Browsing by Author "Elizalde, Juan C."

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    Impacto del uso de los sistemas de alimentación a corral como estrategia para el engorde de bovinos para carne
    (Universidad de Cuenca, 2015) Elizalde, Juan C.; Universidad de Cuenca; Dirección de Investigación de la Universidad de Cuenca; DIUC
    Strategic cattle confinement in pens (feedlot) is a very beneficial and widely used approach in Argentina to prepare the animals in their final stage for the domestic and export consumption markets. The purpose of feedlots is to allow a better utilization of forage and reducing the age at slaughter. For the correct introduction it is necessary to consider the factors that affect its economic performance such as the characteristic of the diets used, the levels of consumption and conversion efficiency. This in turn interacts with the type of animal in the feedlot. In this presentation two strategic confinement systems are considered, respectively pens for finnishing (feedlots) and pens for the rearing or fattening of calves after weaning. In recent years, feedlot activity has been linked to variations in the price of grain and the type of product achieved. There are variations attributed to change in consumer preferences and also to the effect of the concentration of meat sales in some retail outlets that require uniformity in the delivery of animals and the size of the meat cuts. Some relevant aspects of the American feedlot and the feedlots in Argentina are discussed, as well as some factors that may affect the financial results of the activity. The main aim of the pens for rearing of the weaning calf is to improve weight gain during this period in comparison to the rearing conditions on pastures where there may have been limitations on the amount and quality of forage produced. This presentation discusses and analyzes the factors to be considered in the management of the two types of pens: the termination or the finishing of steer fattening and the rearing or fattening of calves after weaning. In the first case, the effects of sex, age, conversion efficiencies, breed, previous nutritional status and dietary factors in itself are discussed, while in the second case, the different types of calves that can be incorporated into the system as well as the use of different diets are analyzed. The development of rearing systems of calves in pens, allowed designing new production systems based on an increase of the load, the weight gain, the modification of the final weight and possible changes at the time of termination. In the case of termination pens (feedlots), they have been a very useful tool to achieving termination of animals for domestic consumption and for export.