Feedyards and Football
Hardly in Manhattan, on Sunday I rode across to Oakley, western Kansas, to stay the night before meeting Dr Tom Noffsinger on Monday morning - I don’t think my feet really touched the ground again! I spent the next three days, in feedyards across three states! From Kansas, to Colorado, Nebraska and back to Kansas. I looked at feedyard reports for days on feed, pulls and re-treats. We walked pens, both new livestock to see how they were acclimating, and through problem pens. I was lucky enough to see the WHISPA scope in action, and listen to many lungs for respiratory problems. Driving through Colorado, we passed the JBS facility, which holds 100,000 head – like nothing I have ever seen before! Throughout the three days I was able to watch Dr Tom assess cattle, fix bloats, prolapses and administer medicines. I was also able to work with an incredible hospital crew for a day, skilled Mexicans who took great pride in their work, and laughed a lot at my attempts at speaking Spanish!!
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Dr Tom, and the visits and the feedyards we spent time in. I learnt such a huge amount from this incredible man, and have a great deal yet to learn!
Thursday I was back to class, and our Beef Systems class was out touring Tiffany Cattle Co Feedyard. Owned by the Tiffany brothers, both K-State graduates! Shaun told us about the journey they had been on in the last 10 years. They’ve grown from 15,000 head capacity, to 32,000 head and are processing up to 70,000 cattle on feed per year. The feedyard is constructed on an old air base, making aprons from the bunk up to 50ft in length. We were able to view different types of cattle on feed, for different amounts of time. Also inspecting their feed stores and micro machine and additives.
Thursday afternoon I was lucky enough to head out to the K-State intake centre, where embryos were being put into cows. I have never seen this process completed before, and was incredibly lucky to have a very skilled and tolerant team who happily answered all of my questions!
On Friday I was off to the Manhattan Commission Company’s sale barn for their weekly sale. This was very different to the commercial selling facilities that I have seen and worked in at home. All cattle were brought through a central sale ring, which also weighed them as a lot and offered average weights, from here the auction started. I was amazed to see some animals run through the ring as singles! I was blessed to be able to sit alongside of some commission buyers for the day, each offering a different insight into the business and the market currently – a thoroughly enjoyable day!
Saturday was the annual K-State purple vs white spring football game, and although conditions were not spring representative, with wind and rain falling – I enjoyed attending the game, and absorbing the atmosphere.
