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In today's modern agricultural industry, diversification is the key to getting and staying ahead of market forces. The AB Fisher family uses such diversification in their combination farming, grazing and feedlot operation in northwest Kansas. Fisher Cattle Company offers a variety of programs for feeding cattle. "There are a lot of options if someone wants to invest in cattle," says AB Fisher. "We can graze their cattle, background them or full feed them in our 5,000 head capacity feedlot." Feedlot Although the feedlot is not big by most standards, they utilize the same technology as some yards that are much larger. They ultrasound cattle and sort them according to their ultrasound, size and weight. "We operate as technical as any of the bigger lots, but there's a little more personal touch involved." When the feedyard was constructed, it was designed to stay dry during wet weather and to minimize erosion. All of the pens have a 2 1/2 percent grade to allow water drainage to keep mud from forming. Extended concrete pads were also poured around the water troughs and in front of the feed bunks. The concrete apron in front of the bunk is 15 feet wide and runs the length of the bunk. "That gives cattle enough room to turn around and step off the pad," Fisher says. "If you have a little apron, they back off, turn around and dig the dirt out with their back feet. Pretty soon you've got a mess." The aprons around the water troughs are sloped at the same angle as the pens to avoid water gathering near the troughs. In order to level the water trough, another concrete form was poured that levels the trough itself. Each pen is covered by a sprinkler system to keep dust down. The sprinklers in the pens are close to the bunks and oscillate to keep from getting water in the feed.
Grazing To compliment the feedyard, the Fishers developed a cell grazing system in 1988. The cell system allows them to carry more animal units per acre than a traditional system. The system has also improved the grass and forage in the pastures. Each pasture differs in size, and some are as large as a half section. All of the cattle are checked at least once a day, Fisher says. Cattle are moved every six or seven days, depending on the pasture size. "We don't like to go more than a week," Fisher explains. All of the fences are permanent, unlike some other rotational grazing systems. The perimeter fence is a five wire fence with alternating steel and wood posts. The dividing fences are four wire with steel posts. The high quality, permanent fencing system has greatly reduced cattle losses. One unforeseen benefit of cell grazing is a visible reduction in fly problems. Since cattle are moved frequently, the manure is spread around. Plus cattle do not stay where the manure is.  "When the cattle are moved, they leave behind the manure where flies lay their eggs. By the time cattle are moved back in that particular pasture, everything is gone - both eggs and manure."
"I would recommend cell grazing to other ranchers; however, it is expensive. The fences had to be improved, and we had to run water lines to different parts of the ranch to spread the water out," Fisher says. "We bought the equipment to do a lot of this ourselves. But the investment is returned over a long period of time. "I tried many different deals to straighten cattle out, and what I was looking for I had right under my nose." |
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