Alternatives for Finishing Beef Cattle in the Bulkley Valley
The Smithers Farmers' Institute contributed to a project that: 1) documented current, available information with respect to alternative finishing strategies for beef cattle in the Bulkley Valley, 2) conducted a gap analysis, and 3) proposed a study design for future work. The project was spear-headed by the Pleasant Valley Cattlemen.
The gap analysis identified the following areas of interest:
The gap analysis identified the following areas of interest:
- introduction of genetic lines relatively uncommon in the Bulkley Valley to improve forage-finishing characteristics;
- experimenting with the number of days on feed required to produce a high quality carcass using local forages;
- development of local production protocols specific to this area;
- trials run in cooperation with the local abattoir to investigate chilling, aging and processing techniques that maintain or enhance carcass quality of locally forage-finished cattle; and
- conduct brassica and forage corn trials to determine the potential for pasturing on these types of high energy feeds in the fall.