Feedlot

The goal of producing heavy, well-muscled weaners, inspired us to construct a feedlot in 1997. Although it originally only catered for 1 500 cattle, it has grown to accommodate 12 000 animals.

Weaners are mainly bought from outside and are backgrounded on the farm for a period of approximately 30-60 days before they enter the Feedlot for a period of 110-120 days after which they are slaughtered at a live weight of approximately 450kg.

The average growth obtained in the Feedlot is 1.98kg per day.
The feedlot presently supplies only 25% of the daily slaughter at the Sernick Abattoir t/a Sernick Beef. Water has always been a restricting element, but a large earth fill dam was constructed in 2014 and should yield sufficient water for at least 10000 animals. This will enable the feedlot to supply up to 40% of the daily slaughter.

Custom feeding is accommodated and a number of customers who buy their bulls from us custom feed at the Sernick Feedlot. Apart from excellent management processes and systems, other key elements are the feed mixing and processing facilities that are considered of very high standard.

All the manure from the feedlot is used on the cultivated pastures.

Feed efficiency, after reproduction, has the highest impact on profit. It starts by understanding the concept and technology, then measuring and finally controlling the outcome.