The Rural Voice, 1980-04, Page 7This picture shows the two kinds of fencing
used on the Henry feedlot - wire and wood
slatted fencing. The Henry are gradually
converting fences around all the pens to
A pole barn and pit silo were already on
the farm, so the first job was to hire a
bulldozer operator to excavate a wide alley
down the center of the gravel ridge, an
alley now used as a roadway to transport
feed and check on the cattle. Then the
Henrys started dividing the 50 -acre ridge
into fenced pens and installed bunker
feeders along the fences, the way cattle-
men do in the west. While some outdoor
feedlot operators prefer solid fences, the
Henrys are using slatted wood fences
which they find still act as windbreaks for
the cattle. Originally they tried woven wire
fences, but found the cattle were scratch-
ing against it and tearing it apart.
The Henrys started working in the
spring, and by August, 1978, they had
their first group of cattle on the ridge. The
men now have eight pens completed,
which can house up to 400 cattle each, and
they plan to add two more pens in the final
phase of construction.
The Henrys buy their cattle at the
800-900 pound range and fatten themto be
sold at 1200 pounds, which means the
cattle are on the feedlot an average of 160
days. Most of the cattle are bought either
at local sales barns or from other farmers.
While Mr. Henry senior spends most of
his time buying, selling and keeping up
with the book work, his sons look after the
feedlot operation.
The feeding process takes one man
the wooden slatted fencing, since the cattle
don't damage it as much when they rub
against it. (Photo by Gibb)
about three hours daily, to truck feed out to
the ridges. In addition to corn silage, which
the brothers grow on the 500 acres of land
they own, the Henrys also mix brewers' or
distillers' grain, corn hominy and this year,
1100 tons of apple pomace - the ,pulpy
material left after the juice is squeezea out
of the apples. They've also fed the cattle a
lot of sweet corn - while it's ' oarse and wet
to handle the cattle eat it ahead of other
feed.
The cattle seem to have adjusted well to
their outdoor lifestyle. When the cattle are
shipped to the farm, they're run through
the barn and checked for any signs of
disease before going up to the pens. Then
they're checked regularly on the ridge and
when the men find a sick animal, it's
immediately brought down to a special
pen. Ron Henry said they've found there
are fewer health problems with the cattle
outside, perhaps because disease can
spread much faster when cattle are kept at
dose quarters inside a barn.
While cattle normally come indoors in
Ontario winters, the Henrys haven't found
the cold or snow a problem. Ron Henry
said they like to see a little snow on the
ridges, at• least enough to get the gound
covered up. The only side effects of severe
cold snaps seems to be the odd bloody nose
among the cattle.
The season that caused the most concern
was last fall with its heavy rains. Ron
Henry said, "We won't see another one as
wet without building an ark." Still even
with the wet conditions, the Henrys had
only three or four cases of pneumonia. In
each pen, where the manger is, the Henrys
have a cement pad that the cattle can stand
on, which keeps them a little drier.
While the cattle don't have traditional
bedding in their pens, the Henrys do dump
sawdust on the ridges. Ron Henry said the
cattle look after spreading it around. One
noticeable difference in the Henry cattle
versus • those raised indoors, is that the
Henry cattle are cleaner. Ron Henry said
this fact helps the price of the cattle when
they're selling them since buyers know
they're not paying for 50 pounds of
manure.
Perhaps the one disadvantage of the
outdoor feedlot system is that the Henrys
don't have the use of manure as fertilizer
for their crops. Ron Henry said they
haven't had to clean out any of the pens
vet. although they may have to clean
around the mangers in the future.
Right now the Henrys are feeding
between 2,000 to 2,500 cattle on their lot,
and Ron Henry said they could easily
accomodate 3,000 head but "sometimes
prices don't allow that."
He said farmers with smaller operations
of 150-200 head of cattle may have to
THE RURAL VOICE/APRIL 1980 PG. 5