Out this week in DBO Magazine

Since 2008, Fazenda Boi Gordo, located in Tiros, in the central-west region of Minas Gerais, has been confining lean cattle for finishing, a number that reached 8,000 head in 2020. Until 2019, intensive finishing was exclusively outdoors, all year round, and, as in any confinement of this type, dust is a factor that triggers respiratory problems in animals, reducing productivity.

The owner of the farm, Leonardo Rodrigues Lopes ‒ “Leo Boiadeiro” ‒, was already thinking about solving this problem in a more efficient way and covering the installation would be one of the solutions. That’s when a unique opportunity arose: last year, his neighbor, a dairy farmer, was in trouble and offered him the property, Fazenda Paraíso, for lease. Along with it, two compost barn-type sheds, that is, a facility with a resting area attached to the trough (see DBO cover story, August/2020 issue), where the cows received their daily feed.

It was what Leo needed to test the result that would come with beef cattle. He met with consultant André Melo, did calculations and saw that covered confinement would bring several advantages, especially in terms of animal performance, and that the investment was worth it. In addition to adding another 1,200 animals for slaughter to his livestock portfolio, which accounts for 40% of his company’s revenues ‒ L2 Agribusiness, whose flagship is agriculture (production of garlic, soy and corn) ‒, Leo significantly reduced the health problem of respiratory diseases. “I spent about 50% less on medication with the animals in the covered area”, he calculates.

Font: (https://www.portaldbo.com.br/revista-dbo-saem-as-vacas-entram-os-bois/)