Watch: 800-head French feedlot with a difference

A 20-bay, straw-bedded shed filled with 400 purebred Charolais bulls is a sight to behold. Such a sight can be found at the Petit Rollet facility in Clermont-Ferrand in central France.

The Petit Rollet site is a cluster for several companies, the controlling one being the l’Hospitalier family holding company. The second component of Petit Rollet is the farm business, named Lopa, which includes a poultry operation, a duck-fattening unit, a cattle feedlot and 100ha of tillage.

The final component is a business called Methalec, which handles the byproducts of the farm, and other industrial byproducts, for conversion into renewable energy through the use of anaerobic digesters.

The enormity of the operation is striking considering the relatively small 100ha land base it is working off. Each year, the farm grows 95ha of crops ranging from cereals to secondary crops. On the remaining 5ha it has four poultry units rearing 750,000 birds annually, one duck-finishing unit fattening 35,000 ducks annually and a 400-capacity cattle feedlot finishing 800 bulls annually.

Renewable energy

What ties the whole operation together is the addition of one of Europe’s largest anaerobic digesters. It allows for the production of biogas by treating the farm’s own waste products, as well as byproducts from the local food industry. This biogas can then be converted into electricity and heat.

From what was traditionally a family farm, the production of renewable energy started around 10 years ago as a joint venture between the family and the biogas industry. Since then, the venture, which received 3% government funding during the startup, now generates enough electricity for 20,000 people.

As mentioned, the digester is fed by two sources: 50% farm waste and 50% food industry byproducts such as food manufacturing waste, waste cereals from food manufacturing and waste liquids and slop from the catering sector.

To begin the process of anaerobic digestion, all waste products are mixed together in a large tank at 70°C. This mixture is also chopped to below 30mm, a similar consistency to mincemeat, as required under EU law.

After this, the mixture will go through a series of two digesters – the first digester is 2,000m3 and 48°C. The product will stay in this for 20 days before being moved to a second, larger 4,500m3 digester and stored at 35°C.

The end product is a gas comprised of 62% methane, which is converted into electricity, and CO2 which is released back into the atmosphere. Also produced is a liquid and a solid byproduct which can be spread on land. There is no smell off these byproducts and the only smell comes from the waste before it enters the digesters.

France has a target to replace 50% of regular gas with biogas by 2030. Currently, only 3% of the gas used for energy in the country is biogas. To meet this target, it is expected one-third of this will come from anaerobic digesters. For Petit Rollet, there are plans in place to build a €10m research centre on site, €3m of which will be funded by the French government.

Waste generation

One of the main sources of waste for the anaerobic digester is the 400-head capacity feedlot. With an average residency time of six months, the feedlot sells 800 head annually. All cattle purchased are purebred Charolais bulls. They are purchased from within the region, usually in batches of 20 to 60, and subsequently slaughtered within the region.

The feedlot has an agreement with the co-op (slaughterhouse) to supply 15 to 20 bulls each week, thus guaranteeing supply for the co-op during quiet times of the year, particularly spring.

Four hundred bulls are housed under the one roof at any one time, with 10 animals per pen.

The whole shed is straw-bedded and is cleaned out every two weeks, with the dung destined for use in the anaerobic digester. The diet for these bulls is a mixed feed of beetroot, maize, minerals and molasses.

It was explained that less than 10 years ago, antibiotics were part of the feed mix on the farm. Now it is a last resort coming as a direct response to the increasing concern surrounding antibiotic resistance. Instead, all animals are treated for IBR and pasturella upon entry to the feedlot in an effort to prevent, rather than cure.

Performance

Performance in the feedlot is exceptional. Data on 3,130 bulls that have passed through the gates shows that the ADG being achieved is 1.76kg. Animals are purchased at an average age of 10.8 months and an average weight of 435kg. From entry to exit, each bull typically spends 186 days (six months) in the feedlot. Average slaughter age is 16.9 months, with an average carcase weight of 441kg. Ninety per cent of carcases weigh between 420kg and 480kg.

Turning to price, the average turnover on the 3,130 animals that have gone through the system so far is €530/head. Average purchase price is €1,200 (€2.76/kg) and average sale value is €1,730 (€3.93/kg).

There are approximately 19m head of cattle in France, 53% of which are beef breeds. In fact, the three main breeds of cattle in France are all beef breeds – Charolais, Limousin and Blonde d’Aquitaine.

Looking at beef production in the country, France slaughters in excess of 3.3m head of cattle annually, through a network of 210 abattoirs. This equates to 1.2m tonnes each year and makes France the sixth-largest producer of beef in the world. Some 240,000t or 20% of this beef is destined for export as either fresh, frozen or processed beef. Ireland, on the other hand, slaughtered over 1.6m head of cattle in 2017, equating to 615,000t of beef. However, an enormous 90% (515,000) of this was exported.

In terms of live exports, 1.3m head of animals are exported from the country with Italy, Spain and Greece being the main European destinations and Algeria, Morocco and Turkey the main non-European destinations. Again, in comparison, overall cattle exports from Ireland reached 190,000 head in 2017. The UK accounted for 17% of live cattle exports while the rest of the EU took 63% of all Irish exports. Outside of the EU, Turkey is the largest export destination for Ireland.