we can take what labor force we do have and make them more efficient, to us, it’s really worth investigating.”

While SenseHub is primarily designed for feedlot use, Jason Nickell with Merck Animal Health says it is being tested in other types of operations.