Lower Stress and Labor Costs -- Bring the Processing Barn to the Cattle

by David Bowser

For feedyard managers tired of moving cattle back and forth to the processing barn at reimplant time, Warren White has the answer.

The Texas Panhandle feedyard manager, turned manufacturer, brings the barn to the cattle, eliminating stress and saving on labor.

White, who manages the Mc6 Feedyard north of Hereford, manufactures a mobile cattle processing facility.

The native Nebraskan said he had seen something similar a few years ago in his home state, but it had been rudimentary.

"I thought I could improve upon that system and make it more adaptable to feedyards down here," White said.

The purpose of the mobile processing facility is to reduce stress on cattle by avoiding moving them away from the pen to a processing barn and then trekking them back to the pen. Removing the added stress of running the cattle around the feedyard improves feeding efficiency, according to the research he has done on his mobile processing system. The data shows that there is not the drop in feed consumption that is normally associated with reimplanting cattle.

The crowding tub and self-contained alley unfold behind the trailer.

"Basically what it is is a mobile processing barn," White said. "It's got portable panels and a crowding tub and a self-contained alley that unfolds out behind a wide trailer. It all sits in the alley of a feedyard to work cattle. As they go inside the trailer, there's a chute with scales underneath it."

The first one he built had a refrigerator, hot and cold water, 110 outlets, an outlet for an animal health computer and outlet for a propane heater.

"It has everything that a processing barn has plus it has the ability to sort cattle two different ways, if you want to do that," White said.

The cattle enter the rear of the trailer. There's a sorting gate in front, past the squeeze chute, so cattle can be directed to either side of the trailer.

The panels, alley and crowding tub fold up and fit across the back of the trailer.

"That was the hardest part," White said. "It adds about three feet to the length of the trailer."
While the layout is pretty well standardized, the finishing details can be customized to fit the needs of individual feedyards.

The mobile unit, White said, should save feedyards time and money, primarily by cutting the labor needed to move cattle in addition to the savings on the feeding efficiency of the cattle.
"It varies from feedyard to feedyard, but it does eliminate a crew that goes after the cattle, brings them to the processing barn and then takes them back again," he said.

The processing crew can take this trailer to the cattle to be worked, whether it's to re-implant or vaccinate, and walk the cattle out of the pen.

Warren White looks over the processing chute inside his Mobile Cattle Doc.

When the cattle exit the trailer, they're back in their pen.

Besides the labor savings, there's no wasted time with cross over gates blocking feedtrucks or other traffic in the feedyard. That is a big savings said the veteran feedyard manager.

According to White's figures, a 30,000 head feedyard should be able to pay for the system within a year through additional weight gain on the cattle, not including labor savings.

Typically, cattle in single implant trials consume 20.3 pounds per head per day of dry matter.

Cattle that were moved and re-implanted had consumption of 19.8 pounds per head per day, a half pound a day drop in dry matter intake.

"When you go through your typical conversion factors, the bottom line is that in a year's time, a 30,000 head feedyard can pay for this easily in added weight of the cattle," White said.

White said Top of Texas Millwright in Hereford is the company that is building the systems for him.

"They were a huge help in designing it," White said. "I had a basic design in mind about how I wanted to do it, and they put it to work and welded it together."