This will keep the feed from spoiling. Grain for the cattle ration is harvested a bit later in the fall. The grain is loaded into farm trucks and taken to bins for dry storage until it is time to make the cattle ration. The combines harvest this grain earlier in the season than the grain stored in dry storage. This means it will take less of this grain for the cattle to gain weight.
Chopped alfalfa is harvested by chopping it and throwing it into a big covered wagon.
This wagon is lifted hydraulically and the alfalfa is dumped into a farm truck. This alfalfa hay is stored in a pit or standing silo for future use in the cattle ration. The cattle are fed in bunks in feedlots with cattle of their own size and weight. The cattle remain in the feedlots until all the cattle in that pen are ready for processing - usually around 1,200 pounds. The packing plant will process the meat and ship it to various stores.