These animals will require daily feeding of a total balanced ration. If an animal housed in a drylot is fed using a method that keeps feedstuffs above the ground surface , the transmission of internal parasites is greatly reduced since those infections occur via ingestion of eggs or larvae from the ground surface . There is rarely protection from the weather and the dirt surface may be either very hard and dry from heat and sunlight or very muddy from rain. Mud will increase the effort required to move from feed troughs to waterers, reducing productivity of animals. The absence of vegetation increases the amount of sunlight that reaches the ground.
Direct sunlight can kill some eggs or larvae.
Also, the smaller area of the enclosure increases the percentage of fecal pats that are disturbed by feet, thus disrupting the life cycle of some parasites. But the concentration of animals increases the opportunity for transmission of external parasites. Drylots can be cleaned by scraping up the top layer of dirt and fecal matter periodically using heavy machinery. It is important to clear out the waste matter along the fencelines as it might provide egg-laying habitat for flies or the undisturbed fecal pats needed for larval development of internal parasites . It consists of a group or groups of animals housed beneath a roof, frquently on a concrete floor.