Investing in Feedlot Infrastructure: What Australia’s Growth Means for Future Facilities

Australia’s lot feeding sector has grown considerably, and the infrastructure supporting it is growing with it.

At the end of 2025, Australia had a record 1.61 million cattle on feed, with feedlot utilisation reaching 92%. National feedlot capacity had also increased to a record 1.76 million head.

That growth matters when you’re planning feedlot infrastructure.

Whether you’re increasing capacity, covering existing pens or developing a new facility, the decisions made now can affect how easily the feedlot can adapt later.

You don’t need to design for every possible future scenario. But if you know where the operation is heading, we can start developing the building solution with that in mind.

Feedlot Investment Is Bigger Than the Building

The scale of Australia’s lot feeding sector makes infrastructure investment an important part of the wider beef supply chain.

MLA’s 2025 Regional Feedlot Investment Study found the sector generated $4.6 billion in value added in 2023–24 and supported approximately 24,000 full-time equivalent jobs through direct and indirect activity.

The study also modelled what a new 15,000 Standard Cattle Unit (SCU) feedlot could mean for a regional economy. Across construction and operation, the modelling estimated an increase in regional GDP of $409 million and an average of 283 jobs annually over a ten-year period.

You can read the full MLA Regional Feedlot Investment Study 2025.

Those figures provide useful context, but at an individual feedlot level, the investment decision is much more practical.

If you’re investing in infrastructure now, what does the operation need today, and what might it need to do next?

Start With Where the Operation Is Heading

A feedlot designed around today’s capacity alone can make tomorrow’s expansion more difficult.

If you’re planning a new building or covered housing project, we want to understand the longer-term direction of the operation as well as the immediate requirement.

Are cattle numbers likely to increase?

Could additional pens be covered later?

Will machinery or vehicle requirements change?

Is there another stage already being considered?

Could the building need to extend in the future?

These aren’t questions you need to have completely resolved before you talk to us. They help us understand whether decisions made during the first stage could unnecessarily restrict the next one.

We can then start looking at building orientation, structural configuration, access, clearances and future extension opportunities as part of the initial concept.

Covered Housing Is Becoming a Bigger Part of the Conversation

Growth in feedlot infrastructure isn’t only about adding more pens.

There is also substantial industry investment in shade and shelter.

An MLA study of NFAS-accredited feedlots found approximately 80.5% of constructed feedlot capacity surveyed already provided cattle with access to shade, with survey projections indicating this could reach approximately 83.5% by the end of 2026.

Importantly, shade, partial waterproof cover and fully covered housing aren’t the same thing.

MLA describes solid waterproof covered housing as an emerging option for protecting Australian feedlot cattle from both summer heat and ongoing wet conditions.

The MLA Feedlot Covered Housing Systems Manual provides Australian guidance around the design and management considerations involved.

For operators considering fully covered housing, this is where TechSpan can help turn the operational requirement into a structural building concept.

We can work through the area you want to cover, spans, column locations, roof configuration, building height, access and how the structure interfaces with the rest of the feedlot.

Infrastructure Needs to Support the Operation Underneath It

A bigger building isn’t automatically a better building.

For covered housing in particular, structural decisions affect what happens underneath the roof.

Columns can affect machinery movements. Building height and width influence the structural and ventilation solution. Roof area changes how water needs to be collected and managed. Access requirements affect clearances and building configuration.

MLA’s covered housing guidance addresses these relationships, including building geometry, ventilation, pen cleaning, machinery access, water management and manure management.

That’s why our starting point isn’t simply, “How big a shed do you need?”

We want to understand how the feedlot operates so we can develop the structure around it.

There Is Growing Evidence Behind Covered Housing Investment

The Australian evidence base around covered housing is also developing.

MLA research at Rangers Valley Feedlot in Glen Innes evaluated partial covered housing and bedding for long-fed Angus cattle during the final 110 days of feeding.

In that particular study, cattle under partial covered housing with bedding recorded an additional 0.09 kg/day in average daily gain, an 11.1 kg increase in exit weight and a 6.3 kg increase in hot carcase weight compared with the uncovered, bedded control treatment.

The results shouldn’t be treated as a guaranteed outcome for every feedlot or every type of covered housing. Climate, cattle, management, bedding and building configuration can all differ.

But the research gives operators more Australian evidence to consider when assessing infrastructure options.

You can read the MLA commercial feedlot partial-cover study for the complete methodology and findings.

Think About Water Early

As feedlots expand or add covered housing, water management needs to develop alongside the infrastructure.

A solid roof changes where rainfall goes.

Instead of falling directly onto the pen surface, rainfall hitting the building becomes roof runoff that needs to be captured, reused or appropriately discharged.

For TechSpan, that means we need to understand the building’s relationship with the wider site while the concept is being developed.

We can establish roof areas and coordinate guttering, downpipes and building interfaces with the civil and environmental specialists responsible for the wider water-management system.

Our Feedlot Drainage & Effluent Management guide looks at this in more detail.

Plan for the Infrastructure Around the Building

The structure is only one part of a feedlot investment.

Depending on the project, increasing capacity or adding covered housing can have implications for:

At TechSpan, we work alongside the specialists responsible for these areas, coordinating the structural building solution with their requirements so the building develops as part of the wider project.

Our role is to understand how their requirements affect the building and coordinate the structural solution accordingly.

That means we’re not developing the shed in isolation and leaving everyone else to work around it afterwards.

Expansion Doesn’t Have to Happen All at Once

Planning for future capacity doesn’t mean you need to build all of it today.

A feedlot may add infrastructure progressively as cattle numbers, operational requirements and capital priorities change.

For the building, the important thing is understanding that possibility early.

If we know another stage may follow, we can consider how the initial building is positioned, which direction it could extend, how structural bays are configured and how future work could interact with access and surrounding infrastructure.

Some projects may still require a completely different solution when the next stage arrives.

The objective isn’t to predict the future. It’s to avoid unnecessarily closing off practical options.

Where TechSpan Fits

Our approach to feedlot infrastructure follows the 3C Advantage: Concept, Configure, Construct.

It starts with Concept. Tell us about your existing operation, cattle capacity, what you’re planning to change and where you see the feedlot heading. We work with you to understand what the building needs to achieve and how it needs to fit within the wider operation.

During Configure, we develop the building solution around those requirements, working through building geometry, spans, column locations, roof configuration, clearances, engineering requirements and interfaces with the wider project. We also work alongside your feedlot, civil, environmental and planning specialists so the structural solution aligns with their requirements.

During Construct, we take the building through detailing, manufacture and construction, turning the agreed solution into a completed structure.

Concept. Configure. Construct. That’s how we Build Smarter

Planning Your Next Stage?

You don’t need to have the next ten years mapped out before you start.

If you’re considering new covered housing, increasing capacity or planning another stage of your feedlot, start with what you know.

Send us your existing site information, cattle capacity, what you’re looking to build and where you think the operation is heading.

We’ll help you start working through what the building needs to do now, while keeping an eye on what could come next.

Talk to one of our Feedlot Experts

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